Shaheera Pesnani
Research Assistant
Shaheera Pesnani is working as a Research Assistant with the South Asian Studies Unit at the IIS. In 2020, she volunteered with the Ismaili Heritage Project at the Institute to research and document the Ismaili heritage sites in Gwadar, Pakistan. Shaheera also participates in an honorary capacity with the Indian Ocean Exchanges art history research fellowship sponsored by the Getty Foundation.
Her scholarship lies at the crossroad of the study of architecture and communities. She completed her MSc in Architectural Conservation from the University of Edinburgh in 2021.
Her dissertation focused on assessing the internationally recognized HIA (Heritage Impact Assessment) framework and using it to analyse the impact of CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) development on the built heritage and local communities in Gwadar, Pakistan.
Previously, Shaheera completed GPISH (Graduate Program in Islamic Studies and Humanities, class of 2021) at the Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS). Her final research project looked at the role of intangible cultural heritage in the formation of displaced identities among the Syrian refugees in Berlin, Germany.” In 2018, she obtained a BSc (Hons) in Social Development and Policy from Habib University, Pakistan.
