Professor of Social Work, Faculty of Social Work, Sultan Qaboos University

Professor Ashraf M. Salama is academic, scholar, and Chair in Architecture at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK , Director of the Cluster for Research in Architecture and Urbanism in the Global South since 2014, and Former Head of the School of Architecture (2014-2020). He holds B.Sc. MSc. and PhD in architecture and has received his education at Al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt and North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA. He has published over 170 outputs in the international refereed press; authored and co-edited 14 books. He is the chief editor of the Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research and Open House international. Professor Salama is the UIA 2017 Recipient of Jean Tschumi Prize for Excellence in Architectural Education and Criticism. He has chaired and led three schools of architecture over the past 25 years in Egypt (1996-2001), Qatar (2009-2014), and the United Kingdom (2014-2020). He is a licensed architect in Egypt since 1987, practiced in Egypt (1987-92). He has been a consultant to a number of authorities and development agencies in the Middle East since 2004 and, from 2001 to 04, the Director of Research and Consulting at Adams Group Architects, Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. For more information, please visit https://www.ashrafsalamanet.net/welcome

Louis Volante (PhD) is a Professor of Education Governance at Brock University and a Professorial Fellow at UNU-MERIT, Maastricht Graduate School of Governance. Professor Volante’s regularly engages as a consultant and policy advisor for International Organisations as well as regional and national governments interested in policy planning, development, and analysis related to large-scale educational reform.

Cheung is a business executive and global governance scholar. He co-directs the Center for Global Agenda (CGA) and directs the Venture Strategy Group (VSG) at Unbuilt Labs. He is a Global Diplomacy Fellow at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), a UNESCO IPL Expert, as well as a member of Boards Impact Forum and other board networks. He chairs the Global Consortium for Systems Research (GCSR). He is the author of "5 Ideas from Global Diplomacy: System-wide Transformation Methods to Close the Compliance Gap and Advance the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals" (2024).