The BSAI/BISI Appeal

The British School of Archaeology in Iraq launched an Appeal in 2005 and has raised close to £250,000 to date. We hope eventually to raise £500,000. At its AGM in December 2007 the BSAI changed its name to the British Institute for the Study of Iraq but will be continuing the work of the BSAI Appeal. If you are interested in hearing about our work and/or wish to make a donation to the appeal, please contact the Administrator or the Appeal Secretary, Mr Alan Sandall.

This Appeal Donation Form (77.6KB PDF) can be used for any donations - thank you for your support.

Mr Peter Davies is Chairman of the Appeal Committee and Dr Harriet Crawford, former BSAI Chairman of Council, is its Vice-Chairman and Chairman of the Visiting Scholars' Committee. Mr Alan Sandall is the BISI Appeal Secretary.

RECENT APPEAL EVENT

Tuesday, 10 January 2012, 6 p.m.  Resonance/Dissonance & Sound of Iraq by Khyam Allami for the BISI Appeal at the British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH – a flyer and reply form are available here.

Khyam Allami performing his ‘Ūd compositions from his album Resonance/Dissonance at the British Academy (Photo: J P MacIver)

BISI APPEAL

The present situation in Iraq makes it impossible for the Institute to return there in the immediate future but, initially, it is assisting its Iraqi colleagues, who have been cut off from the outside world since 1990, by offering scholarships, short-term fellowships and material resources to museum and university staff. Money is sought to expand this programme:

• Scholarships, each costing c. £25,000, will allow students from Iraq to train in archaeology or related fields (such as philology or conservation) in Britain for a master programme or £70,000 for a PhD.
• Short term fellowships, each costing £8,000-£10,000, will allow scholars and museum staff to travel to the UK from Iraq for customised placements.
• Books, materials and equipment are still needed by both museums and universities in Iraq.
  

The Institute has sponsored over twenty Iraqi scholars to date, using funds already raised and expects to sponsor three to four further scholars during 2011 - 2012; either as individual scholars or through support at UK conferences. More information about current Appeal activities can be found on the News page.

Major sponsors of the BISI/BSAI Appeal and Scholarship Fund:

• HE Sheikh Hamed Bin Ahmed Al Hamed (2011 sponsor of Dr Azzam Alwash BISI Appeal Talk and the BISI Appeal)
• Tony and Maureen Wheeler (2010-2011 to fund four BISI Scholars)
• Gulfsands Petroleum Plc (2010)
• HE Sheikh Hamed Bin Ahmed Al Hamed (2009 - sponsor of Professor Jim al-Khalili OBE Appeal Talk & 2008 - sponsor of Sir Hilary Synnott Appeal Talk and the Scholarship Fund)
• G4S Risk Management (2009 - sponsor of the Patrick Cockburn Talk and a future scholar)
• Mr Bashir Siman (2009 - sponsor of two Archivists from the INLA on a London course)
• Hawkpoint Partners Limited (2009)
• Access Industries (2009)
• Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust (2007 - part- sponsor research leave of Professor Abbas Al Hussainy with BISI and the British Iraqi Universities Consortium - BUIC)
• Armor Group (2007 - sponsor of Rosemary Hollis Memorial Lecture for Sir Stephen Egerton)
• Control Risks (2006 - sponsor of John Simpson Appeal Talk)
• The British Council IRAQ (2007 - sponsor of two BISI scholars from the Iraq Museum)
• Anglo Arab Organization (2006)
• The Charlotte Bonham-Carter Charitable Trust (2006)
• Thriplow Trust (2003 & 2006)
• Mrs Rosalind Hicks (Dame Agatha Christie's daughter - deceased)
• Anonymous Donation

Appeal Lecturers & Performers

• Khyam Allami -Sound of Iraq Project & ‘Ūd performance from Resonance/Dissonance (January 2012)
• Mr Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, on 'Objects of History' (September 2011)
• Dr Azzam Alwash on ' ‘The marshes of southern Mesopotamia, Past, Present, and Future' (February 2011)
• Khyam Allami on 'The Iraqi ‘Ūd School, its Influences' (September 2010)
• Vernon Rapley, Detective Sergent of the Art & Antiquities Unit New Scotland Yard London (May 2010)
• Dr Saad Eskander, Director of the Iraq National Library & Archive (February 2010)
• Professor Jim Al-Khalili OBE (September 2009)
• Patrick Cockburn (May 2009)
• Sir Hilary Synnott KCMG (September 2008)
• William Dalrymple (June 2008)
• Rory Stewart OBE (December 2007)
• Dr Rosemary Hollis (April 2007)
• John Simpson CBE (October 2006)
• Michael Wood (September 2006)

BISI is immensely grateful to the individuals above who gave so generously of their time to be special guest lectures for an Appeal Event.

Upcoming BISI Appeal Events

Various events are in the planning stage - more details to be posted.

Members of the BISI Appeal Committee

• Mr Peter Davies (Chairman)
• Dr Harriet Crawford (Vice-Chairman)
• Mr Alan Sandall (Secretary of the Appeal)
• Dr Lamia al-Gailani Werr
• Sir Terence Clark, KBE CMG, CVO
• Mr Simon Eccles-Williams
• Sir David Richmond KBE, CMG
• Mr Bashir Siman
• Mr Iain Cheyne CBE
• Mr Mowafaq Mahmood - Advisor to the Appeal Committee, based in Baghdad
• Mrs Joan Porter MacIver, Administrator of the Appeal

BSAI/BISI Assistance to Iraq Since 2003.

These placements and training opportunities were made possible by the assistance and support of a number of institutions and individuals, without whom the BISI could not undertake this important work of assisting the Iraqi heritage professionals and scholars. We thank them all for their generosity and support.

• Funding the pariticipation of two archivists from the Iraq National Library and Archive (INLA), taking part in digital sound archiving training at the British Library's sound archive as part of the Sound of Iraq Project - follow it on the website of the person who is the inspiration behind this project - Khyam Allami's and on the SOI facebook page. October 2011 - January 2012.
• Sponsored the visit of Dr Fawziya Al-Maliky, Director of Heritage at State Board of Antiquities and Heritage to make contact with heritage professionals in the UK - our thanks to English Heritage and the National Trust. (October-November 2011)
• Funded the trip to Erbil of David Juritz, violinist, to coach the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq NYOI prior to its performance in Bonn, Germany in October 2011.
• Sponsored five Iraqi attendees to the academic conference, jointly sponsored by TAARII (The American Academic Research Institute in Iraq), on “Iraq under the Sanctions: Economic, Political, Social and Cultural Effects” in Amman (September 2011)
• Funded the visit of Akram Yahya and Mohammed Mallalah, Lecturers at the University of Mosul, for two months research leave in London and Amman researching the architecture and history of the religious buildings of Mosul (June-July 2011)
• Funded the purchase of a number of scholarly books for the University of Mosul's library focuing on Cuneiform studies (April-May 2011)
• Sponsored Dr Mua'yad Sulaiman of the Department of Cuneiform Studies, University of Mosul, for a research leave at the University of Oxford working with Dr Stephanie Dalley on Old Babylonian tablets from the Iraq Museum (January-March 2011)
• Sponsored Faeza Al-Rubaye of the Iraq Museum for a placement at the British Museum's Conservation Department and for research work with Dr Georgina Herrmann on certain ivories from Nimrud (October-December 2010)
• Sponsored Khawlah Maarikj Khaleel from the Iraq Museum for a placement at the Glasgow Museum working on store room management (September-December 2010)
• Funded a Museum Studies course and an Overview of Mesopotamian Archaeology at the Sulaymaniyah Museum in Iraq with Ms Noorah Al-Gailani and Dr Dominique Collon (November 2010).
• Shipped large number of books and journals to the Mosul Cultural Museum in January 2010 and to the Iraq Museum Library in July 2010.
• Sponsored the visit of Mr Munir Esah Al Khazargy from Baghdad who is a member of the Committee of the Iraq Museum Inventory Project, supported by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. This visit was facilitated by Mr Nick Umney and Laura Dix and colleagues at the Victorial and Albert Museum and other London based museums were involved and Munir is implementing many of the proposals that he developed while in the UK in Baghdad.
• Sponsored the visits of a scholar from the Mosul Museum in Iraq who attended the British Museum's International Curatorial Training Programme (June-July 2009) and worked on the Digital Nineveh Archive with Dr Eleanor Wilkinson
• Sponsored (April-June) two scholars from Iraq - one from the Mosul Cultural Musuem who spent time in Education Departments of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and the British Museum and the other an archaeologists from SBAH in Baghdad spent time at L-P Archaeology in London with opportunities to participate in fieldwork in Wales.
• (January - April 2009) sponsored the English language tuition of the director of the Basra Cultural Museum, who was here on a special visit organised by the British Museum's Department of the Middle East and DCMS.
• In 2008, we sponsored the visit of Mr Hikmat Basheer, Director of the Mosul Cultural Museum, for research leave and special English language tuition.
• Sponsored jointly with UCL the research work of a Professor from Al Qadissiyah University (Autumn 2007 to present).
• Sponsored research leave for a Professor from Mosul (Cuneiform Studies) in Cambridge with the assistance of Wolfson College, Cambridge. (Spring 2007)
• Sponsored two colleagues from the Iraq Museum - an Islamic Scholar and Curator and a librarian from the Iraq Musem, who had programmes organised in Scotland and London (Islamic Scholar) and respecitvely London (Autumn 2006)
• Sponsored two colleagues from the Iraq Museum - a photographer and museum designer - on two-month attachments in the UK at various museums and universities and at Csarky Associates. Fully funded and organised by BSAI. (Autumn 2004)
• Provided funding for travel for Dr Donny George - former Chairman of the SBAH (State Board of Antiquities and Heritage) - and the current SBAH Chairman Dr Abbas Al Hussainy to attend a conference at the Institute of Archaeology UCL ‘Archaeology in Conflict’ and organised capacity-building related meetings for Dr Al Hussainy in the UK. (Nov. 2006)
• Helen McDonald - BSAI Senior Research Fellow - on assignment to CPA under FCO remit with Ms Sarah Collins of the British Museum. Initially based in Baghdad and then Babylon. (June-Aug 2003).
• Sponsored Ms Noorah Al Gailani, Keeper of Islamic Material at the Burrell Collection Glasgow, to give two week course at the Iraq Museum: ‘Recent Developments in Museum Studies’. (April 2004)
• Provided travel grants for members of the State Board of Antiquities and the Iraq and Mosul Museums to attend the Rencontre Internationale Assyriologique at the British Museum (July 2003)
• Provided funding for an English language course at the Iraq Museum – to continue as security allows.
• Provided important reference books to Mosul and Baghdad since 2003, a large shipment was sent in March 2005 - a further shipment is also pending to be sent.
• Provided a conduit for the British Academy to donate funds to the Iraq Museum Library for its refurbishment.
• Purchased a Stereoscopic Microscope for the Iraq Museum.
• Purchased Powerful Digital Camera for the Iraq Museum publications programme
• Assisted the British Museum with the delegation of the Babylon directorate on visit to Cambridge for training at the Fitzwilliam Museum and to meet scholars in Cambridge.

Previous BISI/BSAI Appeal Events

24 February 2011 BISI Appeal Lecture with Dr Azzam Alwash, Director of Eden Again/Nature Iraq, on ‘The marshes of southern Mesopotamia, Past, Present, and Future' . This event was generously sponsored by HE Sheikh Hamed Bin Ahmed Al Hamed

Venue: The British Academy, Wolfson Auditorium, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH Tickets required and a reply form is available here [Word File 34 KB]. A recording of the talk will be available shortly.

17 September 2010 - BISI Appeal Event with Khyam Allami, BISI Research Grant holder 2008-2009 on 'The Iraqi ‘Ūd School, its Influences' . The programme is available here. We wish to thank our anonymous donor for supporting this wonderful event and the SOAS Music Department for supporting the performance and talk.

11 May 2010 - BISI Appeal Lecture at 6 p.m. with Vernon Rapley, Detective Sergent of the Art & Antiquities Unit New Scotland Yard London, 'Iraq and Afghanistan: Criminal Benefit from Cultural Loss'. Venue: The British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH.

4 February 2010 BISI Appeal Talk with Dr Saad Eskander, Director of the Iraq National Library and Archive. 'INLA at a time of National Crisis: Difficult Choices and Unanticipated Challenges'. Co-hosted by the Department of the Middle East at the British Museum. Venue: BP Lecture Theatre at The British Museum.

17 September 2009 BISI Appeal Talk with Professor Jim Khalili OBE "Science and Rationalism in 9th Century Baghdad". Tickets will be required and you may obtain an application form here. We expect the event to be sold out - please apply early to avoid disappointment. Venue: The British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH.

18 May 2009 BISI Appeal Lecture "Iraq: is the age of wars over?" with Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondent of The Independent, and author of The Occupation: War, Resistance and Daily Life in Iraq. The event was generously sponsored by G4S.

18 September 2008 - BISI Appeal Talk and Book Event with Sir Hilary Synnott 'Bad Days in Basra' . Venue: The British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH.
This event and the BISI Appeal was generously sponsored by HE Sheikh Hamed Bin Ahmed Al Hamed.

19 June 2008 - BISI Appeal Talk with William Dalrymple on From the Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium jointly with the British Museum's Department of the Middle East at the British Museum - an invitation may be downloaded here [Adobe Acrobat 113KB]. If you have any questions regarding the event, please contact Mrs Joan Porter MacIver, the BISI Administrator and Appeal Co-ordinator.

5 December 2007 - Rory Stewart OBE, author of Occupational Hazards and former Deputy Governor of Maysan and Dhi Qar Provinces, gave a BSAI Appeal Talk on 'My Time Governing in Iraq' at the British Academy.

3 May 2007 - Dr Rosemary Hollis, Director of Research at Chatham House, gave a memorial lecture on "Europe and the Middle East: Repercussions from the Iraq War" in memory of Sir Stephen Egerton KCMG (1932-2006). The BSAI is grateful to them for their generosity and to all our corporate and individual sponsors. The retiring collection from the memorial service for Sir Stephen Egerton at St Martin's in the Fields in December 2006 was donated to the BSAI. We are grateful to Lady Egerton for this kindness and to all the donors who gave generously in his memory then and for this event.

26 October 2006 - John Simpson CBE BBC World Affairs Editor gave a talk 'An Ever Changing World' at the British Academy, sponsored by Control Risks. John Simpson is the BBC's World Affairs Editor, the senior member of a team of London-based foreign and specialist correspondents. In a BBC career spanning more than 30 years - he joined as a trainee journalist in 1966 - John has earned a reputation as one of the World's most experienced and authoritative journalists. John received a CBE in 1991 and is one of only two people to have been twice named the Royal Television Society's 'Journalist of the Year' (1991 and 2000). Among his other awards have been three BAFTA's, a Golden Nymph Award for his reporting of Ayatollah Khomeini's return to Iran (1979), a Peabody Trust Award for news (1999), a special jury's award at the Bayeux War Correspondents Awards (2002) and most recently an International Emmy Award for News Coverage for his report on the fall of Kabul for BBC's Ten O'Clock News.

14 September 2006 - Michael Wood gave a talk 'Iraq: the cradle of civilisation' at the British Museum, co-sponsored by the British Museum's Department of the Middle East. This lecture dealr with many aspects of the history of ancient Iraq with a bias to the 'Heartland of Cities'. Michael Wood plans to trace continuities through the deep past to the present with slides of Eridu, Uruk Nippur Borsippa, Baghdad, Najaf, Kerbala, Kifil, Basra, and the Marshes with some early images from RAF aerial surveys (1919). Michael Wood is the writer and presenter of many critically acclaimed series on television, including 'Art of the Western World', 'Legacy and In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great'. He is author of over sixty TV films which have been shown worldwide, including Saddam's Killing Fields: an award winning account of the destruction of the Marsh Arabs of South Iraq), and of several best selling and highly praised books.

Appeal Brochure

A new brochure will be printed in the future but our previous brochure continues to reflect the purpose of the appeal.