Pooriya Alimoradi Pilehrood received his PhD from the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto, working under the supervision of Enrico Raffaelli. Alimoradi Pilehrood holds a master’s degree in the history and philosophy of religion from Concordia University and another master’s in ancient Iranian history from the University of Tehran. During the course of his PhD studies, his major was Zoroastrianism and pre-Islamic Iranian studies with minors in the history of Islamic Iran and in Persian languages and literature. His dissertation, “Zand-i Vahman Yasht: A Zoroastrian Apocalypse in New Persian,” provides, for the first time, a critical edition, English translation, and historico-religious commentary of a Zoroastrian apocalyptic text.
Alimoradi Pilehrood is interested in Iranian history, languages, and cultures in late antiquity; religions of ancient Iran; and the study of Zoroastrianism in the early centuries of Islam in Iran. Since 2000, he has been working on ancient Iranian languages, including Avestan, Old Persian, Middle Persian, and Parthian. He is a recipient of multiple awards: the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Doctoral Scholarship (SSHRC, 2015–18), the Houtan Scholarship (2012–20), the Soudavar Memorial Foundation Travel Grant (2013), the Doctoral Completion Award (2019–20), the University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies Research Travel Grant (2017), the Concordia University Conference and Exposition Award (2013), Faculty of Arts and Science student conference travel support (2013), Concordia University, the Concordia University Merit Scholarship (2011), and the Concordia University International Tuition Fee Remission Award (2011). He also served as student member (2012–15) and acting treasurer (2015–16) on the board of directors of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies.
