In 2009 Avar was awarded a scholarship from British Council to do a Masters Degree in urban Design at Oxford Brookes University and is now undertaking a PhD in Urban Design on a Scholarship awarded by the Ministry of Higher Education in Kurdistan. His director of studies is Dr. Georgia Butina Watson and his supervisor is Dr. Laura Novo De Azevedo. His research explores Place-Identity in Historic Cities. The urban fabric of historic towns is continuously being built and rebuilt, changing and evolving to meet the needs of contemporary society. The character of many hitoric cities had been negatively changed as a result of insensitive Impacts of globalisation, urban development and contemporary architectual interventions into historic cities. Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan, Iraq, is one of the cities facing this challenge and has been experiencing a high urban growth rate in the last decade due to many factors ranging from natural population growth to political and economic factors. Therefore the aim of the research is to develop a method of integrating the historic value of the area with new urban developments in order to enhance the local place-identity and allow moderization without compromising historic character and local place-identity.

 

After being awarded his BSc. in Architectual Engineering, Avar worked as an Architect in Costain International Company in Iraq for two years. He then went on to start his own office for Design Consultancy and construction and has undertaken many architectual and urban design projects including Master planning, a 1526 low costing housing complex and various commerical and residential projects. He also participated in various Architectual competitions, and was awarded first prize from the the Kurdish Council of Ministries hospital competition. In addition to Architecture and Urban Design, Avar also worked on numerous construction projects including Ashti City, all of which have contributed to his experience in Architecture and Urban Design. 

 

His most recent presentation was at Oxford Brookes in May 2013 for the Graduate College Online Research Students Poster Conference.