The Visiting Scholarships Scheme designed to to enable Iraqi scholars, cultural heritage professionals and NGO workers from Iraq to visit the UK for up to 2 months to engage in research, training and collaborative projects.
Projects should focus on the history, society and culture of Iraq from the earliest times until the present. We welcome applications from scholars involved in the following fields: anthropology, archaeology, history, geography, languages, and other areas in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.
Previous beneficiaries of the BISI Visiting Iraqi Scholarships, or the Nahrein Network Scholarship, are not eligible to re-apply.
This scholarship is made possible by the Meditor Trust’s donation to a new BISI Fund for Iraq.
What do the scholarships cover?
The scholarships cover:
- Reasonable research costs;
- Institutional fees (e.g. university access and library usage).
And for placements in the UK, we will also provide:
- Advice and support from BISI on applying for a UK visa, and on travel, insurance, and accommodation;
- All travel expenses, including visa costs;
- Travel insurance for your visit;
- Housing (usually with a host family) and a daily allowance for living costs.
These scholarships do not 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.
Eligibility
All applicants must be currently based in Iraq and should demonstrate how a scholarship in the UK will strengthen the research and cultural heritage environment in Iraq.
- You cannot normally be a previous recipient of a Nahrein Network or BISI Visiting Scholarship
- You should be a resident of Iraq (including KRI) though we may consider exceptions
- We may ask you to take an English language test because a working level of the English language is needed in order to benefit from the scholarship
- The Scholarship Scheme funds research-related activity and not the restoration or conservations of buildings sites or collections, or archaeological digs. Nor can we fund work that directly involves children. The scholarship is designed to support the intellectual aspects of cultural heritage in the sustainable development of Iraq
- Applications without a UK host will not be considered
- The scheme now includes PhD students as well as cultural heritage professionals and academics.
- Applicants must have an active Iraqi bank or savings account at time of application.
Preparing to Apply
- Check your eligibility
- Download and read the Application Form
- Determine what you would like to research and how this fits with the BISI framework
- Identify and contact a suitable host institution in the UK. You must secure approval from their side. Ask them to give you a letter confirming they are happy to host you, who will be your contact within their institution and any fees they expect to be paid for hosting you. We will not accept any applications that do not have a UK host
- Secure your home institution’s approval. Ask them to give you a letter confirming they are happy for you to undertake the scholarship
How to Apply Online
- Click ‘apply online‘ at the top of this page
- Fill in your application
- Make sure you have the letter of permission from your home institution
- Make sure you have the letter of invitation from your host institution
- Run through the check-list before submission. You must meet all the conditions there to have a complete application.
How to Apply Offline
- Download the application form
- Complete the application form
- Make sure you have the letter of permission from your home institution
- Make sure you have the letter of invitation from your host institution
- Run through the check-list on page 10 of the application form. You must meet all the conditions there to have a complete application.
- Convert all documents into one PDF document.
- Send the completed application to [email protected]
Terms and conditions for UK placements
Assessment Criteria
Applications will be assessed in accordance with the following criteria:
- Whether the work is important
- Qualifications and experience of the applicant to produce research
- The quality of the proposed research
- Whether the timetable is realistic for this work
- The appropriateness of the UK host
- Whether the proposed outputs are appropriate and manageable
The scholarships cover:
- Scholars must sign a formal agreement with the BISI 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.
In addition, for UK placements, the following also apply:
- Scholars must apply for a UK visit 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.
Terms and Conditions
- We cannot guarantee that your application will be successful, even if we have provided support in preparing it.
- If you are awarded a scholarship, we will send you a Letter of Award and Visiting Scholars Agreement Form. You must sign and return the Agreement Form within two weeks of receipt in order to be awarded the Scholarship.
- You will need to take up the scholarship within 12 months of the offer being made.
- The grant is awarded and administered by the British Institute for the Study of Iraq (BISI).
- Once the Award Letter is signed and returned, BISI will offer advice on obtaining visas, travel and accommodation.
- BISI reserves the right to withdraw any scholarship offered.
- We may get in touch with you by phone or online voice call to discuss your application.
- The proposal and project timeline submitted by the applicant might be subject to change or update by the BISI, but should not be updated by the scholar without prior agreement with BISI
- For visa purposes, the applicant must have an Iraqi bank account in which they receive their salary or use for savings