Call for Applications: BIEA Mohamed Ali Foundation Fellowship Programme 2025

The Mohamed Ali Foundation is a UK charity whose aims include advancing the education of the public in the history of the Islamic World, of Egypt and of the Mohamed Ali Family in particular, especially the period of reign of Khedive Abbas Hilmi II (1892-1914).

In 2018 the Mohamed Ali Foundation announced the launch of this Fellowship Programme, and which is established to devote scholarly attention to the Abbas Hilmi II Papers held at Durham University and to make the collection’s strengths more widely known to scholars. It is hoped that the fellows’ work will foster deeper understanding of an important period of Egyptian history, and of a transformative era in East -West relations.

The fellowship programme is based at Durham University and managed by an international Advisory Panel comprising academic subject specialists. The programme began in 2019 with the residency of the first fellow Dr Pascale Ghazaleh of the American University in Cairo: her inaugural lecture and the lectures of subsequent fellows are now available online. More fellowships will be awarded over the next years. An Advisory Panel, chaired by Professor Anoush Ehteshami of the Institute for Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies will appoint one or two fellows each year.

Fellows will be early career (post-doctoral) or established scholars. The nature of the collection will often require good reading knowledge of Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, French, and English. The online catalogue of the collection indicates the languages of each file of material.

Fellows will research the Abbas Hilmi II Papers, on an agreed topic, and deliver a lecture at Durham University. Each lecture will ultimately form a chapter in a volume of high quality and original research to be edited by Dr Ghazaleh. In the interim the lectures will be published in the university’s Middle East Papers series. The breadth of material in the Abbas Hilmi II Papers will reward an interdisciplinary approach. In order to guide candidate fellows an outline plan of this volume is now provided in the fellowship application documentation. This is not intended to be prescriptive and the Advisory Panel will consider alternative suggestions so long as they are well-grounded in the Abbas Hilmi II Papers and this is evidenced in the application proposal.

• Table of Content
• About British Institute in East Africa (BIEA)
• Mohamed Ali Foundation Fellowship Programme
• Aim and Benefits of Mohamed Ali Foundation Fellowship Programme
• Requirements for Mohamed Ali Foundation Fellowship Programme Qualification
• Documents Required for Application
• Application Deadline
• How to Apply

About British Institute in East Africa (BIEA)

The British Institute in Eastern Africa has been active since 1960 and has its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. The Institute exists to promote research in all the disciplines in the humanities and social sciences within the wider region of eastern Africa. It has a strong tradition of research in anthropology, archaeology, history and linguistics, and recent projects have embraced political, environmental and development studies, geography, public health, and art and performance. Its renovated research centre in Nairobi provides work space and accommodation for researchers and visiting acade... continue reading

Mohamed Ali Foundation Fellowship Programme

Aim and Benefits of Mohamed Ali Foundation Fellowship Programme

• The Fellowship, tenable jointly in IMEIS and Grey College, entitles the holder to full access during their residency to departmental and other University facilities such as Computing and Information Services and the University Library. Accommodation is provided at Durham during the Easter term (22 April-21 June 2024), but there is flexibility to arrange residencies in different terms to suit fellows’ availability, and fellows may be permitted to reside in Cairo or Istanbul for the duration of the fellowship and using the digitised collection which is freely accessible online. All fellows will visit Durham, if only briefly, in order to deliver their lecture in June. Lectures and other activities elsewhere during the fellowship will be encouraged.
• Fellows who do reside at Durham will also be encouraged to take a full part in academic and collegiate life, delivering the already mentioned lecture and perhaps also contributing to seminars.
• Fellows will be awarded an honorarium upon completion of their fellowship, and accommodation and all meals will be provided for the duration of the fellowship; a research travel grant is also available to each fellow.

Requirements for Mohamed Ali Foundation Fellowship Programme Qualification

Fellows will be early career (post-doctoral) or established scholars. The nature of the collection will often require good reading knowledge of Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, French, and English. The online catalogue of the collection indicates the languages of each file of material.

Documents Required for Application

Applications should include: 

• A CV (of no more than two pages); 
• A two to three-page outline of the proposed research; 
• Contact details for two referees. 

Application Deadline

How to Apply

• Applicants are advised to familiarise themselves with the online catalogue of the Abbas Hilmi II Papers, or the collection itself, and to review the outline plan of the edited volume provided below. More detailed information on the fellowship programme is also provided.
• This call is now open, and applications should be submitted by Tuesday 1 October 2024, preferably by email, to the Mohamed Ali Foundation Fellowship Programme at the address provided. 

Please send this information to: 

The Secretary 
The Mohamed Ali Foundation Fellowship Programme 
Durham University Library 
Palace Green, Durham
DH1 3RN
United Kingdom 

Email: [email protected] 

For more details, visit BIEA website.