At exactly 9:00 AM on Sunday, February 8, 2026, the meeting of the Geographical Studies Department Council was held under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Hamed Hamed Mohamed Awad Al-Asfouri, Associate Professor of Physical Geography and Acting Head of the Geographical Studies Department, and in the presence of the following members: Prof. Dr. Hassan Mohamed Ibrahim Hassouna, Professor of Human Geography and former Dean of the Institute; Prof. Dr. Nasser Abdel-Sattar Abdel-Hadi, Professor of Physical Geography and Vice Dean for Graduate Studies and Research; Dr. Ahmed Mustafa Jumaa Abdel-Wahid, Lecturer of Population Geography and Secretary of the Department Council. The meeting started with a welcome speech by Prof. Dr. Hamed Hamed Mohamed Awad Al-Asfouri, who welcomed the members and began discussing the agenda. The minutes of the previous meeting were approved, and the council agreed to award a Master's degree to Abdelfattah Bahgat Amin Othman in Human Geography (Political Geography) for his thesis "The Republic of Sudan after 2011: A Study in Political Geography using GIS". The council also approved research topics for GIS Diploma students as part of the group project course.