Alumni Spotlight : Asfar Ameerdeen
2025 Regional Winner in Architecture & Design for Africa and the Middle East
February 25, 2026
Asfar Ameerdeen
Asfar Ameerdeen, alongside her partner Afreen Saheed are our current 2025 Regional Winner’s in the Architecture & Design Category for Africa and the Middle East from the American University of Sharjah
We caught up with Asfar on her recent trip to Dublin to chat about her experience as a GUA Regional Winner, hopes for the future and advice for other students.
Can you tell me a bit about yourself, your academic journey and how it feels to be recognised as a Global Undergraduate Award Regional Winner?
I am a recent graduate from the American University of Sharjah with a Bachelor’s of Architecture.
I was really interested in how a human would experience space, and so my project was on how a person experiences a space through their senses, because that’s how I believe a person connects with a space.
We researched different human senses, how a space can be transcribed into touch, sight, smell and sound. So it became a multi-sensory architecture project. In the hope that what we were doing was reflecting themes of the future – we wanted to create an impact.
We worked really hard and we got a great grade, but then we wondered, maybe the grade wasn’t enough. We wanted more for the project and we wanted it to be recognised.
Career-wise, there’s a lot more leverage in saying that I got an award for the project. I’m an award-winning student with an award-winning project.
So I spent some time looking at different opportunities to submit our work with the hope of getting recognised. The Global Undergraduate Awards were a perfect opportunity because it’s free and well recognised.
Many competitions are paid and open to professionals as well as students. But the GUA is dedicated to students, and it's free to enter. If that wasn’t enough we didn’t even have to do any extra work. The hard work was already done.
What advice would you give to students thinking about submitting?
Don’t overthink it. Just submit your work. The process is easy and it’s free! Do not underestimate your work and the power of the awards exposure. Look at other projects and winners from other years. All the previous work in the Library is also free to access on the website.
Not only did the GUA provide me with the confidence to explore my career choice but it also give me the opportunity to travel and see somewhere new and make global connections. In university your reach can be so small, with GUA you are opening yourself up to more opportunities than you think.
What are your goals for the future?
Keep pursuing, keep learning. I just graduated. I’m still young, I have to keep learning. I want to pursue my master’s and continue my research. I want to continue putting myself out there.
What advice do you have based on your own experience?
Putting yourself out there is so important alongside hard work, of course. If you work hard and you don’t speak about it, nobody’s going to know about it. You have to work hard and speak out, share your thoughts, be brave.
Is there anything else you’d like to share about GUA?
It’s a wonderful opportunity. I’m really happy that it helps students get recognised. Make yourself a part of it.
Winning the Regional Award gave me confidence in what I want to do. It gave me the confidence to do much better after I graduated.
