Byrad Yyelland, PhD
Byrad Yyelland (Buy-rad Yell-and) is an associate professor of social sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar, where he is in his 12th year as a faculty member. For nine of those years he also led the Liberal Arts & Sciences program. He is a nationally recognized (Canada) instructor who has taught anthropology, psychology and sociology for more than 30 years, he is a published author, journal editor, and an international presenter who has spoken in 9 countries on 4 continents. He has conducted social research in more than 20 countries around the world, and in Doha he was one of two faculty members invited from his university to speak at the inaugural TedX presentation in Qatar’s Education City.
Byrad’s areas of interest include higher education, especially in the international context, the linkages between art, design and social science, and connections of emotion management with organizational culture. In collaboration with experts from other disciplines, Byrad has also branched into documentary film making, with two films currently online: Living in the Above: Favela Tavares Bastos and Bamboo: The Tradition of the Future. He is currently collaborating on another documentary about bamboo and a new cross-cultural look at relationships between traditional tattooing and spirituality.
Byrad has organized sessions in the biannual multinational Tasmeem conference in Qatar and is looking forward to co-chairing his first entirely online conference. In his off-time, Byrad is working hard to learn Portuguese, piano, and he is ranked Nidan (2nd degree black belt) in Shito-Ryu Karate-Do Genbu-Kai. He teaches classes three times a week in Qatar and continues to train regularly.