Ifat Gazia is a Kashmiri Muslim scholar currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Communications at UMass Amherst. Her work broadly looks at the intersection of technology and social justice. A self-taught filmmaker, she directed her first widely acclaimed documentary ‘Long ago I died’ at the age of 19. Ifat has also co-produced ‘Here Still’, an award-winning short documentary on Kashmir, which received Asia’s Best Independent Documentary Film at the All Asia Independent Film Festival 2020 and screened at festivals across US and Asia. Ifat reported from Kashmir for many years as a journalist on issues of social justice and human rights, working with local and international publications before she left home for her education at SOAS, University of London. She holds an MA in Media and Development with a core concentration on the use of Information Communication Technologies. She currently hosts and produces The Kashmir Podcast. Ifat’s work has been supported by the Shuttleworth Foundation and The Media Democracy Fund. She is also the recipient of multiple fellowships awarded by UMass Amherst and outside institutions.