Somaieh is passionate about building a sense of community in her environment and is concerned about the social effects of the fast-paced changing world on urban societies. Her research investigates the neighbourhood connections of Iranian migrants in Melbourne and the built environment influences in facilitating these connections in culturally diverse Melbourne suburbs. Somaieh has an interdisciplinary approach to community-oriented strategic planning by investigating local communities’ demands and aspirations in alignment with project objectives and strategic policy context. Somaieh has professional, research and voluntary experience in participatory planning, community-oriented development, informal settlements empowerment, tourism development planning, fieldwork, and leadership. Somaieh received the RMIT University Student Union (RUSU) HDR Student Leader award for 2020 because of her advocacy, initiatives, and development of a sense of community among the HDRs in School of Global, Urban and Social Studies.

Email: somaieh.ebrahimi2@rmit.edu.au