Dr. Farid Shafiyev is the Chairman of the Center for Analysis of International Relations and Multiculturalism (AIR Center).

Dr. Shafiyev studied history and law at Baku State University. He subsequently earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School and a Ph.D. in History from Carleton University.

He served in the Armed Forces from 1987 to 1989 and began his professional career in 1994 at the Institute of Ethnography and Archaeology of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences.

In 1996, Dr. Shafiyev joined Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baku, he worked in the Political-Military Issues Division and the United Nations Affairs Division. His diplomatic assignments included serving at the Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan to the United Nations in New York City from 1998 to 2001 and at the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Canada from 2005 to 2009.

In 2009, Dr. Shafiyev was appointed Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Canada, serving until July 2014. He subsequently served as Ambassador of Azerbaijan to the Czech Republic from July 2014 to February 2019.

On February 19, 2019, he was appointed Chairman of the Center for Analysis of International Relations.

Dr. Shafiyev is the author of numerous opinion pieces, articles, and academic publications, including Resettling the Borderlands: State Relocations and Ethnic Conflict in the South Caucasus, published by McGill-Queen’s University Press in 2018.

Following the reorganization of the Center pursuant to Decree No. 601 of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated February 20, 2026, Farid Shafiyev was appointed Chairman of its Board by Order of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated September 11, 2026.

He currently teaches international relations and foreign policy at ADA University.