Ina Schmidbauer worked as a research assistant within Heritage as Placemaking. They hold a BA in Anthropology from Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, for which they completed a thesis titled Zwischen Good Morning und Namaste. Zum Umgang mit Multilingualität unter Schüler*innen im ruralen Nepal (“Between good morning and namaste: Multilingualism among students in rural Nepal”). Ina holds an MA from the University of Heidelberg in the program ‘Development, Environment, Society and History of South Asia’ (MA South Asian Studies), with a major in Anthropology and a minor in History and Politcial Science. Their thesis, based on research completed in the summer of 2023, is about the landscape of queer activisms in Kathmandu. Ina’s broader research interests include identity, marginality, everyday life, activism, gender, and queerness.

For the Heritage as Placemaking project, Ina worked on translating Nepali sources, researches and organizes literature, and assists with administrative and organizational activities. They also worked as a research student for the Specialized Information Services South Asia, part of the Heidelberg University Library.