The Launch of the “IUSD – Urban Climatic Lab” at Ain Shams University
10^th February 2018, Cairo – Egypt

 On Saturday, 10th of February 2018, Prof. Sodoudi attended and witnessed the launch of the IUSD –Urban Climatic Lab (UCL) at IUSD Cairo Lab at the Ain Shams University. IUSD-UCL is established under the framework of the project “Sustainable Urban Planning via establishment of Urban Climatic Labs in Arid Cities”; a collaboration between Ain Shams University and Freie Universität Berlin and funded by the DAAD.

IUSD-UCL focuses on the field of Simulation Aided Design using different modeling and simulation tools in studying both the indoor and outdoor environments as well as their mutual impact on one another. The lab is equipped with required modeling softwares and measurement tools to conduct urban climatic modeling and simulation activities. Available softwares currently include Design Builder, ENVI-met and Rayman. The measurement tools include devices for measuring global temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and radiation. The Lab equipment will host students and researchers from different disciplines who are interested to study the relation between indoor and outdoor environments, and develop solutions to address challenges facing the climate in urban areas. In additon, the Lab will offer training packages for researchers interested to learn more about urban climate modeling and simulation.

This latest Urban Climatic Lab is one among a series of labs that has already been launched and is planned on being launched in several Egyptian universities. Since 2016, Prof. Sodoudi is cooperating with 18 Egyptian Universities in the field of adapting sustainable urban development on the local climate change via the establishment of „Urban Climate Labs“ in Egyptian Universities.

Prof. Dr. Sahar Sodoudi: Junior Professor in Urban Climate at the Institute of Meteorology, Freie Universität Berlin

 

COSIMENA Launch of the Agriculture Cluster 
21. – 22. February 2018, Cairo – Egypt

Dr. Walid Azab actively participated in the official launch of the COSIMENA (Clusters of Scientific Innovation in the Middle East and North Africa) Agriculture cluster, the cluster that is considered the latest addition to COSIMENA’s issue driven cluster family covering water, energy, economy, health, urbanism and cultural heritage. The project is run by the Cairo office of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) where the idea of the establishment of these knowledge hubs and platforms of cooperation between scientists and innovators is to try and improve the communication between existing projects and foster establishment of new joint project between Germany and the MENA region. 

The following morning an array of experts in water, agriculture, policy, economics, agroforestry, veterinary medicine and aquaponics all exposed their vision on how to ensure the sustainability of Egypt’s food production. Dr. Azab presented the work he did as part of a joint-research project, tackling long-lasting challenges to animal health in Egypt such as diagnostics and vaccine production. Egypt is 64% self-sufficient in animals, which means that a bout of Foot and Mouth disease can decimate a large number of animals and put Egypt’s meat resources in a state of shock. “Foot and Mouth disease is endemic in Egypt. But in German labs, this disease is stored along with SRAS and Ebola viruses!” he said.On the evening of the 21. February the cluster was launched by Dr. Roman Luckscheiter, director of the DAAD Cairo office and with opening remarks from Rauia Toama, the German Embassy’s Science Attaché, and Dr. Shireen Assem, who heads Egypt’s Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (that’s technically AGERI-a center that pertains to the ARC- Agricultural Research Center). This was followed by a panel discussion which identified the gaps between research and implementation for better food production and management.

Dr. Walid Azab: Research Associate at the Institute for Virology, Freie Universität Berlin

 

SAVE THE DATE: COSIMENA - FU Berlin Health Cluster Workshop
“Building Bridges between Anthropology and Health Sciences”
Cairo, 25-27 June 2018

We are delighted to announce that the DAAD funded COSIMENA (Clusters of Scientific Innovation in the Middle East and North Africa) Program is organizing with the support of the Free University Berlin the first workshop evolving about Social Science in Medicine. While the first workshop entitled "Building bridges between Anthropology and Health Science" to be held from 25-26 June 2018 will focus primarily on curricular development, the second workshop "Promoting Scientific Collaboration in the Field of Pharmacy" from 26-27 June shall enhance capacity building in the field of pharmaceutical sciences between Germany and countries of the MENA region.

 As the importance of medical anthropology has been internationally recognized and it is increasingly becoming an integral part of major medical schools’ curriculum, renowned scientists from Germany and the region will come together during these 3 days to discuss the importance and value of anthropologists in bridging the gap between biomedical and cultural practices, with a special focus on resource poor settings. Besides a workshop directed to medical professionals that addresses introducing medical anthropology to medical school curriculum in Egypt and the exchanges between local and international experts, it is also planned to have a session directed to medical students to give them an overview on the meaning of Medical Anthropology and what it can contribute to the medical practice. Another session will invite social science students from Egypt to learn about the initiative and to engage with anthropologists working in medical schools to discuss future opportunities and possibilities of teaching social science in medical schools in Egypt.

 

Further Events where the Freie Universität Berlin Cairo office is participating in:

• BioVision Alexandria 2018: New Life Sciences: Towards SDGs
  20. – 22. April 2018, Bibliotheca Alexandrina

• GUC Annual Internship and Employment Fair
  21. – 22. April 2018