Professor Gulkhumor Tuychieva is a leading scholar in oriental studies and gender development in Central Asia, and in particular a specialist on the women’s movement, education and civil society in Uzbekistan. She holds the post of Professor of Persian Studies at the Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies where she lectures in philology, Persian literature and literary theory. She has published 12 books and more than 50 papers on the history of Persian literature and about 30 publications in social and political studies. Professor Tuychieva is a visiting scholar with the UTS Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Research Centre, where she is working on a study of women’s leadership in Australia and Uzbekistan. Her visit is made possible with the generous support of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

Dr Angeline Low is UTS Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Angeline specializes in entrepreneurship studies with research interests in leadership, gender and ethnicity. Her current research projects cover three countries, namely Uzbekistan, Australia and Canada where she studies Muslim women entrepreneurs, the phenomenon and character of their change leadership. As an early career researcher, Angeline’s academic record includes top paper awards at international conferences, journal publications, and a forthcoming book on Immigrant Women Entrepreneurs in Contemporary Western Societies with Edward Elgar Publishers, USA. Prior to academic research, Angeline has a varied background, comprising careers in senior corporate management and business. She is an active advocate for the improvement in the status of women and children and sits on NGOs Boards.