Sara El-Sayed
PhD Student, Sustainability, School of Sustainability
School of Sustainability
Arizona State University
PO Box 875502
Tempe, AZ 85287-5502
Titles
- PhD Student, Sustainability, School of Sustainability
Biography
Sara is co-founder of Nawaya a social enterprise working as a catalyst to transition small scale farmer communities in Egypt into more sustainable ones through education and research. As well as being a co-founder of Dayma a LLC responsible for outdoor Environmental Education, teaching young adults about Biomimicry and local Egyptian communities. She is a partner in a company working on low tech irrigation solutions for homes and gardens, called Clayola. She is an avid traveler and enjoys tasting foods, cooking and interacting with people through food experiences. 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.
Research Assistant Experience
- Researcher at Biomimicry Center
- Spoken Languages:
- Arabic (native), Italian (fluent), French (elementary)
Education
- MS, Biomimicry, Arizona State University, 2016
- Certified Biomimicry Professional, Biomimicry 3.8, 2013
- BA, Anthropology (sociology minor), American University in Cairo, 2002
- BS, Biology (chemistry minor), American University in Cairo, 2002
Expertise
- alternative food networks
- agroecology
- community building
- biomimicry
- water resource management
- nature inspiration
- informal education
- systems thinking
- desert ecosystems
- sustainable food systems
External Links
Journal Articles
2019
Gheitarani, N., S. El-Sayed, S. Cloutier, M. Budruk, L. V. Gibbons and M. Khanian. 2019. Investigating the mechanism of place and community impact on quality of life of rural-urban migrants. International Journal of Community Well-Being 3:21-38. DOI: 10.1007/s42413-019-00052-8. (link )
2017
Pozzi, S. and S. El-Sayed. 2017. Where is our Balady food?. Cairo Papers in Social Science 34(4):.
Presentations
2020
Fehler, M. and S. El-Sayed. 2020. Unlocking nature's secrets: A nature-based tool for sustainable visual communication design. Presentation at the Environmental Design Research Association EDRA51, April 2020, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.
2019
El-Sayed, S. 2019. Mimicking nature's relationships. Presentation at the Science of Non-Duality SAND, October 2019, San Diego, CA.
2013
El-Sayed, S. 2013. Biomimicry: Tuning into nature. Presentation at the TED Talk, (link )
Pod Casts
2019
Blog Posts
2018
El-Sayed, S. 2018. Food for thought at Slow Food Nations [Blog Post]. Retrieved from link
Recipient, COOR Scholarship for Community Engagement, 2020
Recipient, MAXQDA "#ResearchforChange" Grant, 2020
Recipient, Neely Foundation Food and Agriculture Sustainability Research Grant, Arizona State University, 2019
