the horizon split into a green half and a damaged half, representing Global Warming and climate change

Research and Initiatives

Check out different research and activities taking place at AUC, reflecting AUC’s extensive work in the different areas of focus that are aligned with national and regional climate change and sustainability priorities. These key areas focus on water scarcity, urban development, green finance, energy transition and public health.

Collage of headlines from various large international news outlets regarding the women's cancer research study.

June 3, 2025

AUC Researchers Link Rising Temperatures to Women’s Cancer in Landmark Study

A new study correlating rising temperatures with women’s cancer in the Middle East recently attracted global media attention, seizing headlines in outlets like The Washington Post, Daily Mail, Fortune and more.

Two students smile at the camera at the Regional AFS Youth Assembly

May 26, 2025

AUCians at First Regional AFS Youth Assembly

Earlier this month, 14 AUCians joined young changemakers from the MENA region at the first-ever Regional American Field Service (AFS) Youth Assembly in Cairo to tackle urgent issues like climate change, education and food security.

Actors perform in the AUC garden across three scenes

February 12, 2025

Da Zanbokom: An AUC Climate Play About Egypt

As major climate issues continue to affect people across Egypt’s diverse regions, Jillian Campana, professor and associate dean for undergraduate studies and research, developed a set of plays that reflect these environmental realities.

April 22, 2024

AUC Students Win With Sustainable Shopping

Finance juniors Salma Afifi, Jumana Elhefnawy and Maya Abu Shahba developed ScanHa to incentivize consumers toward making sustainable fashion choices, promoting conscious consumerism and reducing the industry's environmental impact.

Woman in green jacket and white hijab sits at a desk smiling

April 2, 2024

Building Community Resilience to Mitigate Floods

May Haggag ’11, ’16, assistant professor in AUC’s Department of Construction Engineering, uses data science and machine learning to develop effective flood risk-management strategies specific to Egypt's unique climate and geography.

February 11, 2024

Tackling Water Scarcity Through AI

Professor Amal Esawi ’89, ’90, the first Egyptian woman mechanical engineer to be chartered in the United Kingdom and the first scientist in Egypt to specialize in nanotubes, is making waves in the field of nanocomp

December 18, 2023

AUC at COP28

AUCians made their voices heard at COP28, the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

November 8, 2023

AUC Partners to Create Executive Diploma in Sustainability

Building on the University's expertise and proven track record in sustainability and its history of excellence in professional education, AUC will offer an Executive Diploma in Sustainability to train and empower 200 Emirati public servants as the United Arab Emirates prepares to

two men wearing a suit and a women wearing a pink jacket standing in the middle holding a certificate

October 29, 2023

Chemistry for a Cause: Finding Sustainable Alternative to Oils

AUC students won first place worldwide in a competition to develop sustainable alternatives to oils to reduce their carbon emissions.

Rendering of Zahran's project on Haret Bergwan

September 20, 2023

Zero Carbon Cairo

For a team of architecture alumni at AUC, preserving Egypt’s heritage is vital to building a sustainable future.

A graphic showing how electrolysis works. On the bottom, a graphic of water, tinted brown with green spots. The water is pulled up through a pipe to two green buildings representing the electrolysis. Two pipes connected to the building pipe out green hydrogen, shown as green lightning with a blue H, and bright blue, clean water.

May 2, 2023

Transforming Dirty Water into Clean Energy

A bolt of energy rattles the bonds of a water molecule: H2O. The links between the molecule begin to snap as the oxygen and hydrogen particles are pulled to separate compartments.

March 28, 2023

AUC Students Craft Sustainable Fishing Nets to Revive Local Village Economy

Armed with fruit and a desire to help the small Egyptian village of El Bahtiny in Ismailia, seniors Yara Yousry, Heidi Mahmoud, Aliaa Moussa and Mariam El-Halabi are working to fashion biodegradable fishing nets out of locally sourced, cost-effective banana fibers in order to revive the vil

November 4, 2022

Future Fuel

Hydrogen can replace fossil fuels in essentially any area. It can be processed into fuel for airplanes and ships. It can be burned to generate electricity, power cars or facilitate industrial processes that require a large amount of heat.

flower growing out of concrete and a cityscape of old Cairo near the citadel with new course titles: Sustainability in the Cracks of Urban Policy: Communities, Bureaucracies and Adaptation and Climate Change: From Interdisciplinarity to Action

March 15, 2023

AUC Faculty Develop New Courses on Climate Change, Sustainability During 2023 Research and Creativity Convention

Two courses aimed at informing and empowering AUC students to lead the charge against climate change won this year’s Core Curriculum Course Competition during AUC’s 2023 Research and Creativity Convention (

A scientist in a lab holding a test tube