Helia Asgari has conducted her PhD research on the subfield of "governance from below". Specifically, she explored citizens' strategies and forms of controlling communicative environments in zones of crisis, with the specific case of Iran. Her interests concern the area of media governance, public sphere and social movements in Middle East. She completed her PhD in November 2017 and serves as an affiliate Lab Member.

Helia earned her bachelor and master degrees in communication and journalism at the Islamic Azad University, Tehran in 2007 and 2011 respectively. Her MA thesis elaborated on "the role of cinema on social and psychological modernization of Iranian people". Helia has worked as an artistic director and media educator by Children United Dreams, an institute for media literacy and media education. Also, she worked as a Document film researcher, director, Editor and photographer. She has attended and presented in summits and conferences and work on democracy, social movements and women's issues in Middle East especially on her case study Iran.