In a new international achievement added to the record of accomplishments of the Faculty of Engineering at Ain Shams University, Prof. Dr. Amr Abdel Salam Shaat, Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Dr. Marwa Abou El-Fotouh, Vice Dean for Graduate Studies and Research, and Prof. Dr. Noha Gamal Saeed, Coordinator of Scientific Exchange and International Students at the International Cooperation Office, honored a number of faculty students participating in the international research project "Child’s City", which was associated with the winning entry of the first place in the Written Media category within the International Golden Cubes Awards 2026, organized by the Architecture and Children program of the International Union of Architects (UIA), whose awards ceremony was held in Barcelona, Spain.

The honoring included participating students from the faculty's undergraduate interdisciplinary programs: the Environmental Architecture and Urbanism program (ENVR) and the Housing Architecture and Urban Development program (HAUD), alongside students from the Interdisciplinary Master on Resource Efficient Cities program (IMaREC), affiliated with the Graduate School of Engineering and Scientific Research (GESR).

This achievement comes within the framework of participating in the international research project "Child’s City", funded by Leading House MENA, and submitted by the School of Social Work in Geneva (Haute école de travail social de Genève – HETS-Genève) in Switzerland, in cooperation with a number of academic and research institutions in five countries: Switzerland, France, Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt, where the Egyptian participation was represented by both the Department of Architecture at the Faculty of Engineering at Ain Shams University and the Department of Architecture at Future University.

The participation of the faculty students came within the framework of the "Human Behavior in the Built Environment" course for undergraduate students, and the "Empirical Social Research" course in the Interdisciplinary Master on Resource Efficient Cities program (IMaREC), both taught by Prof. Dr. Noha Gamal Saeed, which provided students with the opportunity to apply modern architectural education concepts through a multidisciplinary international research experience. The students are:

• Jana Mohamed El-Essawy
• Sara Omar Mohamed
• Nadia Ezzat Nasr
• Basmala Abdel Halim Mohamed
• Joudy Tamer El-Hosseiny
• Mariam Atef Mohamed
• Reham Essam Tantawy
• Sandra Sameh George
• Youssef Bahig Akila
• Suzan Mamdouh Pilatus

The project focused on employing innovative methods in architectural education and design by actively involving children in the design process and giving them the opportunity to express their needs and vision for the built environment around them, which enhances the concept of participatory design and emphasizes the importance of placing human needs, across different age groups, at the heart of the architectural and urban design process.

This honoring reflects the excellence of the students of the Faculty of Engineering at Ain Shams University and their ability to compete in international forums. It also confirms the faculty's keenness to support multidisciplinary scientific research, expand the horizons of international academic cooperation, and develop engineering and architectural education methods, contributing to preparing generations of engineers capable of innovating and providing sustainable design solutions that respond to community needs.