Rabia Nadir is an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Media Studies, Art and Design at the Lahore School of Economics. She has a joint appointment in the Department of Environment Science and Policy Studies where she teaches courses in Urban ecology and Sustainable Urban Planning and Management.  She received her B.Arch. from Pratt Institute N.Y. in 1988 and an MPhil in Environment Science and Policy from the Lahore School of Economics in 2013.

 Her research interests focus on socio-ecological change in rural and urban settlements. She has published on social change in the small cities of Bhera and Balakot, heritage conservation and gentrification in Walled City of Lahore and migrant workers in Lahore. Her present research is focused on female migration from rural Punjab and development and change in Tharparkar.

Earlier in her career she has been a practicing architect and full time instructor at the Departments of Architecture and Interior Design at the National College of Arts Lahore.