Graduates of the Integrated Urbanism and Sustainable Design (IUSD) program at the Faculty of Engineering, at Ain Shams University, won the first and third prizes in the international competition for the best master’s theses in 2023, presented by the prestigious international DAIDA Foundation for urban theses.

This is the second year in a row that graduates of the program from the tenth batch have achieved this wonderful achievement, and what makes this year’s achievement even more special is that two graduates won first and third place for their thesis that was recorded, prepared and discussed at Ain Shams University.

This year, the competition witnessed competition between 38 theses submitted by 20 institutes in 6 countries, all of which competed under the slogan “Cities for All: Caring for the Marginalized.” The competitors proposed ideas for inclusive cities in 26 cities in 7 countries.

Among the talented competitors, Girisha Sethi from India won first prize for her outstanding thesis entitled “Who has the right? Who has the right? Conflicting claims and controversies over the ‘right to the city’ of slum areas in Delhi, India,” Greisha’s thesis was supervised by Prof. Mohamed Salehin from Ain Shams University and Prof. Astrid Lai from Stuttgart University, which is Ain Shams University’s partner university in launching the program.

Moreover, Mirna Maher Labib from Egypt won the third prize for her exceptional thesis entitled “The Impact of Street Design Characteristics on Children’s Independent Mobility and a Case Study in the First Settlement in New Cairo.” Mirna’s thesis was also supervised by Prof. Mohamed Salehin from Ain Shams University and Prof. Manal Abu. Al-Ola from Benha University.

The DAIDA Foundation Global Urban Dissertation Prize is a prestigious international event aimed at honoring and supporting Master of Architecture graduates, who through their work are helping to improve urban infrastructure and living conditions for vulnerable groups in rapidly growing cities in developing economies.

This latest achievement by IUSD graduates adds to his impressive track record of success in this competition. Diana Barrera Salazar won third prize in 2022 under the theme of climate change, while Maria Valverde achieved the same distinction and won first prize in 2020 under the theme of water and development.

The Master of Science program in Integrated Urbanism and Sustainable Design (IUSD) was established at Ain Shams University in the year 2011 and has so far graduated more than 200 students from more than 30 countries. The program attracts students from all continents due to the diversity of the research and application climate it provides. It has developed culturally over the course of 13 years since its establishment, and also due to its connection with many international universities and its constant communication with a distinguished group of professors and researchers from all the countries with which it deals, as well as many international institutions within the framework of various partnerships and research projects that we intend to invest and expand with the launch of the doctoral path.