Dr. Dalia Hafiz

Dr. Hafiz received her Ph.D. and master’s degree from the school of Architecture and Design (A+D), Virginia Tech, USA. During her studies, she was honoured to receive the best research award twice from the School of Architecture and Design at Virginia Tech. In addition, she was awarded the Richard Kelly Grant for lighting research excellence.

Dr. Hafiz had the privilege to teach various courses in both architecture and interior design fields at several universities in the US, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. From 2017 to 2022, she lead a number of courses at the architecture program at Al-Ghurair University University in Dubai where she served as the program coordinator, then the head of the architecture program. She is currently a faculty member at the college of Architecture, Art, and Design in Ajman University in UAE.

Dalia has a wide range of research interests including exploring ways to enhancing the relationship between the education and practice of architecture. Other research examines daylighting dynamism which can create uncomfortable situations. This research area has numerous applications in a diverse of fields: Behavioural decisions in transit stations, wayfinding in interior spaces and outdoors, design aid for visually impaired/elderly and energy saving technologies. Furthermore, in another research she aimed at exploring the effect and potentials from the application of smart technologies (ie. autonomous vehicles) in the city and its residents.