Profile of Student Grant Holder
Katerina Lombartova
After getting my ‘A’ Levels in Czech, German, English and Physics in the Czech Republic I came to England in September 2001 and worked as an au pair and nanny to improve my English, reaching an adequate, academic level that would allow me to go to university in the UK. After living in the UK for a while I became increasingly interested in Persian culture and particularly the modern Persian language. I was thrilled that my application to study Persian and Geography at SOAS & King’s College was accepted and I started my joint degree in September 2005.
After completing my first year, thanks to a BIPS undergraduate travel Grant I managed to go to Iran for three weeks and complete a small project on ‘Identity and Consumption’. I traveled to Tehran, Shiraz, Esfahan and Hamedan.
I had the most wonderful time visiting lots of places and collecting data, conducting interviews and so on for my project.
I was very grateful to have been able to stay at the BIPS premises in Tehran which I found very comfortable and most welcoming.
At the BIPS workshop held at SOAS in December 2006 I gave a presentation outlining my project. I very much hope to return to Iran soon and continue with my field work.
I am a student member of BIPS, co-President of the Persian Society at SOAS and apart from my interest in Persian language, literature and culture; I am also very interested in music. I play the piano.