Ms. Mehreen Shami is an international development practitioner and academic with field experience spanning the Middle East, West and South Asia, and East Africa.
At UNU-INWEH, Ms. Shami’s work focuses on the lived realities of water insecurity and vulnerability with a geographic focus on Central Asia. Positioned at the intersection of political psychology and international development, her research explores how trauma, memory, and structural inequities shape migrant and refugee well-being.
She recently served as a Planning Officer for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s Global Maritime Crime Programme based in Nairobi and previously worked in programmes for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees’ (UNRWA) Jordan Field Office in Amman.
Ms. Shami graduated as the valedictorian from McMaster University with an M.A. in Global Politics and holds an Honours B.A. in Social Psychology.