• Mr Rashad Bukhash, Chairman of Architectural Heritage Society (UAE) and ARAB ICOM Chairman

With his 32 years of extensive experience in the fields of planning, directing, managing, supervising of modern architectural projects, conservation of historic buildings, Rashad Muhammad Bukhash has supervised the conservation of more than 215 buildings.

He also supervised the design and execution of more than 200 modern buildings including universities, colleges, public buildings, parks and community facilities. Mr. Bukhash is also a former member of the Federal National Council (FNC) UAE and former director of the Architectural Heritage and Archaeology Department, Dubai Municipality.

In Dubai only, he supervised the design and execution of 14 museums in Dubai, among them: Dubai Museum, Sheikh Saeed Al-Maktoum house, the Heritage House, Al-Ahmadiya School, the Falcon Museum and Sarooq Al-Hadid Archaeology museum.

He has written and supervised more than 36 books on architecture, history and traditional architecture of Dubai and the UAE.

Bukhash has won many prizes such as the best employee of Dubai Government 1998, Rashid prize for scientific Excellency 2002, the champion of sustainability in Gulf States 2008, the UAE Excellency award 2008 in architecture, and the best architect of the year in the Arab region from Arab cities organisation in 2010.

Engineer Rashad Muhammad Bukhash is considered one of the few engineers interested in traditional and historical architecture in the UAE. He has also written 16 researches and participated in authoring 31 books on architecture.

• Prof. Dr. Noman Ahmed, Chairholder and Network Coordinator, UNESCO chair for Sustainable Urban Regions at NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan

Professor Dr Noman Ahmed is an architect and planner by profession. He obtained his Bachelor of Architecture degree from Dawood College/NED University, Karachi in 1989; Masters degree in city planning from the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey in 1992; postgraduate training in Urban and Regional Planning from the United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD), Nagoya, Japan in 1993; post graduate certificate from Centre for Housing and Urban Development Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA in 1999 and Ph.D. from Loughborough University, UK in 2005. He is also a graduate of the 88th National Management Course offered by National School of Public Policy, Lahore, Pakistan. Noman has taught in the leading architecture and planning institutions in Karachi and also supervised post graduate research in the same disciplines. Dr Ahmed worked as a Faculty Member and Coordinator, Urban Design Graduate Programme at the Dawood College of Engineering and Technology, Karachi from 1989 to 2000. Thereafter he set up an Architecture and Planning Department at the NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi in 2000. He is currently working as Professor and Dean, Faculty of Architecture and Management Sciences at NED University. He has undertaken several self-motivated research studies on developmental issues including infrastructural planning and management and has been a consultant to many NGOs, CBOs and government organizations in Pakistan and abroad. Recent projects include Quetta Master Plan 2050 and Karachi Climate Action Plan. He has also published several reports, monographs and papers on different relevant topics and subjects. His recent books include ‘Water Supply in Karachi: Issues and Prospects’ has been published by Oxford University Press in July 2008; ‘The KBA Chronicle: Life and Works of Professor Kausar Bashir Ahmad’ in 2012, ’ Karachi: The Land Issue’ by Oxford University Press in 2015 and Karachi, from the prism of urban design’ by NED University Press in 2016. He edited and co-edited many books including Informality and Urban governance in South and Southeast Asian cities’’ published by University of Melbourne
He regularly writes on developmental issues in the leading newspapers in Pakistan including DAWN, THE NEWS, The Friday Times and other publications since 1988. He has been professionally associated with many urban and regional planning assignments in Karachi, Quetta, cities in Sindh and many other locations.

Some of the honours that he received include the ‘Best Teacher Award’ from Higher Education Commission, Government of Pakistan in 2009; Dr Akhter Hameed Khan Memorial Award from Pakistan Council of Social Sciences in 2010 and Best Writer Award on Environment and Development from All Pakistan Newspapers Society – received from the then President of Pakistan in 2009. In 2020, he was awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, conferred on 23 March 2021 on occasion of Pakistan Day. He is also the Chair Holder and Network Coordinator of UNESCO Chair on Sustainable Urban Regions at the NED University, Karachi.