NZCC

Towards Net Zero Carbon Campuses for Climate Change Mitigation and Resilience

Partners

Faculty of Engineering-Ain Shams University

Kingston University

Funded by



Ain Shams University Team - Egypt

● Professor Mostafa Rifat

Professor of Architecture, Vice Dean for Education and Student Affairs, Director of International Relation Office at Ain Shams University
● Role
PI – Egypt
Vice Dean for Education and Student Affairs, Faculty of Engineering- Director of International Relation Office at Ain Shams University, Professor of Architecture. He holds his Ph.D. from the University of Liverpool 2003, where he worked as a lecturer from 1998- 2006. Partnered in EPSRC funded projects in partnership with Arup & Partners, in the UK, and worldwide. In 2009, he became responsible for the Technical Affairs, NUCA, Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, EGYPT. During that time he developed curricula for the Architecture Engineering at the British University in Egypt, with the University of Loughborough where he acted as programme director until 2014. He is the founder of the Environmental Architecture and Urbanism ENVR programme at Ain Shams university, and started the Dual Degree tracks for the Credit Hour programmes with the University of East London in 2018. He was granted funds for research projects with partners from UK, France, Italy, and Germany. And a Visiting Scholar, University of Liverpool.




● Prof. Walid Khattam

Professor in Electrical Power and Machines
● Role
Prof. Walid Khattam will be leading the technical part of introducing smart facilities and technologies in the proposed action plan as well as contributing to the training programs and workshops.
Walid El-Khattam received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept., University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada in 2005. His research was developing new tools for distribution networks planning equipped by distributed generation and its economics. He joined University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, U.S. as a research associate and developed their electric power lab. in 2005. He received the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellowship (NSERC-PDF) 2005-2007. He worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow for the University of Western Ontario and a researcher for Hydro-One the Ontario province distribution company in Canada from 2005 to 2009. During this period, he taught several electrical and mechanical courses; received the “Award of Excellence” for teaching Electrical and Computer Engineering courses. He developed new algorithms for renewable resources (wind) protective relays. Currently, he holds several positions at Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University; Professor in the Department of Electrical Power and Machines, Head of the Energy and Renewable Energy Engineering Program, Coordinator of the New and Renewable Energy Master of Engineering Program, and Director of the Center of Excellence for Energy (COE) in cooperation with the MIT and USAID.

● Dr. Hussein Fareed

Assistant Professor in Architectural Engineering
● Role
Dr Hussein will be involved in survey design and data analysis and contributing to net zero carbon campus workshops.
Hussein Fareed earned his B.Sc. from Ain Shams University 2011 with distinction and honors, he holds his M.Sc. degree in Architecture at Ain Shams University 2016. He earned his Ph.D. from Ain Shams University in 2020. Hussein has been working at Ain shams university since 2012 and he is currently an Assistant Professor since 2020 and a member in the international collaboration office from 2018-2020. He has been recently involved in some of the research activities and workshops of the BC-SDBE project; an institutional link project to bridge the gap between the rapidly developing advancements in research and training on sustainable development globally, the demanding professional development required in Egypt’s construction labor market, and the national plans for the country’s economic development. Being the execution department associate director at AFH Consultant, he is responsible for handling a wide range of projects including mixed city development, retail, residential and leisure in Egypt and the Arab world.

● Dr. Fatma Fathy

Assistant Professor in Architectural Engineering
● Role
Dr Fatma will be involved in survey design and data analysis, assisting in organizing the competition and workshops as well as contributing to the training programs.
Fatma earned her bachelor’s degree in architecture engineering from Ain Shams University (ASU) in 2012 with distinction and honours. Her order of merit was the 1st of the successful students totalling 99. She earned her Ph.D. in 2020, and she specialized in daylighting and digital computing. She has been recently involved in some of the research activities and workshops of the BC-SDBE project; an institutional link project to bridge the gap between the rapidly developing advancements in research and training on sustainable development. Fatma is teaching many courses related to architectural and environmental design at ASU for undergraduate and postgraduate Levels. She was involved in writing the curricula of postgraduate architectural department 2021. Also, she is a member in the committee of developing curricula of engineering programs of National Ain Shams University. She assisted in writing course specifications and documents required for faculty accreditation.

● Eng. Mohamed Anwar

Teacher Assistant in Architectural Engineering
● Role
Eng. Mohamed Anwar will be involved in maintaining technical aspects and analysis of data handling data and maintaining databases, preparing reports and financial report.
Mohamed Afifi graduated from Ain Shams University's Faculty of Engineering's electrical power and machines department in 2013 with an Excellent grade and an honorary degree, placing first in class. He earned a master's degree in electrical power and machines engineering and is presently a Ph.D. student at Ain Shams University's Faculty of Engineering. He has spent most of his career in academics and industry since graduating. Since 2018, he has also served as an academic advisor for students enrolled in the energy and renewable energy program. He is responsible for managing energy and renewable energy students' field training, summer internships, and field trips. Mohammad has over five years of experience working for Schneider Electric Egypt as a trainer and academic relations representative. He created ground-breaking projects that are still in use today throughout his years of labor, inspiring hundreds of electrical students at Egypt's institutions. He was responsible for the construction of energy laboratories at two public universities, Ain Shams and Helwan, and a single energy laboratory at the Egyptian engineering syndicate. He was also responsible for developing a training of trainers program to assist those labs in becoming self-sustaining.

● Eng. Sarah Amin Nazir

Teacher Assistant in Architectural Engineering
● Role
Eng. Sarah Amin will be involved in maintaining technical aspects and analysis of data handling data and maintaining databases, preparing reports and financial report.
Teaching assistant at Faculty of Engineering Ain Shams University, graduate from the Urban Planning and Design Department ranking the first on class 2020. Masters degree candidate 2022-2023. She started working as a part-time graphic designer since her second year in college 2017 and continued throughout her years as a student. In 2019 Sarah started her career as a UX/UI designer as well and started her stable online based freelancing career. After graduation she started working as a teaching assistant at Ain Shams University as well as a Landscape Architect. But her passion towards graphic design and User Experience design never ended, She is now a stable freelancer in both fields beside her professional career in Architecture, Urban Design and Landscaping.
Kingston University Team - UK

● Prof. Heba Elsharkawi

Associate Professor, Head of Department of Architecture and Landscape at Kingston University
● Role
PI – UK
Dr. Elsharkawy is Associate Professor and Head of Department of Architecture and Landscape at Kingston University. She is research active in the areas of environmental design and performance of buildings, occupants’ comfort, health and wellbeing, and education for sustainability/climate literacy. She recently led a British Council Newton Institutional Links project: Building Capacity for Sustainable Development of the Built Environment with Ain Shams University and the University of Strathclyde (total grant £288K). She is currently leading this current British Council funded project as the Principal Investigator. Dr. Elsharkawy has also been recently co-opted to SCOSA Council (Standing Conference of Schools of Architecture) leading the Climate Literacy Working Group which includes members from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN), members from industry and expert academics from UK Schools of Architecture. The Working Group aims to enable Schools of Architecture to embed the Climate Literacy Knowledge Schedule into UG and PG Architecture curricula. Climate Literacy has been introduced as a mandatory competence required for all architecture course graduates in 2021 as part of the Themes and Values for Architectural Education and Mandatory Competences, in response to the global climate emergency.




● Dr. Kristof Fatsar

Senior Lecturer in Landscape Architecture
● Role
Dr. Kristof Fatsar will be involved in the workshops and preparation of training materials related to sustainable landscape design for climate change mitigation.
Dr Kristof Fatsar is Senior Lecturer in Landscape Architecture at Kingston University London. He has graduated from the five-year long integrated MSc Landscape Architecture programme in Budapest (1994), earned another Master's in the Conservation of Historic Towns and Buildings at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium (1996), and a PhD in Landscape History (2001). Finishing a rather long tenure at Corvinus University of Budapest, he left as Professor of Landscape History and Conservation in 2011. After enjoying research fellowships at various institutions in the UK and the US, he is now Course Leader of Kingston University’s postgraduate Landscape programmes. His core research interest concerns 18th and 19th century designed landscapes, with an emphasis on transnational knowledge exchange that influenced landscape design in the European peripheries. He is an Advisory Member of the ICOMOS-IFLA International Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes, and a reviewer of both World Heritage Cultural Landscape and World Monument Watch nominations. He is also interested in the practical question of how the conservation of cultural heritage, landscapes in particular, can be used to mitigate climate change. His latest research contributed to developing a methodology to increase climate resilience while delivering environmental justice in London’s southwestern suburbs.

● Dr. Payam Khazaeinejad

Senior Lecturer in Solid Mechanics
● Role
Dr. Payam Khazaeinejad will lead the net zero carbon campus workshops and training on the integration of smart materials, and bio-inspired structures and systems.
Dr Payam Khazaeinejad is a Senior Lecturer in Solid Mechanics, School Director of Postgraduate Research, and Course Leader for BEng/MEng Mechanical Engineering programmes in the School of Engineering and the Environment at Kingston University London. Dr Khazaeinejad obtained his PhD in Engineering from the University of Edinburgh. He is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy, a senior member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Institute of Physics (IOP). Dr Khazaeinejad’s research interests lie within the broad area of computational solid and structural mechanics, with special interest in using biological paradigms to model and design novel materials and mechanical systems with unique properties at different length scales, while maintaining interest in failure mechanisms of infrastructural elements and their main structural components under moderate and extreme thermomechanical actions. His ongoing research projects focus on: (i) complex relationships between internal structures of bioinspired materials and their mechanical properties and (ii) the interactions between different load-carrying mechanisms which determine the overall behaviour of structures under different loading and support conditions.
Project summary

Climate change mitigation and resilience requires collective global, national and local action. Both Kingston University and Ain Shams University have leading profiles in developing successful sustainability initiatives, hence are in a strong position to lead on transitioning their university campuses to net zero carbon via student-staff-led transformation. The project aim of implementing a clear pathway to net zero carbon campuses will be achieved by onboarding the university community of students, and academic and estates staff to co-create a Climate Action Framework and Principles that will form a pledge to achieve them. Both campuses will be utilized as Living Labs to experiment and adopt industry-led innovative solutions that can help mitigate climate change and build resilience. This will be enabled by establishing a Virtual Reality facility that will be utilised as a key tool to explore and study potential technologies via existing institutional connections with partners from industry such as Siemens, and Arup. The project will adopt new ways of working and collaboration across both university communities and stakeholders to maximise impact via strategically planned project activities for the 12-month duration of the project and a sustainability plan beyond.

The project team will undertake research into the viable and effective technical, and psychosocial strategies that reduce carbon emissions on university campuses in the short, medium and long-term. Staff and students will be invited to participate in project surveys and workshops to develop the Climate Action Framework and implement inclusive and equitable strategies that effectively reduce campus carbon emissions. Pedagogical approaches will be co-created and adopted by both HEIs to ensure an engaging, participative, and experiential learning experience for sustainability and net zero carbon education. Those approaches include critical reflection, systemic thinking and analysis, participatory and collaborative learning with stakeholders (from the community and industry) for an enhanced and engaging learning experience.

Strategies explored as integral to the developed Climate Framework will focus on optimising the campuses with smart facilities, technologies and driving pro-environmental behaviours via enhanced collaboration between students, academic and estates staff, and partners from the local councils and industry. This will include investigating strategies for effective reduction of fossil fuel consumption in operational energy use, establishing on campus energy generation, implementing a range of energy efficiency measures for campus and student accommodation buildings (e.g. light retrofit measures such as installing LED lights and advanced lighting controls, insulating pipes to reduce heat loss, replacing/upgrading boilers and chillers), upgrading Building Management Systems, improving water and waste management systems, exploring appropriate methods for deep retrofit of inefficient buildings, creating more cycle friendly campuses, and introducing car-pool application / hybrid/ electric shuttle buses. Strategies for behavioural change will also be established and rolled out across campuses and beyond. All the above interventions will bear a tangible impact on the drive towards climate change mitigation.

The project outputs (PO) envisioned are
  1. PO1. Climate Action Framework

    encompassing a SMART action plan, developed by both HEIs as a roadmap to achieving net zero carbon campuses by 2050.

  2. PO2. Training of (at least) 400 members of staff

    across both HEIs on net zero carbon strategies and approaches developed through partners’ research and consultancies

  3. PO3. Training of (at least) 1500 students

    across both HEIs on net zero carbon strategies and approaches developed through partners’ research and consultancies.

  4. PO4. Publications developed from the research and learning materials embedded

    in academic curricula across both HEIs developed through partners’ research and consultancies

  5. PO5. Transnational Education models developed;

    such as a joint Masters degree in Net Zero Carbon Design.

  6. PO6. Collaborative and multi-disciplinary design competition

    where student teams enter the ‘Pathways to Net Zero Carbon Design’ competition yielding feasible proposals for implementation. Winning competition entries presented at COP27 and carefully considered at HEIs for implementation.

  7. PO7. Community engagement

    with net zero carbon issues and actions to be undertaken, hence mobilisation and equipping communities with knowledge to enable them to support governments in achieving net zero carbon targets.

  8. PO8. Partnerships with stakeholders from industry

    to experiment innovative technologies via Virtual Reality technology and testing and experimenting viable strategies at both institutions’ Living Labs.