El Aref is a Professor of ore Geology in the Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Egypt. El Aref was the director of the Basel Convention Regional Centre for training and Technology Transfer (Cairo-BCRC), (2003-2008). He joined Cairo-BCRC in 2003. Dr. El Aref was a member in or a head of several councils and committees belonging to the Higher Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources and The Ministry of State of Environment. El Aref has worked on different types of metallic and non-metallic stratabound ore deposits, karstology and karst-related deposits and conducted field studies in the Eastern and Western Deserts of Egypt and Sinai as well as field excursions and visits in Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy and France. He led and conducted several activities and national and regional projects in the field of ore exploration, mapping, assessment and beneficiation. Dr. El Aref are interested in the environmental sciences and management since was elected as a director of Cairo University Centre for Environmental Hazard Mitigation (CEHM) and the Regional Centre for Training and Technology Transfer for the Arab States (Cairo-BCRC), Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (UNDP).
He led, conducted and supervised several activities (workshops, training sessions, and consultative meetings...est.) and regional environmental protects (mega projects). He participated in numerous environmental and technical policy strategies meetings and workshops, including Basel Convention Conferences and the Arab League Team concerned with the follow up of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs). El Aref proposes and develops strategies for consideration of Parties by leadership. He also was responsible for budget, planning administrative tasks such as consultants and staff hiring, planning meetings to discuss policy, making organizational decisions, and manages entire Cairo-BCRC operation. He was an active member in the Executive Board of the Quality Assurance Unite of the Faculty of Science, Cairo University. Faculty of Science, Cairo University has been awarded the Institutional Accreditation in 18/8/2014.