Visiting Scholarships Scheme

The Joint Visiting Scholarships Scheme aims to enhance the capacity of Iraqi, Iranian, Lebanese and Turkish scholars to engage in the sustainable development of cultural heritage. It enables academics, cultural heritage professionals, and NGO workers to visit the UK for 1-2 months for training and research.

The Visiting Scholarships Scheme is run jointly by the Nahrein Network with:

• The British Institute for the Study of Iraq (BISI).
• The Iran Heritage Foundation (IHF)
• The Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL)
• The British Institute at Ankara (BIAA)

See the summary of our Visiting Scholarship Scheme, including statistics & home and host institutions for our scholars. 

Visiting Scholarships podcast

Listen to Mehiyar and Eleanor explaining how the Visiting Scholarships Scheme works, and how to make an application:

The scheme was aimed at residents of Iraq, Iran, Lebanon or Turkey who wanted to carry out a project relating to one or more of the Nahrein Network's five aims.

Further information on the AHRC remit is available here, while the list AHRC disciplines can be found at this link. 

Previous beneficiaries of the BISI Iraqi Visiting Scholarship, or the Nahrein Visiting Scholarship, were not eligible to apply, nor were students.

UK host institution

The Nahrein Network has the support of a growing number of UK host institutions, including:

• The British Library — please contact Mr Daniel Lowe
• The National Archives — please contact Dr Juliette Desplat
• Birmingham Museums Trust — please contact Dr Ellen McAdam
• The Ashmolean Museum — please contact the Network
• University College London — please contact the Network
• The University of Glasgow — please contact Dr Claudia Glatz
• The University of Manchester — please contact Professor Stuart Campbell
• The University of Reading — please contact Professor Roger Matthews

Applicants could also choose and contact a different UK host institution that is better suited to your research interests, or contact the Nahrein Network for advice about possible hosts.

What did the scholarships cover?

These scholarships covered:

• Advice and support from our partners (BISI, IHF, CBRL and BIAA) on applying for a UK visa, and on travel, insurance, and accommodation;
• All travel expenses, including visa costs;
• Travel insurance for your visit;
• Institutional fees (e.g. university access and library usage, but not tuition fees);
• Housing (usually with a host family) and a daily allowance for living costs;
• Reasonable research costs.

These scholarships didn't cover any of the following:

• Any salary expenses;
• English language training;
• Fees for long-term or full-time university courses;
• Any routine dental or medical expenses.

Terms and conditions

Scholars must apply for a UK visa at least three months before their visit to the UK. This will require you to take your identity documents for checking at a Visa Application Centre in your home country.

Scholars are expected to be able to work and travel independently in the UK.

Scholars must sign a formal agreement with the Nahrein Network and relevant partner (BISI, IHF, CBRL or BIAA) to show that they agree with the terms and conditions of the scholarship.

We reserve the right to withdraw any scholarships that have not been taken up within one year of notification of the awards.