The British Institute for the Study of Iraq
(Gertrude Bell Memorial)

BISI News

The UK National Commission for UNESCO and others submission of evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry

The UK National Commission for UNESCO, the British Institute for the Study of Iraq, and 11 other UK heritage and culture organisations have signed a letter with written evidence as a submission to the Chilcot inquiry. For more on the Chilcot Inquiry, see the official website. The UK must learn from Iraq War failure to protect cultural heritage, leading culture organisations urge in this submission to the Chilcot inquiry for further details see the Press Release. [40KB PDF file]

Gertrude Bell Medal awarded to Dr Lamia al-Gailani Werr at the 2009 AGM

At its 76th Annual General Meeting on Thursday 10th December 2009 the British Institute for the Study of Iraq (Gertrude Bell Memorial) awarded the Gertrude Bell Memorial Gold Medal "for outstanding services to Mesopotamian archaeology" to Dr Lamia al-GailaniWerr, Honorary Research Associate of the Institute of Archaeology UCL. Dr al-Gailani Werr is only the fifth recipient of this medal since the first award in 1976 to Professor Sir Max Mallowan. Subsequent medallists have been Professor Seton Lloyd (1979), Professor David Oates (1997) and Dr Roger Moorey (2003). Only one of the originally six minted medals now remains in the keeping of BISI. In making the presentation to Dr Lamia al-Gailani Werr the current Chairman of BISI, Professor Roger Matthews, cited in particular her unceasing efforts and invaluable advice and energies in sustaining academic and personal links between scholars in the UK and Iraq. Her input into BISI's highly active Visiting Scholars programme has been fundamental to its great success in recent years, providing training and experience to a broad range of Iraqi colleagues who have taken their enhanced skills back to Iraq. Dr Lamia al-Gailani Werr has been, and continues to be, a ray of intense and brave light in an age of darkness and difficulty.

Iraqi Inquiry

The British Institute for e the Study of Iraq was a signatory to a letter sent to Sir John Chilcot regarding the inquiry into events in Iraq (2001-2009), which was also signed by the British Academy, the Council for British Archaeology, the European Association of Archaeologists, the Institute for Archaeology, International Council of Museums UK, the Museums Association, the Society of Antiquaries of London, the UK & Ireland Committee of the Blue Shield and the UK National Commission for UNESCO. A press release regarding the letter is available here. [62KB PDF].
 

Visiting Scholars

In 2010 we will be sponsoring the visits of ten Iraqi scholars and visitors. With BISI suppport three Professors from Baghdad University will be attending the British Academy international conference Rethinking the Middle East? Values, Interests, and Security Concerns in Western Policies toward Iraq and the Wider Region, 1918-2010 in London 17-19 March 2010 and three Iraqi scholars to attend the 7th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (7ICAANE) which will be held in London in April 2010. Two archivist from the Iraq National Library and Archive (INLA) will be taking part in an intensive training programme on digital archiving at the University of London Computer Centre in March 2010. In addition we hope to sponsor at least two individual scholars under our Visiting Iraqi Scholarship programme. The next application deadline is 31 April 2010.

The Institute recently sponsored the visit of Munir Essa Al Khazargy who is working on the Iraq Museum inventory project. His programme has been organised by Mr Nick Umney, Director of Collection Services of the Victoria and Albert Museum and his assistant, Laura Dix, in cooperation with BISI and other musuems. This scholarshp has been generously funded by G4S Risk Management.

Earlier in the year we sponsored a scholar from the Mosul Museum in Iraq who attended the British Museum's International Curatorial Training Programme (June-July 2009) and we also sponsored two scholars in the Spring - 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. We are very grateful to all those individuals who are helping to make these visits possible. All our scholars will be contributing reports to future BISI newsletters regarding their programmes in the UK.

We recently (January - April 2009) sponsored the English language tuition of the British Museum's visitor, the director of the Basra Cultural Museum, who was here on a special visit organised by the museum's Department of the Middle East and DCMS. In 2008, we sponsored the visits of Mr Hikmat Basheer, Director of the Mosul Cultural Museum and Dr Abbas Al Hussainy, former Chairman of the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage and a Professor from Al Qadissiyah University, who is here on an extended research leave and project, primarily sponsored by University College London under Professor Roger Matthews and a BUIC grant and with generous support from the Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust.

BISI is currently devoting part of its resources to assisting in the rebuilding of Iraq’s heritage through these visits and other initiatives.

• The aftermath of the second Gulf war has left monuments, sites, libraries and museums wrecked. Many of their priceless contents have been looted, smashed, or burnt.
• The damage to archaeological and historical sites is extensive and in the absence of internal security continues unchecked.
• The smuggling of precious artefacts looted from sites across Iraq is a major problem, especially as the borders with neighbouring countries are officially described as ‘porous’.
• Scholars have been struggling to re-educate themselves after years of being completely cut off from the outside world and their colleagues.
• Academic equipment and books are in short supply.

BISI Iraqi Scholarships and Fellowships

Iraqi academics and heritage sector professionals may apply to the BISI for a two- to three-month fellowship to be held in the UK. They can find details of this intiative on the website Visiting Iraqi Fellows page or from the BISI Administrator:

• an application form
• a letter of reference
• a copy of their CV;
• a letter outlining a research proposal related to Mesopotamian archaeology and/or the heritage sector in Iraq.

Applicants must have permission from their university or employer for a leave of absence for the two-three month period in the UK. A telephone interview may be arranged. No salary is paid but travel, visa and living expenses are provided. A UK visa must be obtained in Amman, Jordan prior to coming to the UK.

Past Visiting Scholars

In May-June 2007 The BSAI organised the visit of a scholar from Mosul University at the University of Cambridge (May-June 2007) and also the attachments of two collegues from the Iraq Museum from September to December 2006. These fellowships were generously funded with help from the British Council IRAQ office and the BSAI. We wish to thank the following institutions and individuals for their help in setting up this programme:

• Ms Noorah Al Gailani, Curator - Islamic Civilisations of the Burrell Collection, Glasgow Museums;
• Dr Ulrike Al-Khamis, Prinicipal Curator/Middle East and South Asia of the National Museums of Scotland, in Edinburgh;
• Mr Robert Kirby of the Institute of Archaeology, UCL, London.

In addition many other individuals provided extra support and visits:

• Professor Roger Matthews;
• Professor Andrew George;
• Dr John Curtis, Keeper of the Department of the Middle East and other members of the Department of the Middle East at the Brisith Museum;
• Mrs Rosalind Wade-Haddon;
• Ms Annie Searight;
• Mr Timothy Stanley of the V & A;
• Dr Stephanie Dalley of Oriental Institute, Oxford;
• Dr Luke Treadwell & colleagues at the Khalili Research Centre for Islamic Art and Archaeology, Oxford;
• Dr Sheila Canby of the British Museum;
• Ms Moyra Gardner; Miss Penny Sibson;
• Dr Lamia Al Gailani.

We wish to thank them and all the other individuals who helped make their stay a positive one. They have returned to work at the Iraq Museum.

As a result of Dr John Curtis' visit to Babylon in December 2004 & his subsequent report, the DCMS offered some funding for 3 Iraqi archaeologists from Babylon to come to the UK for training, career development, and preparation of documents relating to Babylon. They arrived on March 30th 2005 and stayed to May. During their stay they were based at the British Museum. The Museum also involved the World Monuments Fund, English Heritage and the Institute of Archaeology, University College London in their training. Sarah Collins of the British Museum, coordinated their visit. The BSAI hosted them for one day in Cambridge and they were able to attend a training session at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Christie Mallowan Endowment

In November-December 2004 two Christie Mallowan scholars spent two months in England on an eight weeks work experience programme - on museum exhibition design, and on archaeological photography.

We had a professional photographer from the Iraq Museum visiting us in November/December 2004, generously funded by the Christie Mallowan endowment. He graduated as a cinema photographer from the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad in 1994, and then from the Audio Visual Department of the College of Fine Arts in 1999. He has worked as a photographer in the Iraq Museum since 2003.

In Baghdad, the Museum has come to rely on digital photographic technology, due to the lack of conventional photographic facilities, chemicals and materials. The advantage of this is that digital images can easily be backed-up on CD and computer, but the output of the digital images is limited by the lack of a good quality printer and photographic printer paper.

During his stay in the UK, our Christie Mallowan Scholar spent time with departmental photographers in the Department of Archaeology and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, and in the British Museum and Institute of Archaeology in London. He focussed in particular on expanding his knowledge of PhotoShop, and photographic techniques for backgrounds, reflective objects and paintings (click on the photo on the left to enlarge it).

He was also able to attend James Crow's impressive talk on the Gertrude Bell photography archive in the University of Newcastle, which was held at the British Academy in October, under the auspices of the BSAI.

Our visitor found the people he met in Britain kind, helpful and friendly. He enjoyed the atmosphere of Cambridge and its surroundings, steeped in history and tradition, and feels that the trip has benefitted his professional development in many different areas. He extends his most sincere thanks to everyone who helped to arrange the trip, and to those who made him feel so welcome.

The photographs above show our scholar with Gwil Owen in Cambridge, and with Dr Dominique Collon in the British Museum.

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