Dr Mina Samangooei

Courses
■ Architecture (BA (Hons))
■ Applied Design in Architecture (ARB and RIBA part 2) (MArchD)
Modules taught
■ Module leader for ARCH4004 Introduction to Ethical Practice and Society
■ Module leader for ARCH5001 Architectural Technology 1
■ Technology tutor for undergraduate architecture design studios
■ Teach on ARCH4006 Introduction to Architectural Technology and
    ARCH6004 Architectural Technology 2
■ Teach on MSc Sustainable Architecture, Evaluation and Design,
   Module ARCH7070 Climate Sensitive Urban Development
■ Tutor in Urban Lab 3 for BA Urban Design
■ Supervisor for UG Dissertations
■ Currently supervising 3 PhDs
 

Holding a background in architecture and working as an architect, Mina Samangooei has extensive experience in socially engaged, practice-based research at the intersection of designing with ecosystems, holistic sustainability, and community-led urbanism. Mina’s work explores how architecture can support regenerative and inclusive urban environments, with a particular focus on design for food-growing and biodiversity.

Mina holds a PhD in Architecture, which investigated the motivations and barriers to cultivating edible plants on buildings. This research brought together behavioural theory and spatial design, examining how buildings can successfully integrate food-growing for occupants.

Mina has worked closely with local communities on a range of participatory design projects, including leading the Edible Streets project and implementing this in Barton, Oxford. This project integrates architectural thinking with ecological and social aims, creating biodiverse, food-producing public spaces. As part of this work, Mina’s team developed a licensing application model in collaboration with Oxfordshire County Council’s Public Health and Highways teams, to enable and support the implementation of similar community-led food-growing interventions in public streetscapes.

Mina’s broader research and teaching practice critically engages with the relationships between people, place, and ecology, with an emphasis on co-design, evaluation for design learning, and spatial strategies for social and environmental justice. This work contributes to current dialogues on the role of architecture in enabling behavioural, ecological, and systemic change in cities.

Research Grants and Awards:

For the Edible Streets Project:
 

• 2025: Rapid Policy Funding, Oxford Brookes University, £1,422 and Impact Funding, Oxford Brookes University, £1,500.
• 2024: Knowledge Exchange Small Awards, Oxford Brookes University, £10,492.66.
• 2024: Oxfordshire County Council Public Health Funding, £10,000.
• 2023: Knowledge Exchange Small Awards, Oxford Brookes University, £20,000.
• 2022: Oxfordshire County Council Public Health Funding, £10,000.
• 2021: ‘Enhancing the Future of Transport’ Seed funding programme, £2,000.

 

Centres and institutes

• Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development (OISD)

Groups

• Place, Culture and Identity

Projects

• Community participation and practices of engagement
• Biodiversity working group
• Edible Streets

 

Areas of expertise:

■ Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
■ RIBA Chartered and ARB Registered Architect