Mohamed Elshahed studied architecture at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, before joining the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Art and Architecture at MIT. He holds a PhD in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies from NYU. In 2016–17, he curated the Modern Egypt Project at the British Museum, where he helped acquire a new collection of material culture from the past century in Egypt. He also curated the exhibition Modernist Indignation at the 2018 London Design Biennale. His book Cairo Since 1900: An Architectural Guide is forthcoming.

Farida Makar is pursuing a PhD in history at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on the history of progressive pedagogy in Egypt between 1900 and 1952. She has previously taught in the History Department at the American University in Cairo, where she also worked as a senior researcher for the Law and Society Research Unit. There, she focused on the relationship between law, knowledge production, culture, and education.