Zahra grew up in the UK, Pakistan, and Kenya, and graduated from Yale-NUS College in Singapore with a BSc in Physical Sciences and Environmental Studies. During an exchange semester with the Sea Education Association, she sailed across the Pacific as a deckhand and student researcher, conducting deployments and studying copepod biodiversity. Her final year was spent researching mesoplastic pollution along Singapore’s coastlines. Following graduation, she volunteered with Flotilla4Change, a fleet of boats sailing to COP30 in Brazil, helping design citizen-science research projects.

At ARL, she is eager to get out in the field and immerse herself in the science and technology behind underwater acoustics. Outside the lab, she enjoys being on the water, learning sign languages, and dancing.