Shireen Khalil

1. Period of stay and kind of activity

I reached Rome on the 11th of September 2023 and will stay till the 26th of February 2024. As a postgrad student, I have joined the Erasmus+ program as an exchange student to work on my research thesis. I am a Ph.D. student who registered her Ph.D. thesis at Beirut Arab University. During my period of stay here I had the chance to meet a professor in the Faculty of Architecture at Sapienza University, Prof. Rosalba Belibani, and follow up with my research work. This was done through several meetings at the university. At the beginning, there was an introductory meeting to present the topic and suggested research structure. Then the first chapter was framed and submitted as well as the second chapter. Then a set of comments was provided by the supervisor. Later the third chapter was also submitted. There were a couple of meetings between each submission to discuss the difficulties faced. The supervisor was understanding and provided valuable comments. Also, she was flexible and helpful.

2. Discipline and research topic

Being a postgraduate student and a lecturer at the faculty of Architecture Design and Built Environment in Beirut Arab University, the research thesis is related to the architecture program, more specifically the research is about architectural education. The topic chosen was a response to the situation the home country was and still passing through. It targets how to ensure delivering an effective architectural education to the students of first year mainly despite the unstable situation the country is passing through. The thesis title is: Establishing a Resilient Model for Design Studio Education of Level One in the Time of Crises: The Multi-Layer Case of Lebanon.

3. Hosting department abroad

While searching for a suitable department to be registered in, I selected the Architecture theories and project. This was to most one that suits my topic. I had a visit to the department and got introduced to the staff there as well as the facilities like the library. Moreover, I was informed about the events that were taking place within the department like round tables and seminars, and attended a few ones. Mainly those that were presented in English.