Zara Saeidzadeh

About Zara Saeidzadeh

Zara Saeidzadeh is a postdoctoral researcher in Gender Studies at Örebro University in Sweden where she defended her PhD thesis on “Trans and Sex Change in Iran: A Socio-Legal Study of Gendered Policies and Practices” in June 2020 and worked as a senior lecturer and researcher in Gender Studies until April 2022.

Zara's research falls within the field of social studies of gender, sociology of law and trans* studies. In her current work, she focuses on violence against trans* people in intimate relations, family and employment, drawing on the social and legal status recognition and trans* citizenship.

Research

Zara Saeidzadeh's current postdoctoral project is on “Violence against Trans* Women within Family and Workplace in Sweden: A Qualitative Analysis of Socio-Legal Status” funded by Swedish Research Council for Working Life, Healthcare and Welfare (FORTE). In this project, Zara investigates violence against trans* women within family and work through studying the social and legal status of trans* women in Sweden. The project aims to contribute to reduction of violence against trans* women by understanding the legal (mis)recognition of the status and needs of trans* women in their experiences of 1) being partners and parents, 2)being exposed to intimate partner violence and 3) being employed in the labour market.

Zara is currently involved in the follwoing project:

The Politics, Expressions and Prevalence of Violence against Trans* People in the EU. In collaboration with Dr Sofia Strid, associate professor in gender studies, she works on theorization of violence against trans people at the EU level, looking at policies, activism and academia within the EU.

LAWGEM: New Quality in Education for Gender Equality (2019-2022) In this project Zara Saeidzadeh is involved in drafting the syllabi and writing textbooks for a master’s programme on law and gender. Moreover, she has been working on forming a legal clinic with Susanne Strand, associate professor in criminology.

Teaching

Apart from being a guest lecturer in disciplines such as anthropology, women’s studies and medicine, Zara Saeidzadeh has been involved in teaching the following courses on gender: Gender Equality and The Nordic Welfare States (undergraduate level); Gender, Power and Politics (undergraduate level); Men’s Violence against Women (undergraduate level), Gender Perspective in Medicine (postgraduate level), Redading course on Feminist Studies on Violence against Women (undergraduate advanced level).