Biography

Mohamed Amer has ten years of academic and professional experience in tourism management, management and social services, heritage management, conservation (adaptive reuse and rehabilitation), community engagement and cultural identity, visitor management and interpretation, urban/rural heritage development, heritage marketing, and sustainable cultural tourism.

He has a PhD in Heritage Management and Sustainable Cultural Tourism. He is a member of the ICOMOS International Cultural Tourism Committee and the IUCN Tourism and Protected Areas Specialist Group. In his research, he adopts a people-centred approach, valorising dynamically the socioeconomic role of a community as a part of decision-making stakeholders in the urban/rural/cultural landscapes. Additionally, he has other soft and academic skills such as coordination, teaching, research, collecting data, designing questionnaires and interviews, administration, project management, public relations, event management, and NGO management.

He is a graduate of history, and he likes to invest this knowledge from a tourism and managerial perspective he worked for a while as a tour guide, then became a heritage management professional after obtaining M.A. in Heritage Conservation and Site Management at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg (Germany), and then, he holds PhD in heritage management and sustainable cultural tourism at the architecture department program "Architecture: Innovation and Heritage"/theme “Urban Heritage and Mass Tourism”, Roma Tre University (Italy). 

His PhD thesis, “Cultural Identity and Branding: an Integrated Approach to Enhance the Heritage Value”, develops a people-centred heritage branding approach. The investigation of the research project is based on two empirical case studies in Viterbo province (Italy): firstly, the Cultural Landscape of Civita di Bagnoregio; and secondly, Farnese Palace in Caprarola (Tentative Italian UNESCO WHSs). 

Moreover, he participated in the EU Horizon 2020 Project Be.CulTour as a visiting PhD researcher. In cooperation with Prof. Christer Gustafsson, they mainly focused on community-centred cultural tourism in Forsvik (Swedish Industrial Heritage Destination). They could develop a strategic dynamic partnership among mainly three partners: the people or the host community, the public sector, and the private sector. Thus, Forsvik was presented to develop a People-Public-Private Partnership or in other words, a circular/participatory business model (a corporate entity).

Building my background in Gulf Heritage, I investigated Omani identity and heritage through two zones, along with my former position in Oman. From a place-making perspective, the first one is Mutrah Old Market to enhance a living heritage site as a cultural space for Omani citizens and international visitors.  The second one is Koofan Heritage Lodge to develop a people-centred heritage entrepreneurial approach that ensures profitability, conservation, and an enriched sociocultural experience for both the community and visitors. It showcases the reuse and socioeconomic viability of authentic buildings as cultural tourism attractions.

Moreover, he previously joined a group of people-centred projects. Firstly, cooperating with some national stakeholders in Egypt, he participated, as a researcher and project associate, in the project “Siwa Architecture Community Centre: Towards an Inclusive and Heritage-conscious Urban Transition (SIWI Project)” where he contributed to raising awareness of the local community about Siwan built vernacular architecture and the cultural significance of traditional architectural heritage. Furthermore, he participated in a consultation team of Torasna for Heritage Development and Management in preparing the section on visitor management and interpretation, in a proposal for the Giza Plateau Master Management Plan (2019-2022) as a part of the UNESCO Egyptian World Heritage Site "Memphis & its Necropolis", which through, he focused on engaging the positive cultural values of the surrounding demographic area, not only to display the archaeological heritage. 

Since 2017, he has digitally founded and strategically managed the HeritageForAll initiative as an international initiative. He could deliver a solid and consistent international image and work. The initiative may provide a convenient space, through the website and other social media devices, for the young professionals to share their overviews and recommendations, exchanging their experiences with the international community and organisations. Applying e-communication methodology, HeritageForAll hosts three international internship programs - e.g. “Rural Heritage and Traditional Food” (2019) and “Musealization of Cultural Identity” (2021) - which EuropeNostra and ICOMOS Australia appreciated. He may also mention that many universities and organizations support our initiative by recommending our programs and activities for their students and other young professionals through their websites and social media, such as Deakin University (Australia), BTU Cottbus-Stenfenburg (Germany), and Tartu University (Estonia). Moreover, he could communicate and coordinate with various cultures, and host and guide multiple interns from Europe (France, Netherlands, Italy, and Kosovo), Asia (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and China), Minor Asia (Turkey), America (USA and Mexico), and Arab region (Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon) as well.

He has qualified experience with teaching and leading successful national campaigns, programs, and organizations. Through my initiative and in cooperation with other international organizations and universities, he earned good teaching, academic and professional experience. He did many lectures and workshops at various international universities such as Uppsala University (Sweden), Banaras Hindu University (India), Heidelberg University and University of Applied Science - Hochschule Anhalt (Germany), Università degli Studi di Firenze (Italy), University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar (Pakistan) and so on; as well as Goethe Institute (Egypt) and UNESCO Cairo Capacity Building Programs.

He is so close internationally to the cultural heritage sector as a professional and activist, participating in international programs and organizations, e.g. ICOM and ICOMOS. Since 2020, he has been an ICOMOS International Cultural Tourism Committee member, he contributed to the ICOMOS International Charter for Cultural Heritage Tourism (2022): Reinforcing Cultural Heritage Protection and Community Resilience through Responsible and Sustainable Tourism Management and ICOMOS Policy Guidance for Heritage and Development Actors (2020). 

For more information, you can review a LinkedIn profile.