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Take a closer look at what the Nahrein Network achieved in 2023-2024.
Annual Report, October 2023 – September 2024
KEY INSIGHTS
Learn more about the Nahrein Network's work and impact in Iraq.
Research Grants Scheme
The Research Grants scheme funds Iraqi-led research into the sustainable development of Iraqi history, heritage and the humanities. The scheme launched in autumn 2023 with a deadline of 31 October 2023. We received 77 applications, of which 31 were considered eligible and sent for Peer Review. We shortlisted the best ten of these and invited them to develop full applications, of which seven were offered funding.
Visiting Scholars Scheme
The Joint Visiting Scholarships Scheme aims to enhance the capacity of Iraqi scholars to engage in the sustainable development of cultural heritage. It enables academics, cultural heritage professionals, NGO workers, and research students to visit the UK for 1-2 months for training and research, or to take up an online placement. The Visiting Scholarships Scheme is run jointly by the Nahrein Network with The British Institute for the Study of Iraq (BISI). Over the winter 2023-24 we ran a call for applications, where we received a total of 37 applications and five were awarded placements.
Mini Grants Scheme
In spring 2024, we ran a call for research grants of up to £5000 for research projects with potential to deliver cultural, economic, environmental, or social benefit for Iraq/KRI. The scheme attracted 38 applicants from Iraq, three of whom were offered awards. One project had been contracted by the end of the reporting period.
Graduate Studentship Scheme
The UCL Graduate Studentship fully funds one eligible applicant a year to undertake an MA or MSc at one of the participating UCL departments: Department of History, the Institute of Archaeology, or the Bartlett Institute for Sustainable Heritage. We opened applications in October 2023, and set a closing date of 15 January. We received 13 applications and awarded one scholarship to study the MA in Ancient History.
AcademIQ
AcademIQ is a multi-year programme, led by Dr Mehiyar Kathem, designed to support Iraqi researchers in the arts, humanities and social sciences with academic skills development. AcademIQ consists of online research courses, provision of academic writing workshops and 1:1 academic mentoring.
Academic Research Course
This online introductory course on UCL Extend was revised and updated in autumn 2023, to deliver an improved learning experience. The course ran again in the first six months of 2024, delivered by Dr Ariane Smart, Dr Julia Molinari and Sharon Pointer. It comprised a series of eight independent learning units and three live workshops. 18 Iraq-based researchers graduated from this online course.
Academic Mentorship Programme
This year-long mentorship programme comprises online and in-country workshops, delivered by Dr Ersun Kurtulus. Two groups of learners from Iraq, mostly MA and PhD holders, benefited from the programme. The first group comprised eight social sciences researchers, while the second comprised ten linguistics and English literature researchers. Since the start of the course earlier in 2024, three online workshops have been delivered, with two sets of in-country workshops held Dohuk in June 2024. The final set of in-person workshops is planned for Basrah in November 2024.
Core Team Research Projects
Cultural Heritage Organisation — Rozhen Kamal Mohammed-Amin
During the 2023-2024 funding cycle, the team focused on the delivery of the pilot Digital Heritage Internship Program (DHIP). The program, spanning from September 2023 to July 2024, brought together and trained 15 graduates (10 women and 5 men) in Sulaimani city from a total of 12 disciplines within Engineering, Design, Social Science, Arts, and Humanities, and IT.
The Forgotten City of Kish: reparative history and knowledge repatriation — Eleanor Robson
The project comprises three work packages: Oracc tools and training (with UCL’s Centre for Advanced Research Computing, ARC); website, conference and visitor engagement; theory and policy. This reporting period's team members consisted of Eleanor Robson, Wesam Youssef (October 2023–May 2024), and Dr Nadia AïtSaïd-Ghanem (July–September 2024).
British Museum — Paul Collins
The British Museum has been collaborating with the SBAH to help build capacity and knowledge exchange through training on archaeological projects, conservation techniques and site management for two decades. In addition, SBAH staff have participated in the Museum’s International Training Programme which brings individuals to the UK.
The Politics of Heritage in Iraq — Mehiyar Kathem
During this period, Mehiyar focused on completing a first draft of a book manuscript for publisher I.B. Tauris, focusing on the politics of heritage in Iraq. Mehiyar also delivered his MA module on New Public Histories in Conflict-Affected Contexts for the second time.
Communications, Publicity and Media
Social Media
The Nahrein Network’s social media platforms performed exceptionally well across all channels, apart from X. We share and post on all our platforms on a weekly basis. Facebook and Instagram saw considerable growth, with marked increases in Reach, Impressions, and Engagement. We have built a strong relationship with our audience by consistently updating our readers with the latest news and upcoming events. Across all platforms — Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, Threads — we gained over 966 followers in one year.
Website
The Nahrein Network website is regularly edited and updated. New landing pages have been introduced, with links to: Mini Grant Projects, Research Projects in Iraq, Former Team Members. The Research Grants page and the Visiting Scholar page remain the most visited on the Nahrein Network website. Furthermore, users from Iraq account for nearly 55% of all site visitors.
Newsletter
The Nahrein Network’s bi-monthly newsletter includes news, updates, and interviews with our visiting scholars and other guests. Over the past 12 months, our readership has increased by over 500 contacts, reaching 1,800. The campaigns continue to be very successful, with an increased open rate of 58% compared to our peers’ performance of 38%. The click rates of 10% and the unsubscribe rate of only 0.1% are also ahead of our category peers. The majority of our readers are from Iraq, UK, and USA.
Webinars
The Nahrein Network organised three webinars:
Iraqi heritage between recovery and preservation, with Nawar Ihsan, Antiquities Restorer at the Iraq Museum and Visiting Scholar at The British Museum.
Strengthening Iraq's Next Generation of Cultural Heritage Professionals with Iraqi archaeologists and cultural heritage professionals.
The Future and Sustainability of Najaf’s Cultural Heritage with Dr Ali Naji Attiyah from Kufa University.
We also held Q&A webinars for our Research Grants, Graduate Studentship, Mini Grants and Visiting Scholarships schemes. All our webinars are recorded and uploaded on our YouTube page, which received over 1,600 views in the last year.
Podcasts
The Nahrein Network podcast playlist is available on UCL Minds, UCL’s podcast channel, with a reach of over 531,000. During the last 12 months we uploaded four new podcasts to UCL Minds. These podcasts had almost 2000 plays between them.
Blog
Over the past year, the Nahrein Network’s blog has served as a dynamic platform for sharing insights related to Iraq. The blog entries have covered a broad spectrum of topics, ranging from the preservation of cultural heritage and environmental issues to interviews with Visiting Scholars and coverage of Nahrein activities and events.
