Shanii is a PhD researcher and self-identified "pracademic", jointly positioned in the worlds of science communication research and practice, as she explores opportunities for improving inclusion within informal science learning (ISL) organisations.

Shanii grew up and lives on Whadjuk Country (Perth, Western Australia). By a fortunate accident, she fell into science communication by picking up scicomm as a second major during her Bachelor of Science at the University of Western Australia (UWA). Shanii has worked at Scitech, the Western Australian science centre, in a variety of roles since 2013, performing live science shows, delivering hands-on STEM workshops for families and school excursion groups, developing programs and activities, and most recently, leading Scitech's impact evaluation and audience research efforts. She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow in Science Communication at UWA.

After completing her Master of Science Communication at UWA, investigating the impact of science shows on teenage audiences, Shanii developed a passion for research and the important role research should play in science communication practice - which she found isn't always as prevalent as one would hope. And after swearing that two science degrees were enough, her endless curiosity has returned her to the world of study, this time hoping to unpack and identify the steps informal science learning institutions in Australia can take to make themselves more inclusive and accessible to people from marginalised backgrounds and groups typically under-represented in STEM and ISL. She hopes her industry-embedded research will provide practical steps that can be applied in-situ, breaking down barriers not only within society, but between science communication research and practice.