Neelam Raina is a senior lecturer at Middlesex University, London. She is a Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) challenge leader for Protracted Conflict, Refugee Crises and Forced Displacement. Her research interests include conflict, material cultures, gender, and livelihood generation. Neelam has been working in the region of Kashmir (both Indian and Pakistani) since the early 2000s, and has conducted participatory action research including design and enterprise training for women in the region focusing on material cultures, identity and representation of the people of Kashmir. She has worked with NGOs, educational charities, and academic departments in India and Pakistan. Neelam also is the principal investigator on the GCRF Partnership against Conflict Crime and Security Research (PaCCS). Her research is cross- and interdisciplinary as it connects arts and humanities and the social sciences and joins the dotted line that connects education and employment to post conflict reconstruction, resilience, capacity development and peace building. She is a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics at the Centre for Women, Peace and Security. She is an editor for the International Journal of Traditional Arts, and her new work Creative Economies of Culture in South Asia - Performers and Craftspeople comes out in 2019. Neelam holds a bachelor's in history from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi University, a master's degree in textile design from the National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi, and an M.A. in design and manufacture from De Montfort University. She obtained a Ph.D. in design and development from De Montfort University, Leicester.