The Minds Behind MINTA Academy

Prof Dr Eng. Abdul Salam Darwish is Professor in the School of Engineering and Built Environment at the University of Greater Manchester, UK, and Professor and Programme Leader at Excelia Group, La Rochelle Business School, France. He is a highly experienced academic, researcher, educator, and international sustainability specialist with more than 37 years of academic and professional experience across engineering, management, renewable energy, sustainability, and higher education. His interdisciplinary expertise spans sustainability, renewable energy systems, environmental management, artificial intelligence, strategic management, aeronautical engineering, and sustainable engineering innovation. Sustainability forms the central foundation of his teaching, research, and academic leadership.

His teaching and academic interests include Green Technology Design and Management, International Strategic Management, Production Management, environmental management, renewable energy, sustainable engineering practice, and the application of emerging technologies within engineering and management. Professor Darwish holds BSc, MSc, and PhD qualifications in engineering-related disciplines, supported by extensive academic and professional development undertaken in Iraq and the United Kingdom. His education and training include academic experience at Cranfield University, the University of Reading, and the University of Huddersfield, as well as professional diplomas and qualifications in business management, environmental management, and quality management. This combination of engineering, sustainability, and management expertise has enabled him to adopt a strongly interdisciplinary approach throughout his academic career.

He has made a substantial contribution to postgraduate education and research supervision. Professor Darwish has supervised 37 PhD candidates and more than 250 Master's dissertations, and he currently supervises 11 PhD researchers working across a broad range of interdisciplinary topics. His research supervision covers areas including renewable energy, environmental sustainability, artificial intelligence, sustainable engineering, strategic management, the circular economy, smart technologies, carbon reduction, environmental policy, and sustainable development. Professor Darwish has an extensive academic publication record, having authored and co-authored more than 150 research papers and contributed to six books. His research focuses on developing practical, innovative solutions to contemporary environmental, technological, engineering, and management challenges. A central theme throughout his work is the integration of sustainability, technological innovation, engineering practice, and strategic decision-making to support the transition towards low-carbon, resource-efficient, and resilient economies.

Professor Darwish is Deputy Chair of the World Renewable Energy Network (WREN) and chairs WREN's Wind Energy Committee. Through these leadership roles, he actively contributes to advancing international collaboration, research, and knowledge exchange in renewable energy and sustainable development. He has played an important role in international conferences, professional forums, seminars, and research collaborations involving academics, researchers, policymakers, government organisations, and industry representatives from across the world. His wider research interests include renewable energy technologies, wind energy, green hydrogen, sustainable cities, circular economy, environmental management, artificial intelligence for sustainable development, smart governance, sustainable construction, waste management, carbon management, air quality, and public-private partnerships.

Throughout his career, Professor Darwish has maintained a strong commitment to internationalisation, postgraduate education, research impact, academic collaboration, and knowledge transfer. His work seeks to strengthen the relationship among academia, industry, government, and society, while promoting practical, evidence-based approaches to sustainable development. His broader academic mission is to advance innovative solutions that combine engineering, management, renewable energy, artificial intelligence, and environmental responsibility to address the complex challenges facing present and future generations.

Dr Eng. Khaled M. Alhosani is a senior government executive, environmental strategist and researcher with over 17 years of leadership experience in public health, environmental sustainability and sustainable urban development. He serves as Executive Director of the Public Health & Environment Sector at Ajman Municipality & Planning Department, Government of Ajman, United Arab Emirates.

His executive portfolio covers environmental governance, public health protection, integrated waste management, circular economy, climate action, air and water quality, resource efficiency and sustainable infrastructure. He has led and overseen major municipal initiatives in waste recovery and recycling, environmental monitoring, water conservation and reuse, natural-resource protection and the modernisation of environmental and public-health services.

Dr Alhosani's contributions have received international recognition, including the Pioneer Award at the World Renewable Energy Congress (WREC) in Manchester, United Kingdom, in recognition of his leadership in sustainable environmental strategies, waste management, research and carbon-reduction initiatives. He has also played a leading role in the Ajman International Environment Conference, contributing to international dialogue on sustainability, climate action and environmental innovation.

He holds a PhD in Civil Engineering and Construction from the University of Greater Manchester, United Kingdom, with research focused on public–private partnerships and sustainable waste management within the circular economy, in addition to an MSc in Groundwater Engineering and Management and a BSc in Plant Sciences in Arid Regions.

Alongside his government leadership, Dr Alhosani is actively engaged in applied research, peer-reviewed scientific publishing and international knowledge exchange. His work focuses on translating scientific evidence into practical policy, strategic investment and implementable environmental solutions, integrating leadership, innovation and measurable impact to support sustainable and resilient cities.

Dr Yaser Kayed is an environmental and sustainability leader serving as Environmental Specialist — Sustainability & Planning in the Environmental Planning Department at Ajman Municipality & Planning Department, Government of Ajman, United Arab Emirates. He leads strategic environmental planning, sustainability programs, environmental policy development, climate action, environmental monitoring, and innovative initiatives supporting Ajman's transition toward a resilient, low-carbon and sustainable city.

Dr Yaser holds a Doctorate in Environment and Artificial Intelligence from the University of Greater Manchester, United Kingdom, with research focused on innovative solutions for improving urban air quality through AI-based applications, using Ajman as a case study. His academic and professional work lies at the intersection of environmental science, artificial intelligence, digital transformation, climate action and sustainable urban development.

His areas of expertise include air-quality management and modelling, environmental monitoring and reporting, emission inventories and management, greenhouse-gas accounting, waste and hazardous-waste management, marine environmental monitoring, environmental impact assessment, sustainability strategy, AI-enabled environmental innovation, and ISO-based environmental management systems.

In his leadership role in Ajman, Dr Yaser has contributed to the development and implementation of major sustainability and environmental initiatives, including the Ajman Framework for Carbon Neutrality, which integrates climate action across key sectors including energy, transport, industry, waste, buildings and agriculture. He has also contributed to the development of Ajman 360 for Carbon Neutrality, supporting the Emirate's long-term ambition of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Among his notable digital-transformation initiatives is the Ajman Smart City Centralized Waste Data Management Platform, an integrated system incorporating IoT, artificial intelligence, GIS and IPCC-aligned greenhouse-gas estimation methodologies to improve waste-data management, operational efficiency, recycling performance and environmental decision-making. The initiative has been recognized internationally, including receiving a 7-Star Award at IBPC 2025, while the associated Smart Monitoring Laboratory received a 6-Star recognition.

As a researcher, Dr Yaser has published peer-reviewed scientific research and has developed research interests spanning artificial intelligence for environmental applications, urban air-quality modelling, sustainable smart cities, climate action, emission reduction and environmental data analytics. His technical work has incorporated approaches and models including LEAP, GAINS, WRF-Chem, CMAQ, EMEP/EEA and IPCC methodologies, together with AI and statistical techniques such as Random Forest, Gradient Boosting and ARIMA. Through his combined experience in government environmental leadership, applied research, policy development, digital innovation and international sustainability cooperation, Dr Yaser works toward advancing practical environmental solutions that support the UAE's national sustainability priorities, Ajman Vision 2030, the UAE Net Zero by 2050 ambition and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.