Sahar Ghazanfar was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, where she received her Bachelor's of Arts with honors in Anthropology. She has also worked at the University of Pennsylvania as a research assistant, where she made research contributions towards the publication of "The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq," by Brendan O'Leary, John McGarry, and Khaled Salih.She has independently studied several world languages and has worked in multiple fields of study, including political science, psychology, and health. Her research interests include nationalist identity and ethnic conflict in the Post-Ottoman world, with specialized focuses in Central Asia, Western China, and the Balkans.