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Professor Ahmed El Antably to lead new project in School of Architecture.

Professor Ahmed El Antably to lead new project in School of Architecture

Posted on 11 April 2025

A new research project will examine cultural heritage of Lower Nubia; an area of Egypt submerged following the construction of the Aswan Dam in the 1960s.

Ruins of one of the many abandoned ancient Nubian villages overlooking the Nasser Lake, Upper Egypt.

Professor Ahmed El Antably will join the University of York's Centre for Architecture, Urbanism and Global Heritage (CAUGH) and lead the 'Nubian Chronicles: Amplifying Marginalised Voices and Contested Histories through Digital Heritage Reconstruction' project.

The Professor joins as one of the recently announced prestigious British Academy Global Professorships.

He will join the Centre and will work with Director Professor Gamal Abdelmonem on the integration of virtual technology to develop reconstructions of Nubian historic villages, developing novel generative AI-enabled models of architectural and cultural history.

Excited

Professor Ahmed El Antably.

“I’m excited to join the University of York as the British Academy Global Professor for the Nubian Chronicles project,” said Professor El Antably. “York provides an exceptionally welcoming interdisciplinary environment and strong support for digital innovation, making it ideal for this critical research.

“I’m looking forward to collaborating with York's scholars and students to explore this rich, vulnerable cultural landscape.”

Experience

The appointment is one of only eight British Academy Global Professorships awarded in 2025, and Professor Lorraine Farrelly, Head of the School of Architecture at York, said this underlined Professor El Antably’s experience and the importance of his work.

She said: “The appointment of Professor El Antably through the prestigious British Academy Global Professorship scheme is a recognition of his expertise, and the use of virtual heritage technology in his research work aligns to the research context in CAUGH and York School of Architecture. Professor El Antably’s work is interdisciplinary and will offer new opportunities for research and teaching collaboration nationally and internationally.”

Ideal

And Professor Abdelmonem, project host at CAUGH, said Professor El Antably’s work with digital heritage made him a perfect fit for the Centre, and the ideal choice to lead the project.

He said: “We're delighted to welcome Professor El Antably to lead a new pioneering project and research programme that crosses the fields of architectural and cultural history, anthropology, and virtual technology, shedding new light on the contested history of Nubian villages in Egypt.

“I look forward to working with Ahmed to explore new research frontiers of technology, architecture, and heritage research at York School of Architecture.”