Sheila Aketch is a researcher at the University of Bayreuth, specialising in Africa's socio-political and cultural impacts of large-scale development projects. Her current research focuses on the Massai community in Kenya, emphasising their agency in responding to state-led development initiatives. She investigates themes such as indigenous resistance, cultural preservation, political ecology, and environmental justice, with particular emphasis on how local communities assert their rights and navigate development pressures. Sheila's work highlights the complex power dynamics, negotiation, and agency between local communities and global development forces by analysing the intersections of Indigenous identity, environmental change, and governance.

As part of the INFRAGLOB project, Sheila Aketch contributed to research on the construction of the Lamu Port, a key component of the LAPSSET Corridor. Her study critically examined the contestation surrounding the port's development, focusing on how local communities challenge this project through their lived realities. Sheila’s work emphasised how local perceptions of development are shaped by historical and ongoing marginalisation, highlighting how these communities define development based on their own experiences. Central to this analysis were themes of identity, belonging, and resistance, exploring how marginalised groups fight for recognition in the face of structural changes that impact their livelihoods and lifestyles. The study also delved into everyday forms of contestation and subtle forms of resistance, building a foundation for Sheila’s current research on the Massai community in Kenya.

Sheila Aketch is an Erasmus Mundus Scholar and recipient of the prestigious Springer Best Master Award for her research in the European Interdisciplinary Master in African Studies (EIMAS). Her master's study focused on the intersections of material religion, lived religion, and multimodal analysis. Through innovative methodologies, Sheila examined the impact of Seventh-Day Adventist practices on the everyday lives of the Massai in Arusha and Manyara, Tanzania, analysing how religious practices influence cultural identities and social transformations. By combining ethnographic fieldwork with visual and textual analysis, her research provided a deeper understanding of the socio-cultural dimensions of religion. This approach continues to inform her work, blending immersive field methods with interdisciplinary analysis to explore the complex dynamics of development and identity.