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Short courses

Winter 2021, CairoShort Course

Discovering Biomimicry

People sitting in dry grass above a waterfall
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Course details

Cycle
Winter 2021, Cairo
Starts
Thursday, Dec 24
Meets
Thursday, 16:00–18:00
Length
7 sessions
Format
Online
Taught in
English

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About the course

Nature is our best mentor and model for a more sustainable future. Biomimicry is the study of nature-inspired design, but it’s not just about looking at the shape of a flower, it is a methodology to attain sustainable designs in all sectors, engineering, business, medicine and more. This course is a seven-week long course designed to inspire you to begin to think like a biomimic, regardless of your field or career. Each class will be two hours, with a mix of lecture, discussion, nature explorations, activities research and project work. The objectives of the course are to identify the core philosophy and key elements of biomimicry; to learn from nature-inspired design; and to begin to see life for the genius design partner it is.

Who teaches it

  • Sara EL SAYED - has a masters in Biomimicry from Arizona State University. She is co-founder of Nawaya a social enterprise working as a catalyst to transition small scale farmer communities into more sustainable ones through education and research. Sara is also co-founder of Dayma a LLC responsible for outdoor Environmental Education, teaching young adults about biomimicry and local Egyptian communities. She is an avid traveler and enjoys tasting foods, cooking and interacting with people through food experiences. She is also one of the part time teachers at the biomimicry institute. Sara is on the board of Slow Food, an international movement that started in Italy aiming to safeguard local food cultures and traditions and does so by promoting Good, Clean and Fair food for all.

Course flow

Showing 7 sessions

December 2020

  • In class

    • ActivityIntroductions – materials for class
    • DiscussionSocratic questioning
    • Activityshort lecture
  • In class

    • Field visitIn the field exploration – learning to nature journal

January 2021

  • In class

    • DiscussionSocratic questioning
    • Exerciseshort activities
    • Activitylecture
    • Discussiondiscussions
  • In class

    • ExerciseShort game
    • Activitylecture
    • Exerciseactivity
    • Field visitnature walk
  • In class

    • ActivityLecture
    • Exercisedesign charette
    • Discussiondiscussion
  • In class

    • PresentationShort deliverables and presentations
    • Discussiondiscussions

February 2021

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