Trained as an architect and development planner, at Development Alternatives, Zeenat guides research on public policy development action focused on local,national global concerns on sustainable consumption and production, green and inclusive circular economy models, and building resilience to climate change in rapidly growing contexts of the global south.She is currently researching reciprocal relationships of learning systems and nature-based solutions for urban resilience and am registered as a Ph.D. scholar for the same at the TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi India. She also teaches a module on Sustainability and the Built Environment at the Anant National University, Ahmedabad, India, and has been a guest lecturer at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi and the Nirma University, Ahmedabad.
She has been a member of the Multi-stakeholder Advisory Committee (MAC) of the Sustainable Buildings and Construction Programme of UN’s One Planet Network, member of the Steering Committee of the Green Economy Coalition (GEC) in India, member of the Strategic Steering Committee of UNEP PAGE Programme in India and a member of the Steering group of the Future Earth Urban Knowledge Action Network (Urban-KAN). She is a part of the Task Force on Green and Inclusive Circular Economy for Angul District in the State of Orissa, India, Chair of the BIS Working Group on Rural Housing and member - CED 51- Committee on Housing and Planning of the Bureau of Indian Standards. In the past, she has been a founding member and Co-Chair of the Board of the Climate Action Network South Asia, member of the Task force of the Rural Housing, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India and a member of the Sub-Committee on Construction and Demolition Waste Management in Urban Areas of the NITI Aayog, Government of India.