Dr Vahid Nick Pay

Profile details

Director of Graduate Studies (DGS-T)

Departmental Lecturer in International Politics

 

Dr Vahid Nick Pay is a full-time departmental lecturer in International Politics and Research Methods and serves as co-director of Graduate Studies for Postgraduate Taught Programmes (DGS). He is a Fellow of Kellogg College, University of Oxford, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He is also an official academic advisor to the UK government's Commonwealth Scholarship Commission.

As a multidisciplinary scholar, Dr Nick Pay's expertise spans various fields within Social Sciences and Information Technology, including Political Philosophy, Diplomacy, Security Studies, Linguistics, Computer Engineering, and Artificial Intelligence. His postgraduate studies encompass Linguistics, Computer Engineering, AI, and Politics and International Relations.

Prior to joining Oxford in 2018, he held academic positions at several prestigious institutions: Assistant Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kurdistan (Iraq), Adjunct Professor in International Relations at the University of Paris (Paris Descartes), and Lecturer positions at Sciences Po Paris, the University of Milan (Linguistics and Discourse Analysis), and Islamic Azad University, Iran (Linguistics). His excellence in teaching was recognised with a Teaching Excellence Award in 2018. He also holds the French higher education teaching and supervision qualification (habilitation).

Dr Nick Pay has undertaken numerous leadership roles throughout his academic career, including Chair of Exam Boards, Academic Director, Academic Advisor, and Director of Graduate and Postgraduate Studies. He has served on various academic management boards and was a member of the Management Committee at the Centre for International Studies (DPIR-University of Oxford).

Complementing his academic expertise, Dr Nick Pay brings substantial experience from both governmental and private sectors. His diverse professional background includes service as a Captain in two national armies (Infantry) and works with prominent organisations such as the BBC, Vidal, and the French National Healthcare Authority.

Alongside his full-time lectureship, Dr Nick Pay actively engages with public education through short courses and weekend programmes. For 2024, he offered two public courses: 'Religion in International Politics' (April 2024) and Oxford University's first course in AI Governance (December 2024). He is currently developing a comprehensive postgraduate programme in AI Governance.

 

Selected Publications

 

  • Nick-Pay, Vahid, Republican Islam: Power and Authority in Iran (London: I.B. Tauris, 2016)
  • Nick-Pay, Vahid, A Stardust’s Journey, a fictional autobiography (August 2024)
  • Nick-Pay Vahid Russian Arctic Diplomacy (ongoing project)
  • Nick-Pay Vahid AI Governance and Diplomacy (Current Project 2025)

 

Nick Pay Vahid & Ifigenia Xifre Villar, God Save the Planet?: Religion and Global Environmental Politics (Under review Dec 2024)

Nick-Pay, Vahid, and Andrew Omond. "Military ideology and Foreign Policy: A constructivist examination of IRGC's ideological influence." Asian Affairs 56, no. 1 (2023): 96-109.

Nick-Pay, Vahid, and Piotr Buszta. "China in the UK Foreign Policy: Shifting to Progressive Liberal Internationalism." European Journal of East Asian Studies 21, no. 1 (2022): 1-23.

Nick-Pay, Vahid, and Przemyslaw Postolski. "Power and Diplomacy in the United Nations Security Council: The Influence of Elected Members." The International Spectator 56, no. 3 (2021): 44-58.

Nick-Pay, Vahid, and Ronni Gitonga Mutethia. "US-Africa Relations: A Case Study of US-Kenyan Economic Diplomacy." African Studies Quarterly 20, no. 4 (2021): 187-204.

Nick-Pay, Vahid, and Harry G. Calvo. "Arctic Diplomacy: A Theoretical Evaluation of Russian Foreign Policy in the High North." Russian Politics 5, no. 1 (2020): 109-131.

Nick-Pay, Vahid, and Elemchi Nwosu. "Politics of Sino-African Economic Relations: Promoting Rentierism? Case Study Sino-Nigerian Economic Relations." Asian Affairs 53, no. 2 (2020): 236-252.

Nick-Pay, Vahid. "Comparative Constitutionalism: Challenges of Constitutional Sovereignty in Iran and Iraq." Asian Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies 13, no. 1 (2019): 53-71.

Nick-Pay, Vahid. "Constitutional Rights and Liberties in the Islamic Republic: A Critical Review." UKH Journal of Social Sciences 1, no. 2 (2018): 34-45.

Nick-Pay, Vahid. "Religion and International Politics." The International Spectator 57, no. 2 (2022): 133-146.

Nick-Pay, Vahid, "More than thirty articles on contemporary political matters in prominent public outlet media such as Le Monde, Le Nouvel Observateur, OpenDemocracy, Respublica, International Politics, OpenDemocracy etc. in English, French, Persian and Kurdish languages."

 

Commissioned Handbook Review

  • Nick-Pay Vahid, ‘ Review of the Oxford Handbook of AI Governance’, Journal of AI & Society, Springer Link,  (June 2024) doi.org/10.1007/s00146-024-01961-9
  • Nick-Pay Vahid, ‘Religion and International Politics’ The International Spectator, Taylor & Francis (March 2022) doi.org/10.1080/03932729.2022.2053413
  • Nick-Pay Vahid, ‘Routledge Handbook of Religion and Politics, Politics, Religion and Ideology, Taylor & Francis (Sep 2023)

 

Screenplay

Barbaris : A drama feature film (comédie dramatique, long métrage) on tyranny with École de Cinéma Louis-Lumière, Paris France (2019).