Dr. Elizabeth Schotten Merklinger is an art and architectural historian and a frequent university and museum lecturer. She has taught at a number of universities in North America and Europe, among them Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada), University of Ottawa (Ottawa, Canada), Concordia University (Montreal), Cambridge University (UK), Oxford University (UK), Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.) and the Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C.).  She has been a broadcaster and has produced radio documentaries for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, including a four-part series, “The Answers in the East”, as well as several short documentaries on a variety of political topics such as "The Power of Islam". She has been a curator at the National Gallery of Canada (two exhibitions on Buddhist and Hindu art) and at the Canadian Museum of Civilization (Quebec ).

Dr. Merklinger has lectured extensively on a variety of cruise ships since her retirement from full-time university teaching about a decade ago. In addition to lecturing and writing, she has been on contract to such organizations as the World Bank and Canadian International Development Agency in a number of countries in the Caucasus, Asia and Central America working on tourism development projects. 

Dr. Merklinger received BA and MA degrees from Cambridge University (UK) and a PhD in History and Architectural History from Delhi University, India. She is the author of a number of scholarly publications including two books on Islamic architecture, Sultanate Architecture of PreMughal India  (2005) and Indian Islamic Architecture: The Deccan (1982).