Zara Nizar
Research Fellow
Zara Nizar is a professional psychologist specializing in adolescent and adult mental health. She currently serves as a Research Fellow at the Brain and Mind Institute, where she leads operational research for the What Works 2-focused project. In this role, she oversees data collection, analysis, and study monitoring. She also contributes as a trainer in an elderly care initiative and is involved in various mental health projects, drawing on her expertise as a clinical practitioner.
Zara is a certified Cognitive Behavioural Therapist (CBT) and psychologist offering online consultations and therapy. She holds a master’s degree in social sciences with a major in Psychology from SZABIST, completed in 2020. She has taught undergraduate psychology courses as a visiting faculty member at SZABIST, DHA Suffa University, and the Institute of Business Management (IoBM), and has supervised the theses of 16 students.
Previously, she worked as a Senior Research Assistant at AKU’s School of Nursing and Midwifery (SONAM), where she helped design a resilience module for pregnant women in collaboration with the study’s Principal Investigator. She is the author of two published research papers and the Art of Parenting manual, developed in partnership with the Aga Khan Foundation, Aga Khan University, and the Government of Pakistan.
From 2019 to 2023, Zara served as a Girl Guide Leader (GGL) and represented the Pakistan Girl Guides Association (PGGA) at the Juliette Low Seminar in the Maldives in 2019. Since 2019, she has been an active member of the Mental Health Team Garden, delivering sessions at youth camps, PARVAAZ, REC teacher training programs, and community mental health awareness events. She currently leads the Mental Health portfolio for the Aga Khan Health Board for Garden and offers her services as a counselor and trainer.
Committed to breaking the stigma surrounding mental health, Zara works to raise awareness and normalize conversations around mental well-being. Her vision includes designing culturally sensitive programs and empowering volunteers to serve as mental health advocates. She is especially passionate about preventive strategies such as stress reduction, resilience-building, and early intervention.
She was recently selected as a Global Mental Health Trainer through the Global Mental Health Resource Group and the Brain and Mind Institute at AKU. As part of this role, she completed two specialized training courses in Nairobi, Kenya, aimed at equipping professionals to deliver culturally informed, trauma-sensitive mental health support within the global Jamat.
