We are delighted to announce that Ms Zhenia Mahdi has received the prestigious Stuart D. B. Picken Scholarship for The Vienna Conference on Arts & Humanities (VCAH2026), to be held at the Austria Center Vienna, Austria, and online between November 13-17, 2026.
Please join us in congratulating Ms Mahdi on receiving this award.
Launched in 2016, IAFOR’s grants and scholarships programme provides financial support to PhD students and early career academics with the aim of helping them pursue research excellence and achieve their academic goals through interdisciplinary study and interaction.
Our warmest congratulations go to the scholarship recipient.
Stuart D. B. Picken Scholarship Recipient
Zhenia Mahdi
University of Brighton, United Kingdom
Peak Experiences and Flow States in Slow and Meditative Screendance Filmmaking
Ms Zhenia Mahdi is a Belfast- based multidisciplinary artist, currently completing her practice-based PhDPh.D. research at the University of Brighton, United Kingdom, exploring peak experience and flow states in slow and meditative Screendance filmmaking. She holds an MA in Future Communications, a BA in Visual Communication, and an HSD in Fashion.
She has made several short films, and her feature documentary Tapestry of Colours (2012) has been screened in 28 venues in Ireland and the United States. Her vocals have featured on Banco De Gaia's album Apollo (2013) and on film soundtracks of Ancient Skies (2012), Monkey Love (2006) and Pump Girl (2009). She has also held several exhibitions of her paintings in Ireland.
She is the recipient of an Arts Council NI award in 2026 to develop her current work-in-progress, which is an experiential and transportive multidisciplinary piece for stage that allows the audience to witness and step into the creative experience.
About the Stuart D. B. Picken Scholarship
Professor Stuart D. B. Picken was a cherished friend and an inspiration to IAFOR and its community of supporters. In honour of Professor Picken and his dedication to academia, the ideals of intercultural understanding, and the principles of interdisciplinary study, IAFOR created the Stuart D. B. Picken Scholarship, an award supported by the Stuart D. B. Picken Memorial Fund.
This award is given to PhD students and early career academics who are in need of funding to complete their research, and whose work demonstrates excellence in the core values of academic rigour, intercultural sensitivity, and interdisciplinarity.
About IAFOR’s Grants and Scholarships
IAFOR is dedicated to helping young scholars achieve their research and academic goals, while also encouraging them to apply the principles of interdisciplinary study to their work. IAFOR offers travel and accommodation grants as well as full or partial scholarships covering conference registration fees to PhD students and early career academics who might not otherwise have the financial resources to be able to attend our academic conferences.
Awards are based on the appropriateness of the educational opportunity in relation to the applicant’s field of study, financial need, and contributions to their community and to IAFOR’s mission of interdisciplinarity. Scholarships will be awarded based on availability of funds from IAFOR and will vary with each conference. The Organising Committee of the relevant IAFOR conference will award scholarships to eligible applicants with exceptional abstracts accepted for presentation following the blind peer review process.
For further information on IAFOR grants and scholarships, please visit the Grants and Scholarships page of the IAFOR website.
2026 Grants and Scholarships
Grants and scholarships are still available for IAFOR conferences with open abstract submission deadlines. If you are eligible for an IAFOR grant or scholarship and would like to be considered, please submit your abstract to the conference you would like to attend and select the checkbox for the relevant award during the submission process.
