Birgit Mershen (Ph.D. Islamic Studies, Philology, Semitic Studies) is a research associate at Ruhr-University Bochum, taught at Yarmouk University, Jordan and Sultan Qaboos University, Oman, was an adviser to the Ministry of Heritage and Culture, and was co-lead of the GHS, Germany, funded research project ‘Lost Cities: Abandoned Settlements in Oman’. Key publications: Bandyopadhyay, S.; Mershen, B. (2022) Falaj communities in Oman: A case for local governance? Ibadī legal rulings and spatial and ethnohistorical observations, Journal of Material Cultures in the Muslim World 3/1, 6–47. https://doi.org/10.1163/26666286-12340028. Mershen, B.; Kanditt, J.; Schmidt-Lux, T.; Döpper, S., Biezeveld, I. (2024) Ḥārāt al Hamra: The journey from an Oasis town to a ‘Heritage Village’, _Journal of Arabian Studies_14:1, 136-150. https://doi.org/10.1080/21534764.2024.2448042. Mershen, B.; Al Saqri, S. (2019) (eds.) The Mountains of Oman. An Illustrated Reference to Nature and Society. Hildesheim: Georg Olms.