UNIT TEAM
Director of the Unit for Teaching Excellence and Leadership
Senior Fellow of AdvancedHE, UK (SFHEA)
Assistant Professor, Department of Information Systems, College of Information Technology
Short Bio:
Dr. Amal Alrayes is the Director of Unit for Teaching Excellence and Leadership (UTEL) and an Assistant Professor in Department of Information Systems at the University of Bahrain. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in the UK. Amal is one of the founders of the Unit for Excellence Teaching and Leadership at UOB. Amal received her master degree in Computer Science from the University of Wolverhampton in UK in 2004 and completed her Ph.D in Interactive Systems from University of Manchester in UK in 2013. Her research interests are in HCI, Interactive Systems, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, and the use of Technology in education.
She has a strong engagement with industry through developmental research and grant projects such as project of Bahrain Satisfaction Index for e-government Services. Also, she is an active member in many national and international societies like Technology and Business Society and part of their Cybersecurity committee, a member in Artificial Intelligence Society in Bahrain and Society of Excellence and Academic Research in Bahrain. She is the IEEE Computer Society Bahrain chapter secretary since December 2021. She is a board member in Women in Big Data Bahrain chapter. A member in Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World, member in Women in Tech organization. She is a member and chair of a sub-committee in Implementation of the GCC-SG strategic plan initiatives committee with Secretariat General of the Gulf Cooperation Council. She is a member with the National Network for International Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bahrain. She loves to serve the community with different tasks such as being a Technology mentor with Brinc projects and honored to mentor more than six projects as part of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Innovation Fund (MBRIF) Acceleration Program. Served as a reviewer in many research journals and conferences. Published articles in newspapers to educate and disseminate knowledge to the public.
Amal is decisive and effective in positions that require timely results. Have twenty years of IT experience in academia. More than ten years of experience in teaching excellence and academic leadership. Engaged in many qualities’ assurance practices in higher education. Recently became a fellow with UK-GCC women in Cybersecurity program and very proud to be accredited and certified Innovation Leader as a fellow with the Institute of Innovation and Knowledge Exchange in UK.
Contact details:
email: aalrayes@uob.edu.bh
Office phone: 17438282
Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PCAP) Coordinator
Associate Professor, Department of English Language, Bahrain Teachers College
Short Bio:
Dr. Hasan Al-Wadi is an associate professor of TESOL in the Department of English Language Education – Bahrain Teachers College (BTC) and the coordinator of the Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PCAP) – 2022-2023 – at the Unit for Teaching Excellence and Leadership (UTEL). He is also a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy in the UK (now AHE). Dr. Hasan teaches research methods in education, principles and practices of ELT, language testing and Best practices in ELT. His research interest is teacher education, curriculum development, CPD in education, and professional knowledge of ELT. Dr. Hasan is currently the associate editor of the IAFOR Journal of Language Learning – Journal of Education and he also was the Head of the Foundation Programme at BTC from 2012 to 2015.
Contact details:
Email: halwadi@uob.edu.bh
Office phone: –
Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PCAP) Lecturer
Assistant Professor, Allied Health, College of Health & Sports Sciences
Short Bio:
Dr. Mohamed is an Assistant Professor of physiotherapy and sports injuries at the University of Bahrain. He has a clinical background in musculoskeletal physiotherapy and has been a part of the academic field since 2011. Dr. Mohamed earned his bachelor’s degree from Kuwait University in 2008 and his master’s in musculoskeletal rehabilitation from the University of Pittsburgh in 2013. In 2018, he received his philosophy degree from Leeds Beckett University, where he studied physical and functional changes following hip arthroscopy. His research interests include sports injuries, groin pain, and advancing health education and services. Dr. Mohamed is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) from the NSCA, a Microsoft Certified Educator (MCE), and a fellow of Advance HE. In 2022, he was awarded the Journal of Sports Health’s best international paper.
Contact details:
Email: moabdulla@uob.edu.bh
Office phone: 17437095
Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PCAP) Lecturer
Assistant Professor, French Studies Center, College of Arts
Short Bio:
Dr. Sara Bader was assigned as a mentor in 2020 and then as a lecturer in 2021 of the PCAP program offered by the Unit for Teaching Excellence and Leadership (UTEL) of the University of Bahrain (UoB). She has been a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), UK since 2019 and a Senior Fellow since 2023.
Dr. Sara Bader is an assistant professor of language science at the French Studies Center of the University of Bahrain. Previously, she worked as a curriculum specialist in French language teaching at the Ministry of Education. She obtained her Master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Franche-Comté in France. Her areas of interest include applied linguistics in foreign language education, didactics of French as a foreign language, theories of language acquisition for FFL learners; and its applications in language classrooms; teaching French as a foreign language, and research about the use of innovative teaching approaches for developing language skills.
Contact details:
Email: sabader@uob.edu.bh
Office phone: 17435067
Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PCAP) Mentor
Assistant Professor, Mathematics, College of Science
Short Bio:
Dr. Mayada Shahada holds a Ph.D. in Pure Mathematics from Western University, Canada. Her research interests lie in Combinatorial Polynomial Identity Theory and Combinatorial Commutative Algebra. She is very interested in producing combinatorial methods to “count” algebraic invariants without doing complicated algebraic calculations using different combinatorial, topological, and homological tools. In 2021, Dr. Shahada earned the Post Graduate Certificate for Academic Practice and became a fellow in the Higher Education Academy.
Contact details:
Email: mshahada@uob.edu.bh
Office phone: 17449145
Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PCAP) Mentor
Senior Lecturer, Architecture and Interior Design, College of Engineering
Short Bio:
Anamika Vishal Jiwane is currently working as a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Architecture and Interior Design, University of Bahrain. She is an Architect with Masters in Urban Planning and PhD in Architecture from India. She holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice (UOB) and has been awarded fellowship from Higher Education Academy, UK. She has been in teaching profession of Architecture and Design since last 23 years. She has keen interest in experimenting with different teaching models and performing action research to bring about healthy learning environment in Design studio. Her major area of research interest is Sustainable Development through Community Participation and Participatory Approaches. She has significant research publications in International Journals and notable international conferences in areas of Notes Taking, Sustainable practices, Smart space planning etc. She has also participated in slum redevelopment and rural planning projects in India as a volunteer to render the community services.
Contact details:
Email: ajiwane@uob.edu.bh
Office phone: 17876486
Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PCAP) Mentor
Assistant Professor, Architecture and Interior Design, College of Engineering
Short Bio:
Dr Hawra Jaafar Shaikh Mansoor is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture and Interior Design, University of Bahrain. She is a Fellow of the Advance HE and a PhD holder graduated from Canterbury School of Architecture, University for the Creative Arts/University of Brighton, UK, whose work explores interdisciplinary intersections between architecture, philosophy, psychology and cultural theory. Hawra’s research area mainly focuses on considering the immaterial aspects of the user’s spatial experience in a user-oriented architectural practice. Within her PhD thesis there is an attempt to understand how architecture could be meaningful and purposeful to its users while responding to the contemporary social and cultural conditions.
Hawra is also interested in research that discusses the relationship between architecture as a creative process and the lived experience of people as a way of consuming space as a product of the design process and the context in which architecture exists.
Hawra was originally trained as Interior designer, she holds a BSc. in Interior Design from the University of Bahrain. In 2012 she was awarded Master Degree in Design from the University for the Creative Arts, Rochester.
Contact details:
Email: halshaik@uob.edu.bh
Office phone: –
Coordinator of the Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
FHEA
Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture and Interior Design, College of Engineering
Short Bio:
Dr. Noor Aldoy is an Assistant professor in the Department of Architecture and Interior Design at the College of Engineering. She teaches and coordinates Computer Aided Interior Design, Computer Animations, Furniture Design and Interior Design Training courses. Dr. Aldoy was a Design and Innovation Manager at Lancaster China Catalyst Programme and a Senior Knowledge Exchange Associate in the London Fusion Project at Lancaster University in the UK. Before this, she worked as a Digital Space and Technologies Lecturer at the Arts University at Bournemouth and was a member of the Design Practice Research Group at Loughborough University. Her work focused on methods of digital industrial design and curriculum development. She also worked as a co-investigator in the Hewlett Packard Innovation in Education grant to explore the tablet PC’s use as a sketching tool. Dr. Aldoy holds a 1st Class Bachelor of Arts degree in Design and Technology and a Master of Science degree in Industrial Design from Loughborough University. Soon after completing her Masters, Dr. Aldoy was awarded a PhD studentship by Loughborough University. In 2011, she completed her PhD in Digital Industrial Design. Her research interest centres on the use of computer technologies within design practice. Dr. Aldoy was awarded her UK Higher Education Academy Fellowship in 2019 and joined UTEL as a mentor in 2020. She is currently the Continuous Professional Development Program (CPD) coordinator.
Contact details:
Email: naldoy@uob.edu.bh
Office phone: 17876102
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Lecturer
Lecturer, English Language Center, College of Arts
Short Bio:
“Preeti Jaiswal is a lecturer at the English Language Centre, University of Bahrain. She is a Senior Fellow (SFHEA) and Fellow (FHEA) of Advance HE, Higher Education Academy, United Kingdom. She is an active member of the Unit for Teaching Excellence and Leadership (UTEL) at the University of Bahrain. She is a Lecturer and mentor of UTEL’s faculty development program-Continuous Professional Development (CPD) program and a Moderator of the New to Teaching in Bahrain (NTB) program since 2017 till present. She has an MA in English literature from Delhi University, India, and has completed CELTA and TESOL. In September 2022, she published her book titled ‘A Walk down Memory Lane with Mother’ on Amazon Kindle. In 2006, the University of Omar Al Mukhtar published her book entitled English in Medicine: A Comprehensive Course. She has published many articles in international Scopus-indexed journals. and is a reviewer for some Scopus journals. She has twenty-eight years experience of teaching ESL, ESP, and EAP courses at the University level. Since 2011, she has been teaching at the University of Bahrain. In June 2018, she received the Teaching Excellence Award and Professional Development Award by the Director of, the English Language Centre, University of Bahrain. She is the winner of National Geographic Learning’s Learning Moments Competition held in conjunction with the English Language Centre, University of Bahrain in November 2020. She contributed to the Re-Accreditation Process for UTEL Faculty Development Programs of Advance HE, in March 2023.
Contact details:
Email: pjaiswal@uob.edu.bh
Office phone: 17438602
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Mentor
Senior Lecturer, English Language Bahrain Teachers College
Short Bio:
Dr. Neesha Khan Malik is a Senior Lecturer at Bahrain Teachers College of the University of Bahrain UOB) at Sakhir since 2012. She completed her doctorate in Education from the University of Mumbai, India with a gold medal in her Master of Education degree from the same university for the highest-grade aggregate across all university affiliated colleges. As a teacher educator she has been a part of designing, teaching, assessing, moderating, and accrediting courses in collaboration with colleagues. Since her main area of interest and profession is teaching strategies, she periodically visits public schools to supervise teaching of her undergraduate and diploma students at the elementary and all intermediate levels. She has also been part of the University of Bahrain’s community service program in terms of offering professional development courses for public and private school teachers since 2015. She became a part of UOB’s Unit for Teaching Excellence and Leadership (UTEL) since 2016-2017 having acquired the Fellowship of Advance Higher Educations Academy (FHEA). Her passion for research has led to the publishing of several research articles and conference presentations nationally and internationally. Currently she is a member of the UTEL team and a mentor for the Continuous Professional Development Program (CPD) at the UTEL.
Contact details:
Email: nmalik@uob.edu.bh
Office phone: 17437297
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Mentor
Assistant Professor, Private Law ,College of Law
Short Bio:
Dr Hanan Almawla has obtained her PhD degree in IP Law from QMUL – UK. She is currently holding the position of Assistant professor of Intellectual Property (IP) Law with over 9 years of experience teaching IP Law, rules of obligations and contract law in University of Bahrain (UOB).
Researcher in legal topics related to civil Law, IP law with particular focus on IP law and technology in addition to comparative studies concerning the legal framework of IP laws in GCC states.
She has published number of journal articles in addition to one academic text-book (in Arabic) about IPRs in Bahrain (UOB Printing Press 2023)
Recognized as an IP expert at the national level, providing legal consultations in IP and Contract Law, and is firmly engaged in legal awareness activities -in relation to IP law- in the region.
She is the winner of Best Academic Author Award – LexisNexis Middle East (2020).
Contact details:
Email: halmawala@uob.edu.bh
Office phone: 17438968
Coordinator of the New to Teaching in Bahrain (NTB)
Senior Lecturer, Administration Programs, College of Information Technology
Short Bio:
Mrs. Tara Fryad Henari is a Lecturer at the Department of Information System, College of IT, University of Bahrain. Her expertise includes E-business, corporate social responsibility, marketing management, and entrepreneurship. She graduated with a Master of Science in Managing Business with IT from the University of Salford, UK and a Bachelor of Science in Business information Systems from the University of Bahrain, in 2006 and 2002, respectively. She is a Fellow of the Advanced Higher Education and is a Certified Microsoft Educator. She has publications in CSR, e-business, education and entrepreneurship. She was involved heavily in updating and creating new academic programs and courses. She is an active member of the Unit for teaching excellence and leadership (UTEL) since 2018 and is involved in various number of committees, she previously taught in the College of Applied Studies in the University of Bahrain. Her previous employments include marketing coordinator in Microsoft Bahrain, Project Manager in Al Nadeem IT Bahrain and research assistant in Materials Ireland Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
Contact details:
Email: thenari@uob.edu.bh
Office phone: 17437785
New to Teaching in Bahrain (NTB) Mentor
Assistant Professor, English Language and Literature , College of Arts
Short Bio:
Dr. Shadiya Al-Hashmi has a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of York, UK. Her MA degree is in General Linguistics from the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. She attained her BA in TESL/TEFL from Sultan Qaboos University, Oman, where she taught Language and Linguistics courses. Her current research interests include the interface of Phonetics and Phonology, perception of non-native speakers of L2 phonetic and phonological cues, corpus linguistics, language contact, language and heritage, and language policy and education. She currently teaches Linguistics (mainly Phonetics and Phonology) and ESL courses at the Department of the English Language and Literature (DELL) at the University of Bahrain.”
Contact details:
Email: salhashmi@uob.edu.bh
Office phone: 17438831
New to Teaching in Bahrain (NTB) Mentor
Assistant Professor, Physics, College of Science
Short Bio:
Area of Expertise:
Optical and electrical characterization of laser materials (Semiconductor); Fabrication and testing of optoelectronic devices (e.g., LED, Solar cells, Detectors); Nanotechnology (Photovoltaic novel devices); Growth of nanostructures; Nonlinear optics (Characterization of advanced materials and novel structures).
Qualifications:
- Higher Diploma (Higher Education Academic Practice), York St John University, 2009; Ph.D., (Photonics: Laser Physics and Engineering), Brown University, RI, USA, 2004; M. Sc., (Electrical Engineering: Photonics), Brown University, RI, USA, 2001; M. Sc., (Physics: Optoelectronics and Laser Devices), Heriot-Watt University, Scotland, Edinburgh, UK, 1996; B.Sc., (Physics and Education), University of Bahrain, Bahrain, 1992.
Experience:
- Assistance professor, Department of Physics, University of Bahrain, from June 2004 -present; The coordinator of the Central Research Labs at the College of Science, University of Bahrain, 2009-2011; Visiting Professor, Arabian Gulf University (AGU), 2005-2006; Research and Teaching Assistance rank B, Department of Physics, University of Bahrain, 1996- 1999; Research and Teaching Assistance, Department of Physics rank A, University of Bahrain, 1992- 1995.
- Teaching experience at the University of Bahrain (UOB) and Arabian Gulf University (AGU) over 20 years and supervise many students research projects, undergraduate, and Graduate.
- Participated in many local, regional, and international scientific conferences, exhibitions, and forums as speakers or invited speakers in topics covering different areas in photonics, nanosciences and nanotechnology.
- Reported the operation of the “Passively mode-locked vertical extended cavity surface emitting diode laser VECSEL” which is anticipated to play a major role in all optical photonic computers.
- Author and coauthor of many refereed publications in international journals and book chapters.
- Co-author of: Two books in nanomaterials and nano-based solar cells, a book in metrology, and a book in Physics of Traffic.
- Fellow of “The Higher Education Academy”, and Arab Physical Society.
- Member of many national specialized committees.
- Participated in the preparation of the Second and Third National Green House Gases Inventory Report.
- Board member in Bahrain Astronomical society as well as fonder and board member of Bahrain Medical Physics and Bioengineering Society.
- Board member and Funding member of A’ali Housing charity Society.
- Participated in and organized many workshops. Conducted many general scientific public talks, presentations, open (science) days activities.
- Reviewer in many reginal, and internationally reputed scientific Journals.
Contact details:
Email: kejasim@uob.edu.bh
Office phone: 17437438
