Shaika Al-Nassr

Shaika Nasser Al-Nassr is Director of the Museum of Islamic Art and a specialist in museum collections, exhibitions and Islamic art.

She was born in 1980 in Al-Nassr into a close and supportive family. Her father, an engineer and among the first Qataris to graduate in Britain, and her mother trusted her decisions from an early age. Although the family was comfortable, she managed her schoolwork independently and never relied on a private tutor or waited to be told to study. That confidence later helped her balance professional leadership with family life and motherhood to Asmaa and Nasr Al-Nassr.

Books, sport at Doha Club and family gatherings divided her childhood. Weekends brought the sea in summer and the desert in winter, while each summer holiday introduced the children to another country and culture. The combination fostered curiosity, reading and a wider frame of reference.

Her father balanced clear boundaries with freedom of choice, allowing her more independence than many girls of her generation while remaining committed to family custom. She attended Asmaa Bint Abi Bakr Primary School from 1986, then Al-Sadd Preparatory School and Umm Ayman Secondary School. An excellent pupil in the literary stream, she entered Qatar University in 2000 and graduated in English literature in 2006.

Immediately after graduation, she considered a collections-coordinator post at the Museum of Islamic Art within the then Qatar Museums Authority. The institution was new, the museum building unfinished and the collections held under heavy security, but those very uncertainties made the opportunity attractive. She joined in 2007 and quickly found that rare objects and their place in Islamic history had turned a job into a vocation.

That year, Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani nominated her and several colleagues for a three-month programme in Islamic art at SOAS University of London in cooperation with the British Museum. Workshops, museum visits and access to British Museum stores taught her how to research, document and present the histories of objects to visitors. Studying beside specialists from different cultures also deepened her connection to colleagues and to the field.

On returning, she helped prepare the Museum of Islamic Art for opening. She took responsibility for registering, packing and moving more than ten thousand fragile and valuable objects from storage to the museum within four months, followed by a complete inventory and installation process. After the November 2008 opening, a staff of only eighteen required her to work across conservation, events, research and other departments, giving her unusually broad experience.

Determined to add academic depth to that experience, she applied to UCL despite demanding admission requirements. Abdullah Al-Najjar, then Chief Executive, supported study alongside her responsibilities. Selected as one of twenty candidates from three hundred, she visited museums weekly, learnt from their directors and trained for three months with the collections and exhibitions departments at Tate Modern. In 2010–11, she became the first Qatari to earn a master’s degree in museum studies; her dissertation examined how the display of collections affects the visitor experience.

After returning, she established and led the Exhibitions Department, built a specialist team, introduced exhibition policies and delivered more than twenty-three temporary exhibitions to international standards in Doha, Britain and Canada. She also contributed to museum publications, including ‘Hidden Treasures’ in 2010 and ‘Reading Qur’anic Manuscripts’ in 2011.

She later joined ‘Quration Generation’, a six-month museum-leadership programme launched by Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Her final proposal reworked ideas from the master’s dissertation into a project to improve the Museum of Islamic Art visitor experience. Her Excellency approved its implementation, and work began in 2016.

Performance in the Exhibitions Department led to appointment as Deputy Director for Museum Affairs in 2017. She helped establish partnerships between the Museum of Islamic Art and leading international museums and delivered exhibitions that met demanding global standards despite the institution’s relative youth.

Among the major projects she managed with the team was the museum’s renewal. Facilities were improved and permanent galleries reimagined and reinstalled to create a more accessible, interactive and educational visit. A coherent route, expanded interpretation and child-friendly resources opened the museum more fully to families and young visitors. Galleries were organised by historical and cultural theme, period and geography, while a new section on Islam in Southeast Asia explored trade and the movement of ideas across and beyond the Islamic world.

Dedicated galleries introduced the Holy Qur’an and its history and traced events leading to the establishment of the Caliphate. Images and films presented different geometric and architectural traditions alongside Andalusian music. A redesigned entrance, cafés and retail spaces strengthened access and made the visit a more integrated encounter with Islamic history.

Before the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani reopened the Museum of Islamic Art in its renewed form. Official guests included Emine Erdogan, wife of His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of the Republic of Turkey, and Her Excellency Elke Budenbinder, wife of His Excellency the President of the Federal Republic of Germany. She guided them through metalwork, woodwork, ceramics, jewellery, textiles, coins and glass, explaining the museum’s development and its role in culture, creativity and exchange.

In 2023, she also received a princess from Sicily who had recently converted to Islam and wished to explore Islamic art and history. Their discussion centred on connections and cultural exchange between civilisations, adding another dimension to the professional experience gained from high-level visits.

Continuous study remained essential. Her programmes included ‘Museum Leaders: The Next Generation’ at the Getty Leadership Institute in Boston and ‘Executive Leadership’ at Qatar Leadership Center. Work at Tate and the National Painting Museum in London broadened her institutional experience, while reading kept her abreast of developments across culture and museums. She presented more than fifteen academic papers and lectures on museums in Qatar and abroad, including in the United States, Italy, Bosnia and Japan.

Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani remained the principal professional inspiration. Her leadership connected art with identity, social cohesion, the economy, creativity, sustainable development and cultural diplomacy. A sustained emphasis on education and human development equipped Qataris to contribute to global cultural discussion, while an accessible and collaborative management style encouraged employees to offer ideas and develop their abilities.

The museum’s relaunch benefited directly from Her Excellency’s attention and support. Her humility, forward-looking vision and commitment to a dynamic working environment shaped the subject’s own approach to leadership. Professional responsibility from the beginning of her career nevertheless brought intense pressure alongside family obligations; determination, careful scheduling and changing priorities allowed her to sustain both.