The Liverpool School of Architecture is thrilled to welcome Dr Alborz Dianat as Leverhulme Early Career Fellow. The highly competitive Leverhulme Trust funded fellowship will support Alborz to carry out independent post-doctoral research at LSA for the next three years, mentored by Professor Luca Csepely-Knorr.
Dr Dianat’s research project, ‘Matter Moves Mind: British Architecture and Psychology, 1876–1951’ will examine how the emerging science of psychology began to influence the design of buildings and landscapes in Britain. It will ask how architects, landscape architects, psychologists and writers responded to live psychological theories: ideas related to the unconscious mind, sentiments and sensations towards objects and forms, and supposed experiences of ‘pre-perception’ through ‘hereditary memory’. Looking at a period before the emergence of environmental psychology as a distinct subfield, the project will look at how these and other emerging areas of scientific study influenced approaches to aesthetics; the usage of light, colour and acoustics; the layout of domestic spaces, gardens and landscapes; and applications of styles and symbols.
Alborz holds a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. His thesis interpreted transnational British-European networks of architectural exchange. Sections of his doctoral research have been published in leading peer-reviewed journals including JSAH, Architectural History, and the Journal of Design History. Working on this theme, he authored the book, Walter Gropius in Britain: Emigration and Collaborations (Routledge, 2025). Before joining LSA, Alborz also worked as research associate on the European Research Council funded ‘Expanding Agency’ project where he investigated the impact of women entrepreneurs on architecture and design. Together with Professor Kathleen James-Chakraborty, he has edited a book on the subject, Minding Her Business: Women, Architecture, and Design (Leuven University Press, 2026).
Outside of his academic work, Dr Dianat is Editor-in-Chief of the prestigious peer-reviewed journal, Architectural History. The principal publication of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, the journal has been published since 1958 and provides an internationally recognised site for significant original research on buildings, the built environment, architectural theory, and historiography across all places and periods. In this role, Alborz has overseen the journal’s move to its new, open access platform, while leading an editorial board composed of experts in the field.