Maissoun Sharkawi, a researcher and lecturer, holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Lorraine- Nancy. Her thesis explores the social, historical and economic environment in which the concept of Palestinian cultural heritage has been formulated throughout the past two centuries. Her research focuses on the material archive that documents the economy of the village in 19th century Palestine.

She is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies IPS and the Arab Council for Social Sciences ACSS working on a research entitled: Souvenir Business in Palestine: Development of 19th Century Craft Trade in Relation to Religious Tourism.
She is also a research associate for the French Institute of the Near East IFPO and works as UNESCO expert for implementing the 2003 convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage ICH. Sharkawi holds an MA in Cultural Heritage Studies on Conservation and Development of Cultural Industrial and Economic Heritage form the University of Nantes.
She taught a course on Introducing cultural heritage in the Arab world in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at Aix-Marseille University.