51Âþ»­

Dr. Sahar is an architectural engineer, holding a senior lecturer position at Leicester School of Architecture, 51Âþ»­ in the UK. She is specialised in sustainable building design, building performance and user perception and control of façade systems. In particular, her research is centred on daylighting, discomfort glare and energy performance in buildings. 

She held a post-doctoral researcher position at Universite’ catholique de Louvain, Belgium. Through her academic experience, she was awarded Newton-Mosharafa and Fulbright grants in the field of Renewable Energy and Engineering and she was a scholar at The University of Texas at Austin, USA and the University of Nottingham, UK for research and faculty development.

She conducted her PhD research jointly between the University of Nottingham, UK and Al-Azhar University, Egypt in the field of Environmental Building Design and Building Performance. The project focused on the utilization of daylighting as a strategy to reduce energy consumption in buildings through facade design and the examination of the involved simulation techniques. 

Specific topics she has been working on include: façade design performance, daylighting performance in buildings, daylight glare analysis, visual comfort, energy performance, energy-savings in buildings, environmental façade design, user control of façade systems, daylight and energy simulations, simulation tools in the early design stages, generative and parametric design, and digital fabrication all of which have led to several scientific publications.

Dr Sahar welcomes PhD applications in sustainable building design, building performance, user control, daylight, glare, energy performance, and visual comfort.

Institute of Architecture

• Abdelwahab, S., & Altomonte, S. (2024). Daylighting Through Electrochromic Glazing Under Overcast Skies: Impacts on Visual Task Performance and Perception. LEUKOS, 1-25.
• Sheta, W., El Hussainy, M., & Abdelwahab, S. (2024). Labor camps in Dubai: implications of courtyard regulations on daylight performance. Open House International.
• Abdalfatah, D., Abdelwahab, S., Labib, R., Mayhoub, M. (2023). Non-visual effects of lighting characteristics on workers in industrial workplaces. roceedings of The International Conference on Advancing Sustainable Futures, Dubai.
• Abdelwahab, S., Kent, M., Mayhoub, M. (2023). Users’ window preferences and motivations of shading control: Influence of cultural characteristics, Journal of Building and Environment.
• Abdelwahab, S., Rutherford, P., Mayhoub, M. (2023). Daylight Performance Simulation Prediction Accuracy: Processing Speed Trade-off, Journal of Green Buildings, Volume 18 N2.
• Abdelfattah, D., Mayhoub, M., Abdelwahab, S., Labib, R., and Eldars, M. (2023). Investigation of the Non‐Visual Effects of Lighting on the Elderly (sleep, Mood, and Alertness). IADC2023 conference, KSA.
• Abdelwahab, S., & Sobh, H. (2022). Visual Discomfort Analysis as a Tool to Support Façade Shading Design: A Case Study in the Architectural Design Studio. Journal of Architectural Engineering, 28(2), 05022003.
• Abdelwahab, S., Elhussainy, M., & Labib, R. (2019). The Negative Impact of Solar Reflections Caused by Reflective Buildings’ Facades: Case Study of the Nasher Museum in Texas. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 297, No. 1, p. 012048). IOP Publishing.
• Abdelwahab, S., Rutherford, P., Mayhoub, M., & Altomonte, S. (2019). Sensitivity Analysis on the Impact of User Control on Daylight and Energy Simulations. In IBPSA-Building Simulation 2019 International Conference.
• Abdelwahab, S., Rutherford, P., Kent, M. G., & Altomonte, S. (2018). Sensitivity Analysis for Energy Modelling based on Daylight Simulations, paper, International Conference for Sustainable Design of the Built Environment SDBE, London.
• Abdelwahab, S., Mayhoub, M. Elkordy, A. (2018). Sunlight Directing System: The Effect of Surface Topology on Daylighting Performance, paper, International Conference for Sustainable Design of the Built Environment SDBE, London.
• Abdelwahab, S., Kent, M. G., & Altomonte, S. (2017). Sensitivity Analysis for the Daylight Simulation of Complex Façades, paper, Conference of Advanced Building skins, Switzerland.
• Abdelwahab, S., & Elghazi, Y. (2016). A generative performance-based design for low-cost brickwork screens. In Proceedings of the Building Simulation and Optimization Conference (BSO16).
• Elghazi, Y., Wagdy, A., & Abdalwahab, S. (2015). Simulation driven design for kinetic system; optimize kaleidocycle façade configuration for daylighting adequacy in hot arid climates. In Proceedings of BS2015: 14th Conference of International Building Performance Simulation Association (pp. 182-189). IBPSA-International Building Performance Simulation Association.
• Wagdy, A., Elghazi, Y., Abdalwahab, S., Hassan, A. (2015). The Balance between Daylight and Thermal Performance Based on Exploiting the Kaleidocycle Typology in Hot Arid Climate of Aswan, Egypt., paper, AEI conference, USA.
• Elghazi, Y., Wagdy, A., Abdalwahab, S., Hassan, A. (2014). Daylighting driven design: optimizing kaleidocycle facade for hot arid climate, paper, BauSIM conference, Germany.

Research areas: daylighting performance in buildings, daylight glare analysis, visual comfort, energy performance, environmental façade design, user control of façade systems, daylight and energy simulations, generative and parametric design, kinetic facades

Sustainable Building Design, Building Simulation, Architecture Studios

PhD in Sustainable Building Design & Building Performance

-ADH Research Funding (November 2023), Arts, Design and Humanities, 51Âþ»­, UK 

-HIGHER EDUCATION INNOVATION FUND (October 2023), Arts, Design and Humanities, 51Âþ»­, UK

-CRESMI grant ( 2021)
A prize offered by the British Council in Egypt for a collaborative project between Egyptian (Al-Azhar University and Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport AASTMT) and British institutes (University of Salford, University of West of London and UCL) to tackle the impacts of climate change. The Project aims to formulate a proposal under the theme “Climate Adaptation of Egypt’s MSMs through energy retrofit: A future-fit approach”.

-The Cultural & Mission Sector, Ministry of Higher Education in Egypt (2021)
Post-doctoral grant at the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium

-Fulbright grant (2019)
The grant provided by the U.S government, awarded to excellent young faculty members from Egypt to attend the Fulbright Junior Faculty Development Program at the University of Texas at Austin.

-Newton Mosharafa fund (Octber 2016-2018)
A collaboration between the Egyptian Cultural Affairs and Mission Sector and by the British Council in Egypt. The funding sponsored a period of 2-years visiting PhD study at the University of Nottingham (UK) (October 2016- October 2018)- £25,000 per year.

● Fellow of Higher Education Academy, UK (March 2024)

● Associate member at The Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists (CIAT) (September 2023 to present)

● Associate member at Syndicate of Egyptian Engineers, Cairo, Egypt (September 2010 to present)

Invited talks and Interviews:

● A guest editor for Journal of Building Design and Environment, Special Issue (SI) Title: Indoor Environmental Quality and Human Health, May 2024

● Peer reviewer for the Journal of Energy and Buildings, Journal of Architectural Engineering and Journal of Building Engineering.

● Scientific committee member, the International Conference of Architecture and Design, Jordan, 2024

● External examiner, Oxford Summer Course, Architecture Summer School, Oxford University, UK, 2023 6

● Newton Mosharafa fund success documentary, Newton-Mosharafa Legacy event, the British embassy in Cairo, (March-2023)

● The Science Program, the Arab Forum for Media and Scientific Communication, Climate Change Session, Cairo-Dubai, 2021

● Fulbright Alumni Panel, Cairo-USA, 2020

● The 5th Fulbright Annual Alumni Conference, The American Embassy, Cairo, 2019

● Texas University Global Engagement, Texas, 2019

● Newton Mosharafa in Egypt (Documentary), Cairo, 2019

Reviewer role:

● Journal of Energy and Buildings, Journal of Architectural Engineering, Journal of Building Engineering, Qeios, Journal of Al-Azhar University Engineering Sector

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