Farah ElBehairy is an Interdisciplinary Urban Planner and Researcher. She holds a master’s degree in Integrated Urbanism and Sustainable Design (IUSD) from Ain Shams University and the University of Stuttgart, Germany. Her master’s thesis ”Knowledge co-production: An innovation model towards institutionalization for the Case of Cairo- Rethinking the Relationship between Knowledge and Action through the Case of Cairo Urban Initiatives” which discussed urban knowledge systems in Egypt. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering, Urban Planning, and Design from Ain Shams University, Egypt. Farah research interests are on the intersection of knowledge, power, and justice.  

Farah is a researcher at the Access to Knowledge for Development Center (A2K4D) at the American University in Cairo. As a researcher Farah has worked on knowledge-based urban development, planning education and practice, diversity in the urban planning field from the understudied socioeconomic class perspective, Urban Artificial Intelligence (Urban AI), co-construction of data in smart cities, social & ecological justice in smart city planning (smart justice) in the African continent, as well as journalism for spatial justice through addressing housing-related gender stereotypes in Egyptian journalism. 

Her co-authored paper ‘Setting an Agenda for Urban AI Adaptivity in Urban Planning and Architecture E-learning’ is published by the Journal of Engineering Research (ERJ) as a special issue from the ‘Visions for Future Cities: Innovations & Environmental Technologies Conference’. At A2K4D, Farah focuses on research on the responsible governance of artificial intelligence and data for development towards just and inclusive knowledge, data, and AI in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Farah was also a speaker at the ‘AfricAI Conference 2023’ in Kigali, Rwanda, co-organized by GIZ FAIR Forward, IDRC, and Niyel under the theme “Advancing responsible and open AI ecosystems in Africa’.