Sher Banu is currently completing her PhD at CELL. She gained her Bachelor of Arts, Honours and Master of Arts degrees from the National University of Singapore. She obtained an Advanced Masters Degree from Leiden University in the Netherlands 2003. Her doctoral topic, 'Rule Behind the Silk Curtain : A Study of the Sultanahs of Aceh 1641-1699', is focused on a radical political transformation that took place in Aceh when the kingdom was placed in the hands of four female rulers from 1641 to 1699. The factors that led the elites of Aceh to choose four female rulers in succession for the first time after a strong, charismatic male ruler such as Iskandar Muda, remain unexplored. The rise of female rule in this staunchly Islamic kingdom poses many intriguing questions.

Sher Banu's research has taken her to several countries in the pursuit of historical data – the islands of Java and Sumatra, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. She is examining Malay, Dutch and English records found in the Arsip Nasional Republik Indonesia in Jakarta, Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, the Nationaal Archief in the Hague and the India Office Records in the British Library respectively. Visiting these places, she has found not only valuable documents but also developed invaluable friendships with local archivists and fellow scholars. In Leiden, the Netherlands, she is part of a team of PhD students in the TANAP project where researchers use VOC documents to research not only the Malay world but also India, China, Japan amongst others, where the VOC had commercial establishments. Sher Banu has two forthcoming articles, 'Ties that Unbind: the Botched Aceh-VOC Alliance for the conquest of Melaka 1640-1641' and a book chapter entitled 'The Sultanahs of Aceh 1641-1699.'