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Magda Sibley

Dr Magda Sibley

(she/her)

Teams and roles for Magda Sibley

Overview

I have educated and trained architects in the UK since 1994, starting by leading  ARB and RIBA validated programmes at the Schools of Architecture of Huddersfied and Liverpool Universities. I have been subsequently appointed in 2015 at Manchester Architecture Research Centre coordinating architectural programmes for the dual architectural degrees between Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan universities and devoloping research-led teaching.

I subsequently moved to Sheffield University School of Architecture in 2015, leading the teaching of History and Theory of Architecture, before joning the Welsh School of Architecture in February 2019, bringing with me  then 25 years of full-time academic experience of Architectural teaching and research.  

My training as an architect in Algeria, was very much based on the French Architectural Education system of five continuous year at the Ecole Polytechnique d'Architecture of Algiers (EPAU), from which I graduated as an Architect and Urbanist with a First Class degree, reaching the highest 5 year-score for a cohort of 150 architecture students.

I have established an international reputation through my multidisciplinary research on Urban and Architectural Heritage in North African and the Middle Eastern cities with a focus on courtyard housing and public bathhouses. My research received  regular funding form the EU, AHRC, EPSRC and British Academy, totalling almost half a million pounds of external funding.

I have successfully supervised more than 20 PhD students so far and examined more than 30 PhD theses in the UK, France, Egypt, Morocco and Malaysia.

My recent research activities intersect History &Theory of Architecture, heritage and climate change and urban resilience in extreme desert climates a focus on ecological transitions in heritage settings , see https://ecohammam.com

My humanities-led research resulted in the the development of my innovative design of a hybrid vernacular/high-tech component for lighting windowless spaces, shortlisted for the Clean-Tech Award.

My international research expertise on heritage blue infrastructure, focused on public bathhouses in Mediterranean countries, has had an international impact, leading to my involvement as a consultant for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for the rehabilitation of two 14th  Century heritage bathhouses in Old Jerusalem and my contribution  the first rehabiltation project of a 14th century heritage hammam in Fez, Morocco  in collaboration with Architect Rachid Haloui.

I continue to ben invited as a keynote speaker at various international conferences and workshops and have been a guest editor for the International Journal of Architectural Research (IJAR),  with a special issue and the Global Built Environment Review.

As a Principal Investigator of several Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project on heritage, my research continues to make International impact as illustrated in my project on the forgotten Cairo Museums of the Belle Epoque era  which received a Best Practice Award from the International Council of Museums (ICOM) in Cairo, see https://becami.com  and recognised by the AHRC as a successful example that has met the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal for Quality Education.

I continue to enjoy research-led, innovative teaching in Humanities and Architectural Design studios to which I bring both interdisciplinary and international dimensions.

I am fluent in three languages: Arabic, French and English.

Publication

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2005

Articles

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Books

Conferences

Websites

Contact Details

Email SibleyM@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone +44 29208 75983
Campuses Bute Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3NB

Research themes