The British Academy awards funding to 14 collaborative projects by UK- and Middle East-based researchers

The British Academy today announces funding for 14 new research projects, providing support for new, interdisciplinary research in the humanities and social sciences following a joint symposium with the Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL).

The research grants are funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy as part of the Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).

The announcement follows a Knowledge Frontiers Symposium focused on the theme of ‘Belonging’ which took place in Amman, Jordan during 26-28 January this year, jointly held by the British Academy and the CBRL to promote ideas exchange between early-career researchers.

The CBRL is the UK’s hub for humanities and social sciences research in the Middle Eastern countries of Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus. The research awards will connect 19 researchers from 11 institutions across the region with 23 UK-based researchers at 13 UK universities.

The projects funded by these awards will examine a range of topics including literature and oral cultures, contested identities, migration and the politics of humanitarian action.

Professor Charles Tripp FBA, Vice President for British International Research Institutes at the British Academy, said:

“This is a great opportunity for the British Academy to strengthen its ties with the next generation of researchers representing excellence in the humanities and social sciences in the Middle East.”

The full list of funded projects includes:

• Ethnography on marginalisation and conflictive belonging - Dr Rami Salameh, Birzeit University; Dr Katerina Hatzidiki, University of Oxford 
• Oscillating objects: the role of material culture in reflecting and creating senses of belonging - Dr Nina Vollenbroker, UCL; Ms Yara Kurmilian, NGO BILADLI; Dr Marjorie Gerhardt, University of Reading 
• Racialized selectivity of humanitarian financial aid responses - Dr Aya Musmar, University of Petra; Dr Michelle Lokot, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; Dr Farah Al Taji, University of Al-Balqa’a; Dr Zainab Naqvi, De Montfort University 
• The Creation of Shi’a Identity: Religion, History, Community - Dr Emanuelle Degli Esposti, University of Cambridge; Dr Christopher Bahl, Orient Institute Beirut 
• Contested Returns - Dr Toufic Haddad, CBRL Kenyon Institute; Dr Anna Koch, University of Leeds; Dr Rebekah Vince, University of Durham 
• Refugee agency: From humanitarian objects to political actors - Dr Anne Irfan, University of Oxford; Dr Farah Al Taji, University of Al-Balqa’a; Dr Michelle Lokot, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; Dr Aya Musmar, University of Petra, Dr Arek Dakessian, Queen Margaret University; Dr Elizabeth Marcus, University of Leeds 
• Trajectories of belonging among migrant domestic workers - Dr Michelle Lokot, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; Dr Karen Moukheiber, University of Balamand; Dr Aya Musmar, University of Petra; Dr Zainab Naqvi, De Montfort University  
• Religion and non-religion as a constituent element of identity and belonging or non-belonging - Dr Katerina Hatzidiki, University of Oxford; Dr Georgios Trantas, Aston University; Dr Hana Saliba-Salman, Academic Arab College for Education in Haifa; Dr Helen Malko, Columbia Global Centre / Amman; Dr Emanuelle Degli Esposti, University of Cambridge 
• Palestinian Refugees, the Art of Resistance and International Community: Untold stories in Refugees’ Cinemas - Dr Anne Irfan, University of Oxford; Dr Mohammad Hamdan, An-Najah National University 
• Jordanian oral literature and folklore - Dr Nader Albakower, Mutah University; Dr Kirstin Anderson, University of the West of Scotland; Dr Rachel Sherwin, Siren Associates, Jordan 
• Building scholarly solidarity: Kashmir and Palestine - Dr Toufic Haddad, CBRL Kenyon Institute; Dr Emma Brannlund, University of the West of England 
• Linguistic landscapes of Amman and London - Dr Naomi Wells, University of London; Dr Nader Albakower, Mutah University 
• Translation as 'intimate reading' - Dr Neil Sadler, Queen’s University Belfast; Dr Nader Albakower, Mutah University 
• Digital Diasporic Belonging: Middle Eastern and Latin Americans in London as a Case Study - Dr Mohammed Hamdan, An-Najah National University; Dr Naomi Wells, University of London