Daughter of a director of an Engineering company in Tehran, Jina Keyvan was born in 1944. She studied at the Persian Secondary School (?? - 1958), after which she presumably moved to the UK, and attended Merton Hall, Oswestry, Shropshire (1958-63) where she completed her secondary education. She entered the Architectural Association, in London, enrolling on the Diploma Course in 1964 as a 1st year student. After completing her third year in the summer of 1967, Keyvan took a year out to undertake practical training at Arthur Swift and Partners, Upper Grosvenor St, London, and was subsequently readmitted in Autumn of 1968 as a fourth-year student. In her fifth year of studies in (1969/70), she elected to study within the AA's Department of Development and Tropical Studies. Keyvan’s thesis proposal, concerning an oil town in Southwest Tehran, was of such scope that she was permitted a year-long extension, eventually submitting in 1971 to gain her AA Diploma. Immediately after graduating, records suggest she applied to (and may have possibly worked) as an architectural assistant at the London Borough of Barnet in the summer of 1971, and was apparently preparing to sit the RIBA Part III professional practice and practical experience examination. Details of her subsequent career are not yet known to us.

 Sources

• Architectural Association Student Register 1945‐1972, AA Archives
• Architectural Association Diploma Roll Book, 1964-75, AA Archives  
• Architectural Association Student Records Microfiche Files, 1963-1971, AA Archives
• AA Membership List 1979