Zahra Nasreen is an early career academic whose research has made sustained conceptual, empirical, and policy-relevant contributions to housing studies. She received the Macquarie University DVC(R) Commendation Award for impact-oriented PhD research. Her work investigates social and spatial inequalities in cities, with a particular focus on private rental housing, migrant housing precarity, housing informality, platform urbanism, and the application of data science to housing and urban studies. Over the past decade, Zahra has developed significant expertise in mixed-methods research, combining qualitative, quantitative, and spatial analytical approaches to examine housing experiences and make visible issues often overlooked in housing policy. She has authored 20 high-quality research outputs, including 12 journal articles published in leading international housing, urban studies, and planning journals.

Beyond academic contributions, Zahra's policy engagement includes invitations from the NSW Rental Commissioner to deliver a keynote address to more than 100 professionals and to participate in a Technical Working Group on shared housing policy reform, providing expert advice that informed deliberations on proposed regulatory reforms. She has also contributed research-informed insights to a Ministerial Forum on Overcrowding and Homelessness (2018). Her work has reached wide audiences, including a highly read sole-authored article in The Conversation (2024), which attracted more than 126,000 readers globally, and through a featured expert on ABC Radio National. She has also delivered keynotes at major public events, including an International Women’s Day event by Inner West Council in 2024, attended by more than 500 participants.