Saima Saeed has a diverse work experience spanning across media industry, media teaching and research. An alumnus of AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia and Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi, she completed her doctoral studies from the Department of Social Work, Jamia Millia Islamia on the role of television in ushering in, catalyzing and sustaining social development.

Prof Saeed joined the Centre for Culture, Media and Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi in 2007 as part of its founding team and has been with it ever since. Prior to this, she has worked as a media/news professional and has been associated with some leading news channels in India like NDTV 24X7 and Headlines Today, TV Today Group.

Published in well known journals including Journalism Studies, Society and Culture in South Asia and Economic and Political Weekly, she is the author of Screening the Public Sphere: Media and Democracy in India, Routledge (2013) and co-editor of the volume, Pandemic, Event, and the Immanence of Life: Critical Reflections on Covid-19, Routledge (2024) . She has been Project Director of major research projects funded by government agencies and co-directed a GIAN project.

She has served Jamia Millia Islamia in various capacities including as Media Coordinator and Foreign Students' Advisor of the university.