AUCians across disciplines made their voices heard in Dubai, United Arab Emirates at COP28, the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference which is the world’s largest climate conference. Faculty, students and alumni shared their expertise on topics such as green buildings and education, showcased award-winning sustainable startups, and delivered powerful speeches. Read more about AUC at COP28 below.
Learn more about the University's Climate Change Initiative.
Panelist in the session, "Climate Change: Are Business Schools Doing Enough?" organized by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business and the University of Dubai
Panelist in the session, "Integrated Urban Sustainability and Social Value Creation in Cities" as well as a speaker and panelist in the session, "Sustainable Cities and Climate Change." Learn more about Haggar's pioneering sustainability work in AUCToday magazine
Presented at the Montreal Protocol Pavilion (starts at 35:21) in the session, "Energy Efficiency in the RAC Servicing Sector – A Missing Piece to Make MEPS Work," where he discussed the activities and findings of the Montreal Protocol's Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heat Pumps Technical Options Committee, of which he is co-chair. He also was a participant at the side event, "National Cooling Action Plans in the Arab Region."
Panelist in the discussion, "Arts for Climate in Rural Areas Schools in Egypt" and interviewed by TRENDS Research & Advisory on the spread of diseases during natural disasters
Assistant Professor of Physics, Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi
Presenter
Child Protection Program Consultant, UNICEF Gulf
Sustainability Analyst, Oscar Limited
Exhibited a startup company in the Green Zone and organized the panel, "Sustainable Procurement: How It Can Help the UAE Meet Its Net Zero Target"
Award-Winning Film Director and Producer
Screened his short documentary, Drowning Fish, which follows one of the last fishermen of Qarun Lake in Fayoum, Egypt, at the Green Zone during a panel, "Local Storied, Global Impact" and at the Blue Zone.
Chief Business Development and Sustainability Officer, El Marakby Steel
Panelist and promoted partnerships within the private sector as well as between NGOs and the private sector, focusing on sustainable steel production
Founder and Managing Director, Tadweera
Led the panel, "Tadweera's Initiative for Green Education in Sustainable Communities"
Engazaat
The Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE), Engazaat and CHINT Global signed an agreement to establish and operate an integrated industrial park for green energy technology in SCZONE.
Panelist
Karim Refaat ‘98 ‘03; Manal Hassan ‘90; Dalia Kamar ‘17; Minister Rania Al Mashat ‘95,; AUC Trustee Ahmed Ismail ‘97; Amir El Shenawy ‘13; Haytham El Maagergi ‘99; Miray Zaki ‘04; Mirna Arif ‘02 ‘07; Samar Negida ‘11 ‘14; Sherif Hafez ‘99; Shereif Rostom ‘05; and Soha El Turky ‘94 ‘98
University Architect and Associate Professor of Sustainable Design
Name Among the Top 100 Middle East Sustainability Voices by Climate Penpal and Gulf Intelligence
Razan Al Mubarak, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion of the United Arab Emirates for COP28, outlines why universities and colleges are so important to the Race to Zero, speaking of AUC's commitment to the cause.
A team of AUC undergraduate and graduate students secured the award for the Most Novel Idea at Heart Hackathon, the world’s first total artificial heart design competition, where student teams from around the globe design, prototype and assess their total artificial heart.
Multidisciplinary with students from different majors, Team Peribsen worked to design, manufacture and develop the business plan for their total artificial heart. They were mentored by Professor Khalil Elkhodary '03, '06 and utilized AUC's new Eltoukhy Learning Factory for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the first of its kind in Egypt.
Aliaa Moussa, mechanical engineering; Salma Omar, graphic design; and Lana Mahmoud, electronics and communications engineering, represented AUC in the final round of the competition held in Dallas, Texas at the 29th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Mechanical Circulatory Support
Other team members included Abdelrahman Sultan '18, who is pursuing his master's in mechanical engineering at AUC and served as team captain; and team heads Ahmed Ali '23; Mohamed Waheed '22; Nour Makhlouf '23; and Menna Tallah Hassan '23.
Watch our students reflect on their total artificial heart prototype to help patients with heart failure, which won the Most Novel Idea at the global Heart Hackathon.
"Four cups of coffee a day could help prevent Parkinson's disease and dementia," according to Mohamed Salama, professor at AUC’s Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology, who presented his research on healthy aging, the first of its kind in the Middle East, during the Faculty at the Forefront media panel.
The Longitudinal Study of Egyptian Healthy Aging (AL-SEHA), the first nationally representative panel study on aging in Egypt, aims to fill knowledge gaps that are necessary to set health, social and economic policy priorities. AL-SEHA also works on prioritizing resources and promoting effective strategies for healthcare and social systems in Egypt, in addition to improving the lives of the country’s aging population. The project is set to launch in 2024, thanks to Salama; Hoda Rashad, director of AUC’s Social Research Center; and a team from the center.
"Four cups of coffee a day could help prevent Parkinson's disease and dementia."
“There has been a growing global interest in healthy aging studies because these reveal the challenges and opportunities that will face the world in the future, especially in low- and middle-income countries that suffer from a scarcity of data in this field,” he said.
Egypt is a particularly interesting example since it is the most populous Middle Eastern country as well as the third most populous country in Africa, Salama noted. “Although the Egyptian population is still young, the number of older people is increasing,” he said. “Egypt is in an ideal position to prepare its population for healthy aging based on medical, economic and social research that effectively addresses the multifaceted challenges faced by an aging society.”
"There has been a growing global interest in healthy aging studies because these reveal the challenges and opportunities that will face the world in the future, especially in low- and middle-income countries that suffer from a scarcity" ... This valuable information can also help reduce access inequities and age-based discrimination while facilitating the evaluation of health policies and analytical studies."
The study will include about 20,000 participants aged over 50 representing all of Egypt’s governorates. The study will span at least 10 years, with researchers following up with participants every two years to track changes in their health. Salama and the team will collaborate with government agencies, civil society and not-for-profit organizations in Egypt, in addition to the SHARE project, which researches the connection between policy and the quality of life for European citizens and beyond.
Salama hopes the findings will inform policy and planning to improve healthcare services for older adults in Egypt. “This valuable information can also help reduce access inequities and age-based discrimination while facilitating the evaluation of health policies and analytical studies,” he said.
In addition to paving the way for better health outcomes, the study will also shed light on the impact of climate change and societal changes. “These changes include, for example, the continuing trend toward urbanization, with more older people moving to the cities, which in turn affects the way older people live and creates new challenges related to access to health care services and social isolation,” Salama explained.
