Prof. Dr. Azadeh Akbari

Azadeh Akbari is Professor of Critical Data & Surveillance Studies at the Center for Critical Computational Studies (C³S) and a faculty member in the Institute for Human Geography at Goethe University Frankfurt. Her research focuses on the geopolitics of digital transformation, digital authoritarianism, data justice, and ICTs for development. Azadeh Akbari is a director of Surveillance Studies Network and the founder and director of Surveillance in the Majority World Research Network. She is an associate editor at the journals Surveillance & Society and Information Technology for Development. Azadeh Akbari was formerly Assistant Professor of Digital Transformation at the University of Twente, in the Netherlands, and an EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Actions fellow with a project on authoritarian smart cities. She appears frequently in international media and consults policymakers and civil society on issues of surveillance and digital repression.

Education
  • PhD in Human Geography - 4/2016 - 2/2020

Dissertation’s title: Surveillance as Spatial Injustice: The Case of Iran

Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Hans Gebhardt, Prof. Dr. Annika Mattissek

Institute of Geography, Heidelberg University

Recipient of Hans-Böckler Foundation of German Trade Unions’ full scholarship

Finalist for German PhD Prize in social sciences category

  • Baden-Württemberg Certificate for Teaching & Learning at University Level - 1/2019- 10/2019    

State of Baden-Württemberg Centre for Teaching and Learning, Heidelberg

  • MSc Gender Research - 9/2010- 11/2011

London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE)

Recipient of PJD Wiles full Scholarship  

  • B.A. Social Research - 9/2003 - 7/2008    

Allmeh Tabatabaie University, Tehran, Iran

  • Journalism Diploma - 9/2002 - 7/2003

Centre for Media Research and Studies, Tehran, Iran

Experience

04/2022- 07/2025

Assistant Professor in Public Administration and Digital Transformation (tenured)

University of Twente, Faculty of Behavioural, Management & Social Sciences 

10/2024-07/2025 

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Global Fellow 

Project e-Authopia: Authoritarian Smart Cities, University of Ottawa and University of Twente 

01/2023- ongoing 

Trusted Member of Faculty (Vertrauensdozentin) 

Hans-Böckler Foundation of German Trade Unions 

09/2022- ongoing

Co-Director of International Surveillance Studies Network 

10/2019- ongoing 

Founder and Director of Surveillance in the Majority World Network 

09/2023-ongoing 

Affiliated Fellow at the University of Ottawa 

Centre for Law, Technology & Society   •  Centre for International Policy Studies 

04/2024- 09/2025

Advisory Board Member of the Horizon Europe-funded project GATHERINGS 

Ten diverse partners ranging from Research Institutions and Civil Society Organisations to Law Enforcement Agencies spread across Europe 

2024-2027 

Associate Editor and Member of Editorial Board 

Surveillance & Society Journal 

2024-2027 

Associate Editor and Member of Editorial Board 

Information Technology for Development Journal 

02/2024-07/2025 

Representative of Behavioural, Management & Social Sciences Faculty 

Ethics Committee, Faculty of Geo-Information Science & Earth Observation, University of Twente 

2021- 2024 

Digital Editor and Member of Editorial Board 

Territory, Politics, Governance Journal, Regional Studies Association 

2021- 2023 

Digital Editor and Member of Editorial Board 

Surveillance & Society Journal 

2022-2024 

Organising member, research network “Emancipatory Technology Studies: Between Social and Technical Transformations (Emanzipatorische Technikforschung: Verhältnisse zwischen technischem & gesellschaftlichem Wandel) 

German Research Foundation (DFG) 

12/2019-04/2022 

Academic Staff and Postdoctoral Research Associate 

University of Münster, Political Geography Group 

3/2019 - 11/2019 

Scientific Assistant 

Heidelberg Center for American Studies 

9/2014 - 7/2015 

Lecturer, Sociology of Gender and Sexuality 

Science & Culture University, Tehran 

10/- 12/2011 

Research Assistant 

SOAS University, London, Chair of Prof. Sreberny  

Book project: Persian Service: The BBC and British Interests in Iran 

2007 – 2008 

Research Assistant 

University of Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran 

Research project: Rapid Situation Assessment of Female Sex Workers in Tehran 

2004 – 2005 

Research Assistant 

University of Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Tehran 

Research project: Analysis and Evaluation of Drug Demand Reduction Management 
Research

My research profile includes topics such as:

  • Authoritarian Surveillance
  • Smart Cities
  • ICTs for Development
  • Data Justice
  • Uneven Datafication

 

Publications

2025

▪ Akbari, A. (2025). The Birth of Code/Body. In B. Roessler & V. Steeves (Eds.), Being Human in the Digital World: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (pp. 129–142). chapter, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

▪ Akbari, A. (2025). Big Tech authoritarianism: Political synergies of an emerging power. Dialogues on Digital Society (online first).

▪ Akbari, A. & Wood, David M. (2025). Towards a Critical Political Economy of Surveillance and Digital Authoritarianism. Surveillance & Society, 23 (1): 152-158.

▪ Akbari, A. & Masiero, S. (eds.) (2025). Critical ICT4D (Information and Communication Technologies for Development), Routledge.

▪ Akbari, A. (2025). Digital Development Dilemma. In A. Akbari & S. Masiero (eds.). Critical ICT4D (Information and Communication Technologies for Development), Routledge, 15-29.

▪ Akbari, A. & Masiero, S. (2025). Introduction. In A. Akbari & S. Masiero (eds.). Critical ICT4D (Information and Communication Technologies for Development), Routledge, 1-11.

▪ Madon, S., Akbari, A. & Masiero, S. (2025). The Evolution of ICT4D: Content, Context, and Process. In A. Akbari & S. Masiero (eds.). Critical ICT4D (Information and Communication Technologies for Development), Routledge, 30-39.

2024

▪ Akbari, A. (2024). The politics of data justice: exit, voice, or rehumanisation? Information, Communication & Society, 28(6), 989–1005.

▪ Akbari, A. (2024). Information and communication technology for development (ICT4D). In The Companion to Development Studies (4th ed). Routledge, 521-525.

2023

▪ Akbari, A. (2023). Situating Data: A critique of universalist approaches to data. In T. Osborne, & P. Jones (eds.), A Research Agenda for Digital Geographies. Glos: Edward Elgar, 127-132.

▪ Akbari, A., Masiero, S. (2023). Critical ICT4D: The Need for a Paradigm Change. In: Jones, M.R., Mukherjee, A.S., Thapa, D., Zheng, Y. (eds) After Latour: Globalisation, Inequity and Climate Change. IFIPJWC 2023. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, vol 696. Cham: Springer, 350-5.

▪ Akbari, A. (2023). Book Review: Politics of Rightful Killing. Civil Society, Gender, and Sexuality in Weblogistan. Anthropos, 118:2, 663-4.

▪ Dodds, K., Taylor, Z., Akbari, A., Castán Broto, V., Detterbeck, K., Inverardi-Ferri, C., Lee, K., Mamadouh, V., Ramutsindela, M., Yuan Woon, C. (2023) The Russian invasion of Ukraine: implications for politics, territory and governance, Territory, Politics, Governance, 11:8, 1519-1536.

2022

▪ Akbari, A. (2022). Authoritarian Smart Cities: A Research Agenda. Surveillance & Society, 20:4, 441-449.

2021

▪ Akbari, A. (2021). Authoritarian Surveillance: A Corona Test. Surveillance & Society, 19:1, 98-103.
Conference Papers

▪ Akbari, A. (2021). Threat of Automating Control: Surveillance of Women’s Clothing in Iran. In A. Završnik, & V. Badalič (eds.), Automating Crime Prevention, Surveillance, and Military Operations. Cham: Springer, 183-199.

▪ Akbari, A. (2021). A Resilient ICT4D Approach to ECO Countries’ Education Response during COVID-19 Pandemic. In S. Masiero, & P. Nielsen (Eds.), IFIP 9.4 Conference Proceedings 2021: Resilient ICT4D. International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP)’s Working Group on the Implications of Information and Digital Technologies for Development. Department of Informatics, University of Oslo.

▪ Akbari, A. (2021). Academic Reading for Non-Native English Speakers. HINT: Heidelberg Inspirations for Innovative Teaching, 2, 29-47.

▪ Akbari, A. (2021). FEMINISTISCHE+DIGITALE+GEOGRAPHIE+N: die Politik einer Kontamination. Feministisches Geo-RundMail, 85, 6-11.

2020

▪ Akbari A. (2020). Follow the Thing: Data – Contestations over Data from the Global South. Antipode, 52:2, 408-429.

2019

▪ Akbari, A. (2019). Spatial|Data Justice: Mapping and Digitised Strolling against Moral Police in Iran. Development Informatics Working Paper no.76, University of Manchester, UK.

▪ Akbari, A., Gabdulhakov, R. (2019). Platform Surveillance and Resistance in Iran and Russia: The Case of Telegram. Surveillance and Society, 17:1/2, 223-231

2011

▪ Madani, S., Akbari, A. et al. (2011). Drug Management in Iran: A Periodical Schema. Addiction Research and theory, 19:2, 112-120.

Dissertations

▪ Akbari. A. (2020). Surveillance as Spatial Injustice: The Case of Iran. PhD Dissertation, Heidelberg University.

▪ Akbari, A. (2011). Public sexual harassment in Tehran: shame, respectability, honour and gender performativity. MSc Dissertation, LSE Gender Institute, September 2011.

Projects
  • Global Governance of Post-Smart Cities” Workshop, University of Ottawa, Oct 2025
  • HORIZON Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships for the Project Authoritarian Smart Cities (Oct 2024-7)
  • Surveillance in the Majority World Research Network, Open Technology Fund (2024-5)
Teaching
  •      WiSe 2025/26
  1. Information and Communication Technology for Development
  2. Smart Cities
Team

Zweite PhD-Gutachterin für Julia Schinnenburg, Universität Heidelberg, Geographisches Institut

In the Media

Writing:

Interviews:

Policy-level Talks:

Public Talks:

Awards

▪ Journal Surveillance & Society’s Early Career Researcher’s Award 2022 for the paper Authoritarian Smart Cities: A Research Agenda

▪ Winner of the University of Twente’s Media Award 2022

▪ Finalist for German PhD Prize 2021 in social science category, Körber Stiftung

Contact

Center for Critical Computational Studies (C3S)

Eschersheimer Landstraße 121

60322 Frankfurt am Main

akbari [at] c3s [dot] uni-frankfurt [dot] de