Dr Leyla Sayfutdinova

  • Senior Lecturer in Critical Area Studies (Political & International Studies)

Biography

I joined University of Glasgow in October 2023. Prior to coming to Glasgow, I was a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Social Anthropology and the Centre for Energy Ethics at the University of St Andrews (2020-2023), and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Karelian Institute of the University of Eastern Finland. 

I received my PhD in Sociology and Eurasian Studies from the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Türkiye, in 2016. In my doctoral dissertation I examined the impact of the postsocialist transition on the engineering profession in Azerbaijan. I have longstanding interests in the issues of identity and nationalism going back to my undergraduate training in Conflict Studies (St Petersburg State University, 2001-2004).

 

Research interests

My research to date has broadly encompassed two themes: the societal impacts of postsocialist industrial change, and the questions of identity and territoriality, with a focus on Azerbaijan. My latest research project, entitled 'Turning oil into stone', brings these themes together to examine the role of oil and oil industry in the production of urban space and culture in Baku, Azerbaijan. In the future, I want to expand the framework that I am currently developing to explore the role of energy extraction and distribution in the construction of Eurasian region. 

 

Research groups

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: Articles | Book Reviews | Website
Number of items: 6.

Articles

Sayfutdinova, Leyla ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0023-5286 (2025) Why Bayırşəhər is more than architectural heritage. Baku Research Institute, Nov. 2025.

Sayfutdinova, Leyla ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0023-5286 (2025) Hidden in plain sight: oil heritage in a still-industrial city. Urban History, (doi: 10.1017/S0963926825100412) (Early Online Publication)

Sayfutdinova, Leyla ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0023-5286 (2022) Ethnic boundaries and territorial borders: on the place of Lezgin irredentism in the construction of national identity in Azerbaijan. Nationalities Papers, 50(4), pp. 794-812. (doi: 10.1017/nps.2021.3)

Ergun, Ayça and Sayfutdinova, Leyla ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0023-5286 (2021) Informal practices in the making of professionals: the case of engineers in Soviet and Post-Soviet Azerbaijan. Work, Employment and Society, 35(5), pp. 931-947. (doi: 10.1177/0950017020947581)

Book Reviews

Sayfutdinova, Leyla ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0023-5286 (2022) Oil Spaces: Exploring the Global Petroleumscape, edited by Carola Hein, Abingdon,Routledge, 1922, 301 pp., £35 (paperback). Planning Perspectives, 37(6), pp. 1315-1317. (doi: 10.1080/02665433.2022.2133434)[Book Review]

Website

Sayfutdinova, Leyla ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0023-5286 (2021) The Flame Towers of Baku: New Building, Old Symbol? [Website]

This list was generated on Sat Dec 13 23:41:14 2025 GMT.

Prior publications

Book Section

Leyla Sayfutdinova (2025) Land of Fire, Temples of Extraction Crossref. (doi: 10.4324/9781003473534-4)

Leyla Sayfutdinova, Gokhan Alper Ataşer, Ayşe Kavuncu, Murat Yılmaz (2014) Bakı Türk Dünyası Başkentleri University of St Andrews CRIS. ISBN 978-9944-237-25-3

Book Review

Leyla Sayfutdinova (2021) Spaceship in the desert. Energy, climate change, and urban design in Abu Dhabi Anthropological Notebooks University of St Andrews CRIS.

Other

Leyla Sayfutdinova (2021) THE FLAME TOWERS OF BAKU: NEW BUILDING, OLD SYMBOL? University of St Andrews CRIS.

Leyla Sayfutdinova (2018) “Tapş” (Azerbaijan) The Global Encyclopedia of Informality University of St Andrews CRIS. ISBN 9781911307907

Article

(2018) Azerbaijani Engineers in the Global Economy: Transnational Professionals Versus “Button-Pushers” Journal of Developing Societies Leyla Sayfutdinova. ISSN 1745-2546 (doi: 10.1177/0169796x18767993)

(2018) Mapping the mobility of Azerbaijani Soviet engineers: linking West and East? Labor History Leyla Sayfutdinova. ISSN 1469-9702 (doi: 10.1080/0023656x.2018.1429183)

(2017) Post-Soviet small businesses in Azerbaijan: the legacies of the Soviet second economy Caucasus Survey Leyla Sayfutdinova. ISSN 2376-1202 (doi: 10.1080/23761199.2017.1280927)

(2015) Negotiating welfare with the informalizing state: Formal and informal practices among engineers in post-Soviet Azerbaijan Journal of Eurasian Studies Leyla Sayfutdinova. ISSN 1879-3673 (doi: 10.1016/j.euras.2014.08.002)

Leyla Sayfutdinova (2009) Baku und Aserbaidschan. Ein schwieriges Verhältnis University of St Andrews CRIS.

Edited Book

Leyla Sayfutdinova, Anar Valiyev (2018) Study Series on Public Policy Issues University of St Andrews CRIS.

Grants

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Individual Fellowship, grant no. 897155

Supervision

I welcome proposals on post- and de-colonial approaches to Central Asia and the Caucasus, energy transition, and industrial change in the region

'Becoming a queer migrant in Kazakhstan' (with Dr Francesca Stella)

Teaching

Energy, Politics, and Society in Eurasia (CEES5087, convenor)

Contemporary Challenges in Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia (CEES5065)

Designing Your Security & Area Studies Research Proposal (CEES5090)

CEES2A: Postcommunist Russia and the former Soviet Union

CEES2B: Central Europe After Communism