Gamal is a founder and director of Southgate & Sarabia Architects Collaborative, an international venture structured to deliver projects in collaboration with global partners and academia with a cross-binding benefit in terms of research and commercial application. He is an expert in applied research, with a Chair in Architecture at the School of Architecture, Design and Built Environment at Nottingham Trent University. Gamal leads the development of the University’s research theme Global Heritage: Science, Management and Development, a research team that aims to engage with and produce strategic research projects with evident global impact on improving heritage conservation and preservation strategies both internationally and cross boundary.
Gamal’s research focuses on the investigation of socio-spatial practice of urban environments, the architecture of the home, special memory, politics of urban space in everyday list, Digital Urban Heritage, Digital Modelling and the Pedagogy of Architectural Studio. He leads several partnerships and consortium teams that include American, British, European and Middle Eastern universities, research organisations and specialist industries.
Gamal advises several governments and international organisations in Ireland, Egypt and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on aspects of sustainable heritage, preservation, urban planning and design. He has received the International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments (IASTE) Biennale’s Jeffrey Cook Award (2014) for his research on traditional urban environments. He is also an expert for the European Research Council’s Horizon 2020, a peer reviewer for Routledge, Ashgate, Built Environment and TDSR, and sits on several international research committees, board of advisors and professional societies.
Alongside his prestigious resumé, Gamal is a devoted family man, loves travelling and being in his garden when he can.