Dr Ehab is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Virtual Reality and Inclusive Design at Loughborough University. His research focuses on immersive technologies, digital twins, and human-centred architectural and urban design methodologies to support evidence-based spatial decision-making and enhance health, wellbeing, and inclusivity in the built environment.
His current work explores the use of virtual reality as an experiential and co-design tool for dementia-friendly housing, enabling older adults, caregivers, and researchers to collaboratively explore and modify domestic environments in immersive digital twins. This research integrates architectural design, cognitive ageing research, and user experience methodologies to support dignity, accessibility, and wellbeing in ageing populations.
Dr Abdelsalam’s broader research programme advances digital engineering and spatial design approaches through VR simulation, AI-enabled design workflows, and computational modelling to support decision-making in healthcare environments, urban design, and digital infrastructure systems. He has contributed to multiple externally funded interdisciplinary projects with public sector and industry partners and has published in high-impact international journals on immersive co-design, resilient environments, and digital twin methodologies.
He completed his PhD in Architecture Design at the University of Nottingham, where his research focused on Resilient Design for London’s Elevated Social Spaces, employing interactive VR co-design approaches to enhance public participation in urban design. He graduated with Distinction in Master of Architecture in Design from the University of Nottingham and obtained a First Class Honours degree in Architectural Engineering from Loughborough University. His early research career progressed through the University of Derby, where he applied VR technologies to visualise and model sustainable urban development initiatives in collaboration with public sector stakeholders.
Dr Abdelsalam’s academic career includes extensive teaching and mentoring in architecture, urban design, and digital technologies. He has held teaching roles at Sheffield Hallam University, Nottingham Trent University, the University of Nottingham, and The British University in Egypt, delivering architectural design and digital technology modules and supervising postgraduate students in design research and immersive digital workflows. At Loughborough University, he has played a key role in establishing and developing DigiLab East, contributing to immersive digital infrastructure for research, teaching, and public engagement in virtual reality and digital creativity.
He is a Fellow of Advance HE (FHEA) and has received multiple teaching and research awards for innovation in immersive learning and inclusive design.
Dr Ehab Abdelsalam’s research explores how immersive technologies, digital twins, and AI-enabled design tools can transform architectural and urban design practice, enhance public participation, and improve health, wellbeing, and inclusivity in the built environment. His work sits at the intersection of architecture, digital engineering, human–computer interaction, and health-oriented spatial design.
A central focus of his current research is the use of virtual reality (VR) as an experiential and co-design platform for dementia-friendly and health-supportive housing. Through immersive digital twins, his research enables older adults, caregivers, and designers to collaboratively explore, evaluate, and modify domestic environments, generating new evidence on spatial cognition, accessibility, dignity, and ageing-in-place design.
More broadly, Dr Ehab develops computational and immersive design methodologies to support evidence-based spatial decision-making in cities, buildings, and digital infrastructures. His research contributes to interdisciplinary projects on inclusive urban design, smart cities, digital creativity, and human-centred design, working closely with public sector bodies, industry partners, and academic collaborators. His work has been published in high-impact international journals and presented at leading international conferences on immersive learning, human factors, and digital urbanism.
Current and Recent Research Projects
VR Co-creation Workflows for Dementia-Friendly Homes
Development of immersive digital twin environments to support inclusive domestic design and ageing-in-place research, enabling older adults and caregivers to co-design spatial environments in virtual reality.
Derby Urban Sustainable Transition (DUST)
Development of a city-scale digital twin and immersive stakeholder engagement tools to support sustainable urban regeneration, public participation, and evidence-based urban planning decisions.
Virtual Campus and Accommodation Digital Twin
WebXR immersive environments enabling prospective students and families to explore university spaces remotely, supporting informed decision-making and digital engagement in higher education.
Immersive Co-Design for Resilient and Inclusive Public Spaces
Research on the use of virtual reality as an empathy-driven design tool to support resilient and inclusive public space design. This work investigates how immersive VR experiences can enhance designers’ and stakeholders’ understanding of diverse user needs, vulnerabilities, and spatial inequalities, informing more inclusive and socially responsive urban design outcomes.
Immersive Technologies in Higher Education
Research on the use of virtual reality, social VR, and digital twins to enhance teaching, learning, and student engagement in higher education. This includes the development of immersive learning environments, virtual campuses, and experiential simulations to support inclusive pedagogy, digital creativity, and interdisciplinary education.
- Awards and Esteem: Recipient of the Loughborough University Teaching Best Practice Award (2024, 2025) for innovation in immersive VR-based pedagogy.
- International Recognition: Endorsed by the Royal Academy of Engineering for the UK Global Talent Visa (Exceptional Promise) in digital architecture and inclusive extended reality (XR).
- Research Excellence: Best Researcher Award in Environmental Science (ScienceFather, 2025) for contributions to sustainable and resilient urban design research.
- Doctoral Scholarship: Awarded the Faculty of Engineering Research Excellence Scholarship, University of Nottingham (2019), a fully funded PhD scholarship.
- Teaching Excellence: Best Teaching Assistant of the Year, Architecture Engineering Department, British University in Egypt (2018).
- Academic Competitions: First Place, Human Factors Research Group Showcase Poster Competition (University of Nottingham, 2021); Third Place, Wilford Street Embankment Urban Design Competition, Nottingham.
- Scholarly Service: Active reviewer for leading Q1 journals, including Sustainable Cities and Society and Urban Forestry & Urban Greening (Elsevier).
- External Engagement and Knowledge Exchange: International research collaborations with universities, local authorities, and industry partners on digital twins, immersive co-design, and inclusive urban design, with dissemination through international conferences and workshops.
Featured publications
- Burnett, G., Locke, V., Sung, K.J., Abdelsalam, A.E. (2026). You’re My Only Hope: An Exploration of the Advantages and Disadvantages of Lecturers as Holograms. In: Krüger, J.M., et al. Immersive Learning Research Network. iLRN 2025. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 2598. Springer, Cham. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-98080-0_6
- Ehab, A., Burnett, G., Sung, K.J. (2026). Escaping the Maze: Enhancing Teamwork and Collaboration in Higher Education Through a Gamified Virtual Reality Experience. In: Krüger, J.M., et al.Immersive Learning Research Network. iLRN 2025. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 2598. Springer, Cham. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-98080-0_7
- Ehab, A., Aladawi, A., & Burnett, G. (2025). Exploring AI-Integrated VR Systems: A Methodological Approach to Inclusive Digital Urban Design. Urban Science, 9(6), 196. DOI: 10.3390/urbansci9060196
- Ehab, A., Burnett, G., & Heath, T. (2025). Elevating the public realm: A framework for designing resilient urban green spaces in hyperdense cities. Discovery Sustainability, 6(10). DOI: 10.1007/s43621-024-00755-9
- Ehab, A., Heath, T. (2024). Critical Factors Affecting the Design and Use of Elevated Urban Spaces: The Sky Garden, London. In: Pigliautile, I., Piselli, C., Karunathilake, H.P., Fabiani, C. (eds) Urban Resilience, Livability, and Climate Adaptation. HERL 2023. Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation. Springer, Cham. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-54911-3_5
- Ehab, A., Heath, T. (2024). Rethinking the Design of Vertical Green Spaces in the Post-pandemic Era: Visitor Behaviour and Real-Life Cognitive Experience at Crossrail Place, London. In: Cheshmehzangi, A., Sedrez, M., Zhao, H., Li, T., Heath, T., Dawodu, A. (eds) Resilience vs Pandemics. Urban Sustainability. Springer, Singapore. DOI: 10.1007/978-981-99-8672-9_2
- Cook, S., Burnett, G., Sung, K. J., & Abdelsalam, A. E. (2024). An Exploration of Immersive Virtual Reality as an Empathic Modelling tool. Immersive Learning Research-Academic, 143-152. DOI: 10.56198/U6C0WZVJX
- Ehab, A., Burnett, G., & Heath, T. (2023). Enhancing Public Engagement in Architectural Design: A Comparative Analysis of Advanced Virtual Reality Approaches in Building Information Modeling and Gamification Techniques. Buildings, 13(5), 1262. DOI: 10.3390/buildings13051262
- Ehab, A., & Heath, T. (2023). Exploring Immersive Co-Design: Comparing Human Interaction in Real and Virtual Elevated Urban Spaces in London. Sustainability, 15(12), 9184. DOI: 10.3390/su15129184
- Ehab, A., Heath, T., & Burnett, G. (2023). Virtual reality and the interactive design of elevated public spaces: Cognitive experience vs VR experience. In C. Stephanidis, M. Antona, S. Ntoa & G. Salvendy (Eds.), HCI International 2023 Posters. HCII 2023. Communications in Computer and Information Science (Vol. 1836). Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-36004-6_24
- Bussell, C., Ehab, A., Hartle-Ryan, D., & Kapsalis, T. (2023). Generative AI for immersive experiences: Integrating text-to-image models in VR-mediated co-design workflows. In C. Stephanidis, M. Antona, S. Ntoa & G. Salvendy (Eds.), HCI International 2023 Posters. HCII 2023. Communications in Computer and Information Science (Vol. 1836). Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-36004-6_52
- Abdelsalam, A. E. (2018). Sustainable Vertical Urbanism as a Design Approach to Change the Future of Hyper Density Cities. Journal of Advance Research in Mechanical & Civil Engineering, 5(7), 2208-379. DOI: https://doi.org/10.53555/nnmce.v5i7.300