Ali M. Ansari, PhD (SOAS), FRAS, FRSE, was elected President of BIPS in November 2023. He also served as BIPS President from 2013-2017. He is Professor of Iranian History and the Founding Director of the Institute for Iranian Studies, University of St Andrews, Member of the Academic Council at Iran Heritage Foundation, and Senior Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute. He has written more than five books and his research interests include the development of the state in Iran; historiography, ideology, myth and nationalism; social and intellectual history; and Iran’s relations with the West.