The Egypt Exploration Society joins the British International Research Institutes

The Egypt Exploration Society (EES) has joined the network of British International Research Institutes (BIRI) supported by the British Academy. The joining of EES to the BIRI recognises the Society’s important position in heritage and archaeological work in the northern Nile region.

The BIRI are global research partners in the arts, humanities, and social sciences – working to support knowledge, promote cultural heritage, and support international engagement for these disciplines across the world, through nine institutes that are hubs in a network of regional contacts and activities that cover the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and southern Europe, Africa, Turkey, the Middle East, Iran, and Central Asia.

The BIRI offer a unique and unparalleled resource for furthering understanding of humanity, past and present. The institutes play a vital role in supporting and sustaining world-leading research, connecting researchers in the UK with academic and non-academic communities, and supporting next generation of academic scholars through a broad range of grant and funding opportunities.

More information about the BIRIs and their vision can be found on the British Academy website.

Climate Change and Heritage Adaptation

To mark the addition of EES to the wider BIRI family, the Society will undertake a new collaborative project in 2024-2025 focusing on ‘Climate Change and Heritage Adaptation’, which aims to create a regional hub for dialogue between major stakeholders and local initiatives to build local resilience and economic capacity in the management of tangible and intangible heritage across north Africa and the MENA region.

Through research activities, public discourse, and facilitated training, ‘Climate Change and Heritage Adaptation’ will advocate regional policy change in the heritage sector by achieving several specific objectives including:

• Raising awareness of climate change impact in the heritage sector and adaptation options
• Promoting research on climate change impact and potential adaptation in the heritage sector
• Providing briefs and guidelines for policy change in the heritage sector for adaptation to climate change.

Dr Carl Graves, Director of the Egypt Exploration Society, said: “We look forward to these new opportunities, connecting with colleagues in neighbouring fields, and enriching the UK research environment with the support of the British Academy.”

Professor Cyprian Broodbank FBA, Vice President for the British International Research Institutes at the British Academy, said: “'The British Academy is delighted to welcome the Egypt Exploration Society into the group of British International Research Institutes. We look forward to the new multi-disciplinary engagements with Egyptian and other regional scholarship and research initiatives which we expect to result from this.”