Ethnomedicine and ethnobotanical studies of plants by indigenous people Cross-cultural comparison of plants between different ethnic groups Plant diversity and ecological studies in different moutain areas The effects of humans on natural products and the environment Pleoethnobotany Medicinal plant selection Phylogeny medicinal plants as prediction tool for drug discovery.

PhD Project

A Cross-Cultural comparison of medicinal floras among Baluch and Kurdish people in Iran.
Baloch and Kurd peoples are known as two independent ethnic categories who initially resisted to modernization policies over many hundreds years.

Over my PhD study, the similarities and differences in medicinal plant uses by the two ethnic groups would be detected. We could discover how the geographical and historical factors influence the distinction in medicinal plant usages in both ethnic groups. In addition, Linguistically, Baluchi and Kurdish languages both belong to the branch of north western Iranian languages, closely related to the Parthian language. So, some vernacular names might have shared between two tribes. Besieds, our goal is to measure the analysis data on the use of a particular medicinal plants to select them for further research.

Supervisors
Dr. Caroline S Weckerle, PD. and Dr Reto Nyffeler, PD (Institute of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany)

• 2020- Present PhD student at the institute of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
• 2015- 2017 Lecturer, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Sistan & Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
• 2012-2015 M.Sc in Plant Systematic and Ecology, University of Tehran,Tehran, Iran Master Thesis: Ethnobotanical Study in some parts of Sistan and Balochistan Province (SE of Iran)
• 2008- 2012 B.Sc in General Biology, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran.

Honours and Scholarships

Admitted as a Main candidate for the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship in Switzerland in 2020

Maleki, T., Akhani, H., (2018). Ethnobotanical and ethnomedicinal studies in Baluchi tribes: a case study in Mt. Taftan, southeastern Iran. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 217: 163-177