Dr Seher Mirza

Seher is a design practitioner, researcher and facilitator. Her research spans 15 years of work in grass roots level development with marginalised communities with thriving material cultures. Her research examines power in participatory design and practice-based design methodology and epistemology creating empowering collaborative spaces.

Seher’s research focuses on power, embodied knowledge and embodied making, collaboration power dynamics, traditional and indigenous craft, textiles and power relations frameworks for design futures. She is also interested in design theory and methodology related to power in participatory design, where she is developing her practice-based concept of ‘dialogic power’ of makers, in designer and marginalised community collaboration contexts.

Seher is a textile maker and specialises in weave. She is Associate Editor for the Journal of Design, Business and Society by Intellect Books, a member of the Art Workers Guild, London and a core team member and editor (Textiles, Fashion and Craft), for The Karachi Collective, an online art, design and culture publication focusing on Pakistan and the South Asian region. She has worked in the NGO sector on women's empowerment and also runs S jo – a social business, premised on critical reflection and mutual learning – which she founded through her PhD work in rural Pakistan. S jo collections have been sold at the V&A, London and Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester.