Umm Qais Heritage Core Team
Professor Gehan Selim
Principal Investigator
Dr May Newisar
Research Fellow
Gehan Selim is Chair in Architecture at University of Leeds and Fellow of the Senator George Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice. Dr Selim is an active researcher in Architecture, Urban Theory and Visualisation bridging between the social (people), the physical (buildings) and the urban (city).
Andy Holland is an Archaeologist and Digital Heritage specialist. His background is in forensic archaeology and the application of digital technology to research questions in archaeological and forensic sciences.
Prior to joining the project he carried out research into digital approaches to the cultural heritage at the University of Bradford where he led the digitisation for a number of JISC and AHRC funded projects including Digitised Diseases.
He completed a PhD in digital archaeology including international collaborations with the Turkana Basin Institute in Illeret Kenya and MONREPOS archaeological research centre and a museum for the human behavioural evolution in Germany.
His research interests lie in developing accessible digital heritage tools to promote and protect cultural heritage with a particular focus on the Middle East.
May Newisar is a Research Fellow at University of Leeds. Her research uses an interdisciplinary approach in the architecture and urban studies field to investigate the different perceptions and understanding of heritage values on different levels (local, national and international). In particular how the technical and managerial tools in the heritage conservation process are used as soft power in negotiations, forming cultural politics that framed the nexus between heritage conservation and urban regeneration.
Mohamed Gamal Abdelmonem is Chair in Architecture and the Director of the Centre for Architecture, Urbanism and Global Heritage at Nottingham Trent University with over 20 years of experience in architectural practice & education. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the 2014 recipient of the Jeffrey Cook Award of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments (IASTE). Professor Abdelmonem's research has informed the policy and practice of governments and international organisations on sustainable Living, architecture of home, heritage preservation, urban planning and design. ​