BAITYKOOL Living Lab – “BaityKool- living: species live in harmony” 

‘BaityKool’ is a research platform dedicated to ecological sustainable housing in arid climates.  Powered by a solar photovoltaic system integrated into the façade and on a mobile pergola, the 90 m2 prototype was designed and built by a joint team of architecture and engineering students from the University of Bordeaux, Amity University Dubai and Al Najah University. 

This project was the winner for several awards at the 1st Solar-Decathlon Middle-East competition (Dubai-2018) and demonstrated the excellence of French design and technology for sustainable housing in the UAE context. 

In 2021, BaityKool was transferred and reassembled inside the Sustainable City in Dubai.  The Baitykool prototype is functioning as living lab at Sustainable City Dubai till-date. 

Experimentation work is in progress in collaboration with researchers and Ph.D. scholars from the University of Bordeaux and the research team from the SEE Institute TSC. Since September 2021, this research prototype is managed as a living lab to test various technologies which are new to UAE such as aquaponics to produce food, radiative sky cooling as-well-as other systems.  

With the help of BaityKool lab, sustainable living is being integrated within the students’ living communities as participants in this workshop to gain knowledge on innovative solutions for sustainable, healthy urban living that includes food-to-energy and zero-energy housing.

Research-based documentaries:

Film and Television students created 10 research-based documentaries on single-use plastic based on the Non-Teaching course term papers’ output, under the mentorship of Ms. Seema Sangra.  Different aspects of single-use plastic were highlighted in these documentaries.

Multimedia Campaign on Digital media literacy

The Media Studies department initiated a multimedia advertising campaign under the advertising course. The campaign idea to initiate a behavioral change campaign on Digital Media Literacy was finalised based on internal discussions on the need of the hour and the most pertinent concerns of youth. 

The campaign was formally launched on 7th June 2022, where sixteen journalists attended the event along with the house full auditorium.  The campaign got media coverage in Khaleej Times, Oman Observer, and multiple other news publications

Final year students created a multimedia campaign after conducting a survey whereby 300 youngsters and their parents were interviewed regarding the internet’s impact on their lives. Based on the research findings, the following media products were created.

Forensics, as an applied science, is embedded in experiments with the use of appropriate equipment to determine inter-disciplinary subjects of enquiry including but not limited to the use of Nano- carbon for visual enhancement of latent fingerprints or investigating dust deposition on solar panels. 

The intervention of Artificial Intelligence in the future of firearm examination, Forensic Block Chain and it's linkage with Artificial Intelligence, and the Implementation of Blockchain Technology in Forensic Evidence Management.  A very key area of Forensic investigation is investigating interventions in Wildlife Mediated Zoonotic Outbreaks.

The above and ongoing work in Forensic sciences is prompted by the need to respond to emerging questions in Forensic science teaching and fueling research. This scholarly work has been undertaken in liaison with faculty from other schools (particularly Engineering) in order to be able to tap on knowledge, skills and competencies of different disciplines in developing a holistic argument.

The faculty of forensics are continuously engaged in core applied research and inter-disciplinary research by undertaking applied projects and publishing in leading journals and other related research activities. Apart from academic research publications, research with government departments in UAE is affianced with. 

The above is exemplified in the research collaboration with the Dubai Police. 

Nrashant Singh has mentored 10 undergraduate students of Forensic Sciences to work on building a first of its kind   Forensic entomology database in the middle –east, in a Dubai Police initiated project.  Students have identified 10 locations in the UAE to keep the “cadaver” and observe the different types of local insects preying on it. These insects will be collected from these identified locations and their characteristics will be analysed under scientific mandate and supervision.

Aby Joseph, (Assistant Professor, AMUD) has collaborated with the Ministry of Interior in the United Arab Emirates  for a simulation study, aimed to extract concealed memories of crimes from the brain for use in criminal investigations.  

Mr. Aby Joseph,  along with Mr. Saif Al Mazrouei, Ministry of Interior, United Arab Emirates, and Dr. Swapna Nair, Assistant Professor and expert in analytics tested the results of the simulation hardware and software developed by iCognative® brainwave science technology system.  

The overall results proved that the iCognative® brainwave science technology system mapped the brain consistently for missing or present information with good consistency.  This experiment supported the Ministry of Interior, United Arab Emirates for their feasibility report submission.

This research is currently in the pipeline for publication in an international journal on forensics sciences. 

Aby Joseph’s research work titled ‘Towards a unified GCC forensic DNA quality management system: Lessons learned from wrongful convictions’, has been selected by the Forensic Science Conference, World Police Summit-2023.  This prestigious event is scheduled on 7-9 March 2023 and Prof. Aby Joseph would be presenting by invitation on the conference to the global audience from various countries’ police departments. 

Aby Joseph along with Ajman Police department is conducting a product research on ‘Evaluation and validation of Crime-lite®AUTO (Foster+Freeman) forensic body fluid screening’.  The research is aimed at assessing the performance of the new technological tool Foster + Freeman Crime-Lite®AUTO equipment for its specificity, sensitivity, and stability for the detection of blood, semen, and saliva present on various substrates. 

It was concluded from this internal validation study that Crime-Lite® is a reliable, highly sensitive, precise, compact, user-friendly instrument that has the potential to be used for general body fluids identification, but has some limitations as a screening tool for very low concentrations of certain body fluids.

Evaluation and validation of Crime-lite®AUTO (Foster+Freeman) forensic body fluid screening

Partnership with International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) has yielded research work on topics such as   Systematic approaches for soil analysis in forensic investigation and Comparative soil analysis by scanning electron microscope: A forensic perspective.

An MOU had been signed then with International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA). This was the first program organized with ICBA after signing a MoU for academic and research collaboration by Amity University. 

A number of contemporary pedagogical tools are utilized in both theory and applied teaching for the Forensic science students. During lockdowns due to Covid-19 learning was facilitated with the help of an innovative virtual tour to the emirates soil museum. On October 18, 2020 the students and faculty attended this virtual tour to understand the various kinds of soil and its chemical contents.  The event was jointly organized with ICBA.

To facilitate the students on their employment opportunities during the lockdown period, students of forensic science programs undertook a virtual interview followed by telephonic discussion with Mr. Christian Verdan Cruz, HR, TUV Company, UAE.  The event was organized on 6 August 2020 and students got their bio-medical internship with the company.

Significant research work has emerged from the Forensic Science Departments collaboration with the Dubai Police. Some of the topics include Artificial Intelligence: Future of Firearm Examination, analysis of fracture and gunshot entrance pattern of skull caused by 0.22-caliber CZ 75 and 0.38-caliber Smith & Wesson.  A comparative study of entry impact of projectiles on ballistic gel body by using different firearms of the same caliber and a complicated murder case solved with the aid of fingerprints.

On May 5, 2020, the PG students and faculty attended a workshop on ‘Firearms examination and Identification Overview’ conducted by Mr. Mohammad Al Shamsi, Head of Firearms and Tool marks Section, General Department of Forensic Science and Criminology, Dubai Police. The session highlighted the firearms examination and identification overview in Dubai, UAE.

The pandemic COVID-19 lockdown’s impact on students’ career was mitigated with a number of online special lectures delivered by industry leaders. Some of the key indicative special lectures are listed below.

Students participated in  the special lecture on ‘Next Generation Forensic Solution (NGFS) – A Blue Ocean Approach’ delivered by Mr. Matt Chandran, Director, INFOVALLEY Group May 18, 2020 which highlighted on many practical points including futuristic approach towards execution of job efficiently, problem solving in an effective manner while creating tremendous value in the future. NGF (Next Generation Forensic).

A special online session on the title ‘Forensic Science: Past, Present and Future’ was delivered by Mr. Barry A. J. Fisher, Crime Laboratory Director, L. A. County Sheriff’s Department.  This lecture was significant to the students to be update on how developed countries use their knowledge on use of forensic science, forensic medicine, and technology. 

Community engagement and contribution to society has been forged into the AMUD’s research vision. Falling in line with this agenda, the forensics faculty has contributed through a variety of community engagement programs.

Boopesh Sharma, then Program Leader in Forensics delivered the keynote address at the National conference in Bioscience at Gujarat University, India on 16 Sep 2019. The speech was delivered to eminent scientists, experts and academicians from various schools around the nation.  

Nrashant Singh and Aby Joseph delivered their webinar lecture on ‘Higher Education Opportunities in the field of Forensics’.  This webinar was received by the student community in various schools through open access link on 7 June 2020. 

The faculty and students of forensics visited Bureau Veritas, Dubai, UAE.  Bureau Veritas is a world leader in laboratory testing, inspection and certification services.  Created in 1828, the Group has more than 82,000 employees located in more than 1,600 offices and laboratories around the globe.  A collaborative workshop was organized by the school to understand requirements and tools to perform a failure analysis. 

Industry-academia partnerships focus on cross-fertilizing knowledge, skills and competencies in order to foster an environment of applied learning in teaching pedagogy.  A two day workshop was organized on 23-24 September 2019 with Dubai Police in their Head Quarters to learn practically about ‘Latent Fingerprint Examination’. 

70 students and faculty attended the workshop delivered by Mr. Ian Harris, Director, EVISCAN, at the General Department of Criminology and Forensics Science, Dubai Police HQ.  The participants were benefited with the knowledge and hands-on training on various emerging techniques of latent fingerprint development on the crime scene.

The PG students of forensics and the faculty members attended a special workshop on Forensic Ballistics conducted by Lieut. Mohammed Al Shamsi of Dubai Police at their headquarters on –June 13th, 2021.  The workshop served as an excellent platform to learn from industry experts on Advance Forensic Ballistics.