Our Co-Directors
Professor Paul Collins
Paul was a Co-Director of the Nahrein Network in 2017-24. He is Keeper of the Middle East Department at the British Museum. He was previously Professor of Ancient Middle East and Jaleh Hearn Curator in the Department of Antiquities at the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
His research interests include the role of visual representation in the origins of the state and kingship in Mesopotamia, the meaning of Assyrian imagery, the history of collecting, and the role of museum displays in shaping disciplinary knowledge.
Dr Rozhen Kamal Mohammed-Amin
Dr Rozhen Kamal Mohammed-Amin was a Co-Director of the Network in 2020–24. She is an architect and academic with an interdisciplinary background and research interest in the confluence of digital technology, architecture, and cultural heritage. She is a lecturer and researcher at the Kurdistan Institution for Strategic Studies & Scientific Research (KISSR) and co-founder and president of the Cultural Heritage Organization (CHO). Rozhen also serves as vice president of RASHID, an international network dedicated to safeguarding the cultural heritage of Iraq with ECOSOC/UN special consultative status, and is a member of UKRI’s International Development Peer Review College.
In her capacity as co-investigator on the Nahrein Network project, Rozhen conducted research in digital heritage in Iraq and its Kurdistan Region along with her team at CHO. She supervised various training and community outreach activities at the CHO-KISSR office of the Nahrein Network.
Professor Jaafar Jotheri
Jaafar Jotheri was a Co-Director of the Nahrein Network in 2020-22. He holds a PhD Geoarchaeology from Durham University and is Professor of Geoarchaeology at Al-Qadisiya University, Iraq. He has over 20 years of experience in conducting archaeological excavations and surveys about the landscape of ancient Iraq and the ancient paths that rivers and canals that followed in the past. He has published more than 20 articles in some of the world's most prestigious journals.
He has been involved in many international archaeological and heritage projects carried out in Iraq, with partners including Manchester University, Durham University, Sapienza University of Rome, and Tokushima University. He has been awarded research funding from international organizations such as the British Institute for the Study of Iraq (London), the Academic Research Institute in Iraq (USA), and the British Academy, as well as the Nahrein Network.
Dr Anwar Anaid
Anwar Anaid holds a PhD from the University of Sydney (Australia) in Government and International Relations and BA (Hons) majoring in Politics & IR with a second major in Economics from the University of New South Wales (Australia).
As Co-Director of the Nahrein Network in 2018–20, he directed the Research Centre for the Sustainable Development of Cultural Heritage at the University of Kurdistan Hewler, Erbil.
In this capacity, he supervised Postdoctoral Research Associate Dr Amani Sulaiman. During her time with the Network, she conducted research on promoting sustainable development in Kurdistan Region, with a focus on the tourism sector. The Centre was managed by Mrs Rahma Ismael in 2018-19.
