Hooshmand holds an MA degree from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, Iran, (1995-1998), and a PhD from Newcastle University, UK, on The design principles of traditional urban cores in Iran (2001-2006). He is an Associate Professor of Urban Design at the University of Kurdistan, Iran. As an academic member of the Department of Urban Planning and Design, he headed this department during 2006-2016. Since 2015 till 2019, he has been Vice Dean for Research at the Faculty of Art and Architecture, University of Kurdistan. His research mainly focuses on public spaces, Kurdish/Iranian cities, urban form, and urban sustainability. Hooshmand Alizadeh is also a senior postdoc researcher at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. In February 2019, he was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship towards joining the Institute for Urban and Regional Research in Vienna. His current project is titled A cross-cultural comparative study of women's interaction in public spaces in Iran and Iraq and a selection of European cities. The study examines women's spatiality, particularly the extent of their interactions in public spaces.