Prior to her appointment with DPI, Forough spent 3 years at Charles Sturt University (CSU) as PhD student. She developed a range of experiences in animal health, animal nutrition, animal physiology and immunology and also animal genetic where she had produced a number of publications.

Beside her education, Forough was heavily engaged with the society and worked as National Women’s Officer for Council of International Students Australia (CISA) as a national peak body for all international students studying in Australia. Her role in this position was to advocate for the interest and needs of female international students, advocate for high quality education for female international students, promote cross-cultural awareness and interaction in Australia and create and conduct national student surveys to understand more about needs of female International students.

Due to her commitment to her study and her social engagement, she won many awards: 2018 NSW International Student of the Year from NSW government, Student Leader Value from Charles Sturt University, Writing-Up Award from Charles Sturt University and Outstanding Media Coverage and Research Promotion Student Award from Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovations.