An Asian woman of achievement

Ms Ashtiany was born in Iran, so naturally, there are many roses and perfumed flowers in her garden too. As she pointed out - all Persian women love perfume.

Ms Ashtiany loves humanity too, which is one of the many reasons why she was a winner of the professional of the year category in the ninth Asian Women of Achievement Awards.

Competition for the awards was tough, with a shortlist of 44 candidates deemed the best yet by awards sponsor Lloyds TSB.

Mike Bokaie, chief executive of Real Business magazine, said: "The winners this year were incredibly impressive, from an entrepreneur making millions right through to women campaigning for a better world."

Ms Ashtiany was among the latter.

Guests included Princess Badiya of Jordan and Liz Hurley, who arrived in one of her gorgeous dresses, which naturally rivalled the many sparkling saris won that night.

Unfortunately, Ms Ashtiany was unable to comment about the dress, as she had been taken to one side to be photographed after picking up her trophy when Ms Hurley appeared.

As one of the UK's most respected employment and discrimination lawyers, who has written widely and published extensively on issues of discrimination law and positive action, Ms Ashtiany was a natural candidate for the award.

Having taken an undergraduate degree at Warwick University in philosophy and politics and a postgraduate degree in international relations at Birmingham, she went on to work for the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants and then the UN High Commission for Refugees.

During this period she became increasingly interested in the legal, social and economic position of migrant workers in the UK and took some leave to research and write about this issue.

She subsequently trained as a solicitor, specialising in employment and anti-discrimination law, working initially with the Oxford firm Cole & Cole (now Morgan Cole) where she spent much of her training contract working with the firm's senior partner, who allowed her to take on her own employment cases.

After qualifying in 1986, she gained partnership within three years.

She is now a partner with the City firm Nabarro LLP, where she heads the employment group.

Her work predominantly consists of large-scale or complex issues, in particular change-management projects, cases involving difficult issues of employment and discrimination law, and policy and strategic advice for public and private bodies. Her clients include HSBC and Oxford University, who moved with her when she quit Cole & Cole for Nabarro.

Her service as an Equal Opportunities Commissioner and her contribution to the understanding of migrant and refugee issues as a UK refugee counsellor was taken into consideration too, along with her work as a member of the panel inquiring into modernising medical careers, led by Sir John Tooke.

Ms Ashtiany also sits on the board of Channel 4, The Equal Rights Trust and the Oxford Piano Festival.

It is the latter that she's particularly proud of, as Ms Ashtiany is an accomplished pianist, thanks in part to her early schooling, when at the age of eight her Iranian father, who spoke very little English, booked her and her sister, Safoura, into an English boarding school specialising in the arts.

Had his command of the language been better she would have, no doubt, received a far more formal education.

"Academic subjects, were a kind of extra at this wonderful school," said Ms Ashtiany, who spent her early years joyfully studying ballet, flamenco, tap dancing and piano for three or four hours every day.

It was whilst at this school, situated deep in the English countryside, that she came to admire the British and our capacity to help one another.

"When we first started school the only English words we knew were 'yes', 'no' and 'pencil', which made it hard for us to make friends, so my sister and I just looked after each other."

Ms Ashtiany explained that they should have returned home to Iran during the various school holidays and would have done so had their father not been hospitalised after suffering a serious road accident.

They did stay at the school during the first summer break, but by the time the next holiday came round they discovered that various parents had learned of their plight and took it upon themselves to look after them.

Their kindness impressed her so much. It came to influence the way she saw the British. That feeling has never left her.

She has the same admiration for the organisers of the Oxford Philomusica International Piano Festival, which celebrates its tenth anniversary between July 30 and August 6.

"This festival is an extraordinary testament to the energy and enthusiasm of its president, Andras Schiff, and artistic director Marios Papadopoulos, who have created a festival which has achieved a global reputation.

"What I like about it is the fact it's a festival which celebrates teaching and developing the skills of young musicians. It is not competitive. It's collaborative; humble even. Everyone is there for the common purpose of respecting the music," she explained.

In her youth, Ms Ashtiany did perform in a few concerts. Now she plays for the sheer joy of it and as a way of relaxing after a busy week in London.

Asked if the music becomes part of her when she plays, Ms Ashtiany shakes her head and explains that, as you need to play partly with the mind, it would not do to get emotional.

"The thing you have to do when playing is not be you but act as a platform for the music so it sounds the way it should - it's a type of letting go," she said.

One thing she will never let go of is her love of Oxford, the city she came to love from the moment she first arrived with her husband, legal academic Paul Davies, in 1973.

She sees Oxford as the place where she belongs and somewhere that she wants to put something back into.

"I love both the Town and the Gown - my links with the Town being the hospital and the Gown being Oxford University, where I have been an external advisor for ten years. I am also an honorary fellow of Mansfield College and am particularly proud of that as it's here that those who missed out on a university education in their youth can be offered another chance.

"The fact that it inspires people in their middle years, and many who have reached retirement, to study for a degree is inspirational," she said, adding that Mansfield offers its students an extraordinarily live, vibrant environment in which to work.

"Oxford has just got into my bones. Sadly my work takes me to London during the week, but when I return at the weekends I really do feel I am coming home."

Having said that, Ms Ashtiany reflected on the many professional women in Iran, Afghanistan and other troubled areas of the world who were not so lucky.

She was particularly aware of their plight on the night she was presented with her award, and the way many have become the visible symbols of power struggles, especially those who are not allowed to choose how they dress and who are not free to walk the streets without first covering themselves up.

Whilst Ms Ashtiany has made Oxford her home, she's still conscious of the silken thread that binds her to the women of her home country.

She is also conscious that we live in a world of enormous problems and big challenges, such as climate change, economics.

However although it's difficult to be hopeful, Ms Ashtiany is convinced we should be.

"We have to strive quite hard now, but as people will continue to bring children into the world, we owe it to theses children to find ways of resolving these issues," she said.

When asked what, within the many aspects of her life and work, she was most proud of, she immediately mentioned working alongside Sir John Took as a member of the panel on the modernising medical careers inquiry, which took place last December.

She spoke of the selfless dedication, extreme professionalism and excellent service we get from members of the medical profession, which, she believes passionately, should be nurtured.

The inquiry came up with more than 50 recommendations which would ensure that we do not continue to lose talented doctors, who, she added, were leaving the profession and country in droves because they have become disheartened at not being listened to.

This inquiry, however, is but one of so many things that touch Ms Ashtiany's multifarious life, which she hopes will have a positive effect on the world in which we live.