Our Team

Dr. Ali Naji Attiyah is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Engineering – University of Kufa. He graduated from Civil Engineering Department in 1986 and he completed his higher studies in structural engineering at the University of Baghdad. His interest in heritage started in 2003 when he worked as a consultant on the conservation of the Imam Ali shrine at Najaf City. At 2009, he wrote a book titled the Spiritual Values of the Holy Shrines Architecture, where he tried to explore the intangible values affected the traditional design of the shrines. Later he was appointed to be a member of the National Committee to inscribe Wadi Al-Salam Cemetery to the World Heritage List in 2013. He got training courses at the UNESCO Iraq Office on the protection and enhancement of tangible and intangible heritage. In 2019, he secured a grant from the Nahrein Network / University College of London to document the heritage buildings of historic Kufa city. 

Dr. Dhirgham Alobaydi is Head of the Architecture Department at the University of Baghdad. His research interests include the  morphological developments of Iraqi cities; particularly the urban form and spatial structures. His recent publications examine the role of street design networks and the syntactic properties of urban grids in creating successful urban places and well-connected local communities. His work also has included special interests in studying socio-cultural properties found in Iraq and Middle Eastern local communities, sharing a common history, authenticity, and sacred heritage; reuse and preservation plans, and structures for historic nuclei. He received the Doctor of Philosophy and Master of architecture degrees, with a focus on urban design and planning, from the University of Kansas, and the Master and Bachelor of Architecture degrees from the University of Baghdad.

 Dustin Langan is a cultural heritage expert, translator and novelist. Dustin has worked in Iraq and in Senegal. He speaks Arabic, French, Spanish, Catalan and Wolof and translates into his native English. He has a degree in Near Eastern Languages and Civilisations from the University of Washington and a Master's degree in African History from Northwestern University, with a focus on pre-colonial Arabic manuscripts as sources of West African history. A former US Fulbright Student Grant recipient, he also completed Master's-level coursework at Université Paul Valéry III in Montpellier, France. Dustin resides in Barcelona, Spain and is working to support capacity-building and institutional development efforts for the Ministry of Culture in Baghdad.  

Mehiyar is a UK-based academic, working at the University College London's History Department. Mehiyar has over twenty years of experience working in international projects in Iraq, in the field of civil society, culture and heritage. Mehiyar works to develop new and innovative practices and approaches to cultural heritage in Iraq through the operationalisation of concepts associated with safeguarding, sustainability and continuity. His recent publications include 'Decolonising Babylon' published in the International Journal of Heritage Studies and 'Heritage Predation' published by London-based think-tank, Chatham House. 

Vasilis is an Associate Professor in Structural Engineering at the School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds and a Visiting Researcher at Newcastle University. Previously, he was a Lecturer in Infrastructure Engineering at the School of Engineering, Newcastle University (2016-2019), a Research Associate at the School of Engineering at Cardiff University (2013-2016) and a Research Fellow at the Institute for Resilient Infrastructure at University of Leeds (2011-2013). He holds both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Leeds, and worked as a consultant Civil Engineer in UK. Sarhosis is a Chartered Engineer (CEng), Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering (FIMEchE) and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) in UK. He is currently chairing the National Scientific Committee on the Analysis and Restoration of Structures of Architectural Heritage (ISCARSAH) which is part of the ICOMOS. He has published more than 80 peer reviewed journal manuscripts and has a h-index of 18 (Scopus), with his research cited more than 1,100 times.

 Hossam is a conservation architect and planner and has over twenty years experience in academia and conservation work in Europe and the Middle East. Hossam is currently working on a new approach to conservation in the Middle East, utilising local practices and methodologies. Previously, Hossam worked for EAMENA, at Oxford University and is currently involved in several conservation projects.