Reiterating its commitment to the sustainability cause, Dhofar University is taking part in the eco-friendly house competition initiated by the Research Council (TRC). Dr Lyudmila Kasakodfa, team leader of Dhofar University, said that the eco-friendly house competition is being supported by both the faculty members and students, who are taking part in the project with full enthusiasm. The students and faculty members have been working closely on the project, sharing ideas and expertise. For the students, the competition offers an avenue to sharpen their knowledge on ecological issues, which makes it easier to enhance public awareness on the issue by sharing knowledge. “This competition is certainly a big step towards promoting sustainable development in the competition,” Dr Lyudmila said. She added that the competition is open for all educational institutions and the evaluation criteria are transparent and fair. Talking about the stress on Omani culture in the competition, Dr Lyudmila said the competition aims at boosting creative brainstorming among team members who work on developing a concept in eco-house design, during which a plethora of innovative ideas might be developed and evolved. The rich heritage of the country accumulated by several generations of citizens considers the local climatic conditions, which is one of the vital factors in the successful designing of eco-friendly houses. Hence, the teams are taking full advantage of the country’s accumulated heritage and use it as an important tool for eco-friendly house design, she explained. She also stressed that the participating teams can achieve excellence only by collaborative work among team members, effective and efficient task distribution according to the potential and skills of team members, effective time management, and completion of the work within the stipulated time-frame. The vision and the objective of this competition, she reiterated, is to invest in the eco-friendly house concept so as to merge social and economic development with sustainable development. “Our vision of investing in social, economic and sustainable development is through students, the local society, social institutions, curriculum integration, enhancing awareness among citizens, promoting utilisation of renewable energy sources, economic consumption of natural resources, and, above all, a sustainable way of living.