Shaneen is a designer, writer and innovator, and co-Director of POD with Belinda Allwood. She has specialist expertise in housing, health and community projects and design engagement, and is well known for her strategic project management prowess and workshop facilitation skills. Shaneen has a deep respect for First Nations people and culture and is honoured to have been working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on projects for 30 years. Shaneen has formal qualifications in architecture, project management and research. And experience in anthropology, program management, community engagement, sociology, teaching, business development and marketing.

Shaneen is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Queensland and James Cook University, and a member of the Queensland Urban Design and Places Panel and the First Nations Advisory Committee for the Australian Institute of Architects. Shaneen holds a PhD from the University of Queensland on the relationship between design and culture in Aboriginal housing and has applied this research knowledge to many Indigenous projects in Queensland, the Northern Territory, New South Wales, South Australia and Canada. Shaneen is a regular contributor to Architecture Australia, Houses and Sanctuary Magazines and is the author of many journal articles and book chapters.

Shaneen lives on a farm near Cairns where she plants trees, cooks, reads, gardens and propagates native plants for relaxation.