Aghaghia Rahimzadeh is a two-time Fulbright Fellow with a doctorate in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from University of California at Berkeley. She has spent the last decade investigating human-environment interactions. Specifically, her work has focused on community conservation, social implications of climate change, and rural mountain livelihoods in remote communities in Kinnaur District in Western Himalaya. Aghaghia’s current research explores the intersection of climate change, infrastructure development, and mass tourism to understand how the region confronts these issues on its resource base. As an independent scholar, Aghaghia is affiliated with the Black Earth Institute, the Ronin Institute, Institute for Globally Distributed Open Research and Education, and the National Coalition of Independent Scholars. Her publications have appeared in Anthropology Now, Terrain.org, About Place Journal, World Development Perspectives, Land Use Policy, Conservation and Society, Human Ecology, and Newfound.
Aghaghia has traveled widely through the Middle East, Central and South Asia, worked and conducted research with IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) on community conservation projects in Iran, and with the UN Development Program and the UN Development Fund for Women in Tajikistan, and delivered medical supplies to Afghanistan.
Aghaghia is overjoyed to be a part of HCPS and its dynamic team. Her intention is to raise awareness in the Global North about critical social and ecological issues in the Himalaya while she continues to conduct research in the region to better understand these dynamics.
When she is not researching or writing, Aghaghia guides educational and cultural immersion tours to the Himalaya, enjoys photography, practices Iyengar Yoga, backpacks the California wilderness, and hikes the trails of beloved Mt. Tamalpais.