Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh (Persian شهربانو تاجبخش) (born 1965) is an Iranian-American researcher, university lecturer, and United Nations consultant in peacebuilding, conflict resolution, counter-terrorism, and radicalization, best known for her work in "Human Security" and for contributions in the republics of Central Asia and Afghanistan, as cited by the New York Times[1] and other publications[2] as well as hundreds of scholarly publications.

[5][11] Her co-authored book "Human Security: Concepts and Implications"[22] should be, in the words of a reviewer, compulsory text for all those interested in serious academic discussions on the subject.

[24] In 2004, Tadjbakhsh founded Journal of Human Security (la revue de Sécurité Humaine) at Sciences Po, which ran through 2008.

Between 2010-2019, she was a consultant with the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia (UNRCCA) and the UN Office on Counter Terrorism (UNOCT),[45] and helped prepare the Joint Plan of Action for the Implementation of the UN Global Counter Strategy in Central Asia, adopted in November 2011 and revised and updated in 2021.

She helped the Government of Kazakhstan prepare the Code of Conduct for A World Free of Terrorism that was then adopted by 70 countries at the United Nations.

[47][48][49] Since 2017, she has collaborated on numerous projects for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),[43] including helping prepare the Guidebook on a government-civil society collaboration on countering and preventing violent extremism and radicalization that leads to terrorism and conducting training for journalists and the youth on countering the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes through alternative narrative development.

Since 2014, she has been academic advisor to the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) and has provided guidance for the research and publication of a series of papers on radicalization in Afghanistan.

She has also served on editorial boards of the Journal of Conflict Transformation and Security, University of Manchester (2012 – Present), Les Cahiers de l’Orient (2007–2008), Central Asia Monitor (1993–2000), and the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (since 2015).

She led team in preparing Human Development Reports on South Eastern Europe, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Nepal and South East Europe She also worked with teams in preparing Human Development Reports for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Djibouti, and Mongolia among others.

'The fragile nation could easily tumble back into chaos,' concluded the authors of the study, led by Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh.