Dr. May Newisar
- Position: Lecturer in Architecture
- Areas of expertise: Heritage Governance- Urban Heritage conservation- Public engagement and community participation- Environmental Psychology
- Email: M.Newisar@leeds.ac.uk
- Location: 4.14 Civil Engineering
- Website: | Twitter | LinkedIn | Googlescholar | Researchgate
Profile
She is a Lecturer in Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Leeds. Dr Newisar has held several academic posts in several international schools of Architecture in the Middle East and the UK.
Her PhD from the University of Manchester focuses on understanding the politics of technical decision-making in the World Heritage sites.
Prior to joining Civil Engineering in Leeds, Dr Newisar worked with Mela Social Enterprise as a research associate focusing on raising the awareness of public about Historic England’s heritage values within their place identity. At the same time, she worked as an Associate research consultant leading a research team that won the mentor’s award team at the best research and business reports.
May is also working as a researcher and co-secretary at the Association of Collaborative Design. She has 10 years' experience in teaching and delivering courses in architecture and urban design at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Dr Newisar is an Associate Fellow in recognition of attainment against the UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching and learning support in higher education.
Research interests
Dr Newisar is an architect, urbanist, and researcher working at the intersection of theoretical exploration of cultural heritage and professional practice of heritage conservation. Through an active community engagement, her interdisciplinary research advocates social-constructivist approaches to studying the politics of tehcnical desicionmaking and its impact on shaping the tangible and intangible cultural heritage. In particular how the technical and managerial tools in the heritage conservation process are used as soft power in negotiations, forming cultural politics that framed the nexus between heritage conservation and urban regeneration.
She is currently working on the research project Creative Economies Through Youth- led Arts and Craft in Jordan (CEARC) with professor Gehan Selim which focuses on deploying a 3-stage methodology to offer a breakthrough in developing an arts and crafts hub in Umm Qais (Jordan). In addition to building capacity in digital and manual arts and crafts, delivering a host of new skills, from art design to entrepreneurship and understanding marketing and retail on which to establish community-led heritage-based arts and craft enterprises.
Building on this knowledge and experience, she is now working on ‘Women's perception of safety in public open spaces’ with Leeds City Council on developing the supplemnatry planning document on communities’ safeties and exploring the relation between cultural identity and women’s safety. Dr Newisar is working with local artists on exploring the perception and emotions expressed during the research investigation.
<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Any research projects I'm currently working on will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://eps.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy in Planning and Environmental Management (University of Manchester)
- MSc in Architecture Engineering and Environmental Design, Alexandria, Egypt
- BSc in Architectural Engineering and Environmental Design, Alexandria, Egypt
Professional memberships
- Associate Fellow in Higher Education Academy (AFHEA)
Student education
She is currently co-supervising PhD students in Architecture and Urbanism Group.
She is also supervising undergraduate students in their individual research projects which is focusing on “Designing cities for women: towards Gender-Equal cities” and “City Branding through Culture “European Capital of Culture”