‘Where Life Happens’, the theme of the 10th edition of Arquiteturas Film Festival, reflects on architecture beyond the built form. The idea that architecture is capable of transforming cities and societies is widely accepted, but it is the actions of the people who inhabit and give meaning to architecture that carry the greatest weight in these processes. The organizers received over 183 films, and the "Social Awareness" award is intended to recognise films that tackle issues of social and spatial justice, equality and cultural diversity.

Ayham was invited to give the keynote speech for the conference "Orte des Ankommens: Lager, Unterkünfte und Siedlungen für Geflüchtete in Deutschland seit 1945. Architekturen, Wandel, Erinnerung". The conference celebrates the 70th birthday of the Marienfelde Refugee Center in Berlin which was opened in 1953 for refugees arriving from East Germany, and continued to host refugees arriving to the city until today. The conference was organized by the Berlin Wall Foundation, TU Berlin, and the IRS, and took place between 12-14 April.

The book "From Shelters to Dwellings: The Zaatari Refugee Camp" has been finally published by Transcript Verlag. It summarizes over eight years of research in Zaatari camp in Jordan and other refugee camps in Europe. By focusing on the transformation, it tells how refugees weave dwellings through shelters and how this process leads to dismantling and reassembling the camp. The book is available for purchase and in Open Access.

The film was also shortlisted for the best documentary award, and won a special mention at the 8th Short Movie Club Film Festival “NEFILTRAVANAE KINO” in Minsk, Belarus.

To watch the award ceremony check the festival link.

The film won the prize for this year's main theme "care"! It was selected to be featured in the festival along other 17 short films out of 270 submissions from 40 countries around the world. The jury commented: "The Care category, created in tandem with the theme of the 2021 London Festival of Architecture, included three films that incorporated different, multivalent takes on the subject at hand. The winner, 13 Square Meters, showcases the ways in which global politics and architecture intersect."

During Spring Semester 2021, Ayham was appointed as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Vassar College, USA. Within the Urban Studies program, he offered an advanced seminar called "Refugees and Urban Space" (URBS 384) to students in their final year.

The article "Why 'Now' is an Important Moment in History: Coronavirus and the Refigured Mobility of the World" was selected by the editors of the Town Planning Review to be featured in their website. It was selected out of other 50 articles published in a special issue for being "particularly influential piece".

The interview "Displacement and the City" is published within a special issue on Networks of Solidarity During Crisis. It was conducted by Nicole Shea, the Director of the Council for European Studies (CES) based at Columbia University.

Ayham was invited to the final jury of the design studio Infrastructures of Cooperation: Architecture in the Climate Regime. The studio was offered to students doing Bachelor of Design in Architecture program. The studio was led and instructed by Athar Mufreh and Cadaster.

Between April and June 2019 (trinity term), Ayham was hosted at the Refugee Studies Center (RSC) at the University of Oxford as a visiting fellow.

Ayham appears as the main protagonist in a documentary that seeks to show the different impacts of refugees on urban space in Jordan's Zaatari camp and on Berlin's urban fabric. The documentary was directed by Benjamin Cantu and displayed on Al Jazeera TV in 2017.

Ayham Dalal and Mada Saleh receive a funding of the art-research project "Tracing and Assessing Syrian Urban Heritage in Exile" by the Gerda Henkel Foundation, and as part of the Mare Nostrum project led by Prof. Dr. Thomas Weber.