Dr. Al Madhoun is the Founder of a Global Non Profit Network and Think Tank “Global Ambassadors of Sustainability ” which has more than 13300 members from 130 countries. Dr Al Madhoun holds A fellowship on Sustainable Cities at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Malaysia Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT) and a PhD of Environmental Engineering from Universiti Sains Malaysia. He has 20 years of working experience (teaching, training, research and consultancy), where he had assignments in Brunei, Canada, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Palestine, South Korea and USA. He also was a Research Professor at University of Seoul, a visiting scholar at University of Windsor and he was a guest speaker at Harvard University, MIT and IIT. Dr Al Madhoun conducted several international training programs on Sustainable Development, Climate Change, Air Pollution and Environmental Assessment. He also was appointed as a consultant for projects funded by various international agencies. In terms of publications, he has more than 60 papers published at international peer reviewed journals and international conferences.
Zaid Taher is a distinguished environmental and emergency management expert, currently serving as a consultant with UNEP at the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture in Saudi Arabia. With over 10 years of experience, Zaid has demonstrated exceptional skills in project and program management, data analytics, and strategic planning. He has a proven track record in developing comprehensive emergency response strategies and training programs. His international work with UNEP, IAEA, and JAEC highlights his commitment to sustainable development and environmental protection. Zaid holds a Bachelor’s in Nuclear Engineering and an MBA, showcasing his multidisciplinary expertise and dedication to advancing global sustainability initiatives.
International Advisory Board
The CEO and Co-Founder of the U.S. Green Chamber of Commerce (USGCC), where we give businesses the triple bottom line advantage. Helping both established and emerging companies, the USGCC improves operational efficiency, implements environmentally sustainable practices, and taps into unexplored markets and opportunities.
Mr. Ahmed Mudawi, Senior Project Officer, brings over a decade of experience in environmental sustainability, international development, and general administration. Currently, at the Arab Gulf Programme for Development (AGFUND), he oversees initiatives aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). His focus includes advancing education, early childhood development, women’s empowerment, financial inclusion, civil society development, and supporting small farmers through impactful projects across the Arab region and internationally. In his previous role as a Programme Support Officer with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Ahmed provided leadership and coordination for project-related activities and contributed to key processes within the UN system. His work focused on areas such as climate change, air quality, biodiversity, and waste management, ensuring that environmental policies and projects were effectively implemented. A founding member of the Global Ambassadors of Sustainability (GAoS), Ahmed holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and a Diploma in Computer Science. Originally from Sudan, he combines his extensive expertise in administration, leadership, and technical skills to support global sustainability efforts.
Dr. Saeid Pirasteh, Professor, Ph.D., IEEE Senior Member, T-PGO, UN-GGIM Academic Network Expert and Advisory Board Member, ISPRS ICWG IVa Chair, GeoIME Founder and Inventor Dr. Saeid Pirasteh is a Visiting Professor with the Geospatial Intelligence and Mapping (GIM) Lab at the University of Waterloo. He is now a full Professor and Associate Dean of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence at Shaoxing University, Shaoxing, Zhejing, China. He was an Associate Professor at the Department of Surveying and Geonformatics, College of Geosciences and Environmental Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China, during 2019-2022. He joined the University of Waterloo, Canada as a visiting scholar in December 2011 and started to pursue his second Ph.D. degree in Geography in September 2013 and received his PhD degree in remote sensing in 2018. Prior to joining the University of Waterloo in 2011, Dr. Pirasteh was an instructor at Chamran University (2000-2002). He joined Azad University Dezful Branch, Iran, in 2002. He was also a visiting faculty of Khorramshahr Marine Technology University, Khorramshahr, Iran, from 2002-2004. He was an adjunct and fellow at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand (2005-2007). Later, he became a representative of the AIT in the Middle East till 2008. He was a Senior Researcher and Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Advanced Technology (ITMA) at the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Malaysia (2008-2011). He has supervised and co-supervised many undergraduate students and nearly 100 master/Ph.D. students, postdoc fellows and visiting scholars from various countries.
Prof Dr Hyunook Kim South Korea
Prof. Hyunook Kim is a professor and the Chairperson of School of Environmental Engineering, the director of the R&D Center of Core Technology for Water Treatment, an Associate Editor of Chemosphere, Critical Review in Environmental Science & Technology, Energy, Ecology, and Environment, and Frontiers of Environmental Science and Engineering. He is the Editor-In-Chief of Water-Energy Nexus. He got his B Sc in Environmental Science at Yonsei University in 1994 (Seoul, Korea), M Sc in Environmental Engineering at Johns Hopkins University in 1997 (Baltimore, MD, USA), Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering at the University of Maryland in 2000 (College Park, MD, USA). After he had been awarded his Ph.D. degree, Prof. Kim had worked for the US Department of Agriculture for about 3 years until he joined the University of Seoul as an assistant professor in September 2002. Currently, Prof. Hyunook Kim’ researches focus on the modeling and automatic control of water or wastewater treatment processes, and anaerobic digesters. He also develops sensors or analytical techniques to measure trace organic pollutants, which can be used for the purpose of process control.
Proactive, dynamic sustainability professional with over 13 years’ expertise in sustainable strategy development, strategic communications, change management, consulting, design development and project management across the academic, land development, sustainability and fashion sector. Experienced CSO and sustainability consultant. Appointed Chair board of the UN Global Compact Local Network Saudi Arabia & Advisory board member of both Earth Academy and Global Ambassadors of Sustainability. Featured in sustainability events including 6th meeting of Saudi Sustainability Club, innov8rs, Women In Innovation. Holds an EMBA from HULT International Business School alongside numerous sustainability certificates from ISSP & Cambridge Judge Business School.
Prof. Dr. Maszlee bin Malik Malaysia
Prof. Dr. Maszlee bin Malik has an extensive background in education, politics, and volunteer work. He previously served as the Minister of Education for Malaysia from May 2018 to January 2020 and was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Simpang Renggam from May 2018 to November 2022. Dr. Maszlee earned his Bachelor’s degree from Al-Bayt University in Jordan and his Master’s degree in Islamic Jurisprudence in 2004. He later completed his Doctorate in Good Governance from Durham University in the United Kingdom. Prior to his political career, Dr. Maszlee was a committed educator, teaching at the International Islamic University Malaysia from 2000 until 2018. He was also an active volunteer, serving as an advisor for multiple NGOs that help children with special needs. Currently, he holds a position as a Professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Social Sciences at the University of Cyberjaya, commencing March 2023.
Graduated from the National School of Bridges and Roads (Ponts et Chaussées – Paris), Isam Shahrour is strongly involved in the research, higher education and partnership with the socio-economic sector. he was Vice President “Research and doctoral program” at the University Lille1 (2007 – 2012) and president of the Innovation Agency “Lille Metropole Technopole” for regional economic development via innovation. Currently, he is director of the Regional Research Laboratory “Civil and Geo-Environment Engineering – LGCgE” and head of the international master “Urban Engineering and Habitat.” He coordinates a large-scale Smart City demonstrator “SunRise). His research activity concerns Smart and sustainable Cities as well as Geotechnical and geo-environmental Engineering. He conducted an intensive research activity with industrial partnership. His activity resulted in about 100 refereed journal papers and supervised 60 PhD dissertations. He gave about 15 lectures on the smart city concept and implementation, including a TEDx talk.
Professor Aiman Jameel Albarakati is an experienced Executive Director with a demonstrated history of working in the computer software industry. He is skilled in Management, Quality Assurance, Engineering Management, Graph Theory, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Strong education professional with a Doctorate of Philosophy focused on Computational Science and Engineering from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.
Chairlady of the Sustainability Committee at Bank of Palestine, A transformational change leader. Expert in Management, Development and Education. Her areas of focus include performance management, sustainably, governance, Ethics of Science and Technology, strategic, planning, research , fundraising , and communication. Education and philanthropy are fields of highest experience
He is Professor of Civil Engineering/Transportation at the American University of Sharjah, UAE. His areas of research interest/teaching are traffic control with focus on congested systems, sustainability in transport systems, and interactions between urban traffic operations and public health. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. His academic and industry experience spans 27 years in transportation systems operations and planning with periods at Michigan State University, University of Kentucky, and the Metropolitan Planning Organizations in Worcester, Massachusetts, and in Urban-Champaign, Illinois.
Prof Dr Nidhi Nagabhatla Senior Fellow and Cluster Coordinator : Nature, Climate and Health at United Nations University – CRIS (UNU CRIS) Belgium Along with her programmatic role at UNU CRIS ,she also served as Adj Asso Professor at the School of Earth, Environment & Society McMaster University, Canada and guest Professor for at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, Bolivia. A sustainability science specialist and a systems analyst with close to 22 years of work experience, she has led, coordinated, and implemented water focused projects in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Americas working with several international organizations in CGIAR, UNU, IUCN… and affiliates with Oxford University (UK) and Leibniz University (Germany) in various roles, mostly related to sustainability research, science-policy interfacing and mentoring young professionals. Served as the Chair of The Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (UNEP), associates with UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030) and similar global environmental governance agenda’s
Middle East SDG’s Academy is a joint Program by Middle East Cities Center at American University in Dubai (AUD) and Global Ambassadors of Sustainability. The academy was officially launched during the UN Habitat Global Campaign: “The City We Need Now”.
Its an open educational resource from the world’s leading experts on sustainable development, The Academy creates massive open online courses and educational materials on sustainable development and the Sustainable Development Goals. The Middle East SDG’s Academy contribute mainly to the SDG’s 4, 5 and 16.
Here are some of the offered courses: – Sustainable Development Principles and Practice – Environmental Management and Sustainability – Environmental Impact Assessment and Sustainability – Development, Environment and Politics – Diplomacy for Sustainability – Leadership for Sustainability – Business Sustainability – Green and Circular Economy for Sustainability – Urban Journalism Academy – Sustainability Governance – SDGs Reporting and CSR
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Dr. Mahmoud AlBurai is currently serving as Senior Advisor at the Real Estate Regulatory Agency of Dubai, mandated to work on a plan to make Dubai more competitive. Prior to this role, Dr. AlBurai served as the CEO of the Dubai Real Estate Institute for 10 years, during which time the institute graduated 80,000 real estate professionals from the region. He is currently the Chairman of the UNDRR Arise network in the UAE working on making businesses more resilient, in alignment with the Sendai Framework. He is also the Vice President of the International Real Estate Federation, FIABCI Arab Countries since 2016 and sits on the board of the International Real Estate Federation, the world’s largest global real estate network with more than 1.5 million associate members. Prior to this role, he served on the Board of the International Real Estate Society (IRES) for 5 years and the Board of the National Association of Realtors (NAR), a 1.3-million-member real estate network based in Chicago, from 2019-2020. Dr. AlBurai served as the Chairman of the UN Global Compact UAE from 2015-2020 and represented the MENA region on the UN Global Compact Advisory Board from 2016-2018. In his role as UN Global Compact MENA representative, Dr. AlBurai led many SDG driven initiatives. He started youth ambassador programs at seven UAE universities, recruiting over 150 youth and training them to help businesses become more sustainable. He also led the establishment of the Women Empowerment Principles Platform in the UAE with 60 companies signing on to the initiative. To promote SDGs among businesses, Dr. AlBurai launched SDGs Pioneers UAE celebrating SDG success stories of private and governmental organizations. Dr. AlBurai has been selected to be the FIABCI representative at the United Nations Economic Commission for West Asia (UNESCWA) and UNECE (Geneva). Recently, he established a Think Tank in Geneva under the name of the Middle East Sustainable Development Institute (MESDI) to lobby governments, businesses and communities to action on SDGs in the Middle East. He has actively lobbied the private sector in the region to be involved in SDGs. During his presidency of the MESDI, the UAE local network became the fastest growing network internationally. Moreover, Dr. AlBurai leads the affordable housing working-group at the World Economic Forum, and also serves as an advisor-MENA region at Happy City Lab, headquartered in Canada, that works on integrating happiness into urban design.
Dr. Al Madhoun is a Global Climate and Sustainability Leader, he is the founder of a global initiative “Global Ambassadors of Sustainability ” which has more than 13000 members from 130 countries. Dr Al Madhoun holds A fellowship on Sustainable Cities at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Malaysia Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT) and a PhD of Environmental Engineering from Universiti Sains Malaysia. He has 15 years of working experience (teaching, training, research and consultancy), where he had assignments in Brunei, Canada, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Palestine, South Korea and USA and He was a Research Professor at University of Seoul, a visiting scholar at University of Windsor and he was a guest speaker at Harvard University, MIT and IIT. Dr Al Madhoun conducted several international training programs on Sustainable Development, Climate Change, Air Pollution and Environmental Assessment. He also was appointed as a consultant for projects funded by USAID, UNICEF and UNEP. In terms of publications, he has more than 55 papers published at international peer reviewed journals and international conferences. He is the Co Founder of Middle East SDG’s Academy and Dean of Engineering Faculty at Gaza University. Expertise Area: -Sustainable and Resilient Cities -Climate Change -Air and Noise Pollution -Environmental Impact Assessment and – International Relations.