Hisham Hafez

Profile

I am a post-doctorate researcher in the field of sustainable building materials, currently working under the supervision of Prof. Phill Purnell in the cement working group of the £5 M funded TransFIRe hub for transforming the UK’s foundation industries to achieve the circular economy and net-zero targets by 2050.  

I obtained an MSc in construction engineering in 2016 from the American University in Cairo, Egypt and another MSc in innovative structural materials and design from Uni of Bath, UK in 2017 which paved the way for my PhD research focusing on performance based sustainability assessment of concrete that I finished in 2021 from Northumbria University, UK.

After my PhD, given more than 5 years of construction industrial experience and with a vision to contribute to a more sustainable built environment, I focused on working on industry funded research projects around sustainable concrete technology. After finishing my PhD, I shortly participated in a research project developing a novel low-carbon binder based fibre reinforced concrete solution in UPC, Spain. After this and until joining Uni of Leeds in 2023, I worked as a lead researcher in the limestone calcined clay (LC3) project at EPFL doing the following mainly:

• Doing technical and environmental feasibility analyses for cement companies globally interested in adopting the technology
• Performing Life Cycle Assessments and Material Flow Analyses and case studies for potential low-carbon concrete solutions
• Leading research projects aiming at early-age strength enhancement of LC3 concrete
• Supervising research projects testing the durability properties of low-binder LC3 concrete

Research interests

I have been contributing to the scientific body of knowledge since 2019 through confereces and high-impact journal articles with the ambition of tackling empirical challenges and showcasing potential areas of improvements in current construction pratices. With a variery of experiences, My research focuses mainly on:

• Performance-based life cycle and sustainability assessment of concrete 
• Mechanical and durability testing of low-carbon concrete products
• Structural optimization of concrete material use 
• Material flow and global supply-demand mapping of potentially sustainable structural materials

• Developing the process and mix design for a carbon-neutral block using mineralized industrial waste

Qualifications

• BSc AUC, Egypt 2012
• MSc AUC, Egypt 2016
• MSc Bath, UK 2017
• PhD Northumbria, UK 2021

Research groups and institutes

• Materials and Structures