Dr Abir Mahmoud EdD, MA, BA, DipHE, SFHEA

Dubai Campus
Assistant Professor in Education, History and Culture

Contact details

Email: a.m.e.ahmed@bham.ac.uk

Address: University of Birmingham Dubai
Dubai International Academic City
PO Box 341799
Dubai, UAE

Abir Ahmed is an Assistant Professor in Education , History and Culture at the University of Birmingham Dubai.

Abir has 18 years of academic experience in UK Higher Education. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has worked as external examiner to a number of British universities.

Abir is experienced in the development and introduction of Middle Eastern history and culture programmes as well as Arabic language programmes for Higher Education cohorts, including online, blended and flipped learning models, and has given conference papers and workshops in these and other areas.

Abir’s research interests include developing intercultural competence, heritage learners, assessment and feedback, creativity in teaching and learning the Arabic language, teacher development in secondary and primary schools and constructivist pedagogies.

Qualifications

Doctor in Education, University College London (UCL), UK
MA Arabic Translation, University of Westminster, London, UK
PG Diploma Social Science Research Methods, University College London, (UCL) UK
PG Diploma Higher Education, University of Westminster, London, UK
BEd English Language and Linguistics, Mansura University, Egypt
BA English Literature, London South Bank University (LSBU) UK
CELTA, Lewisham College, London, UK

Biography

Abir began working in UK Higher Education in 2005, drawing on her undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications in teaching and language.

She has taught on various postgraduate and undergraduate programmes in the UK. Her academic and administrative responsibilities include UG and PG programme leader; Arabic year abroad coordinator; external examiner; conference organiser; validation panel member; and invited speaker.

Abir was admitted as Senior Fellow to the UK Higher Education Academy in 2015 and has delivered workshops and conference papers in the UK to share best practice and support the development of students and teachers.

Abir is committed to improving culture and language education through her research and professional development activities.

Teaching

Abir teaches across several of the Dubai undergraduate programmes. These include teaching at the School of languages, Cultures and History, the Business School and Birmingham International Academy.

Research

Recent conference papers disseminating Abir’s doctoral research include:

**Publications**
2019	Association of University Language Communities in the UK and Ireland (AULC), University of Nottingham, Nottingham. ‘HE Language Practitioner Professionalism in Challenging Times.’
2019	2nd Annual Arabic Language Teaching and Learning in UK Higher Education Conference, King’s College, London. ‘Developing intercultural competence among A1 Arabic language learners.’
2019	‘Designing online assessment workflow for formative and summative assessment in line with the latest research-informed blended learning and student-centred approaches.’
2018	Staff Development Workshop, University of Westminster. ‘The impact of using flipped classroom instruction on the speaking performance of advanced Arabic students.’
2018	AHRC-funded Language Acts and Worldmaking Research Project, Open University.
2017	Creativity in Arabic Language Teaching and Learning Conference, University of Westminster. ‘The Arabic Flipped Classroom: Creativity, Challenges and Opportunities.’
2017	Arabic Language Teaching and Learning in UK Higher Education Conference, University of Leeds. ‘Flipped advanced Arabic language classes: the learner's perspective.’