The Nahrein Network
Huge new threats to Iraq’s future have emerged in past few years, while the old ones have not gone away. The economy is still heavily dependent on oil. Post-Da’esh reconstruction has been frustratingly slow. Iraq's political system is as fragile as ever, while poverty, gender inequalities, and youth unemployment remain endemic. Meanwhile, damming, oil extraction, and global climate heating are destroying the environment. There has never been a greater need for big, bold responses to these intractable challenges.
In 2021, the Nahrein Network extended its work with Iraqi academics and cultural heritage professionals to tackle these problems. Working with well-established partnerships and creating new ones, we supported research and policy on:
an integrated approach to natural and cultural heritage;
youth-focused solutions, both within and outside the state;
reparative approaches to the past, inspired by the work of UCL History’s Centre for Study of the Legacies of British Slave-Ownership.
The Nahrein Network worked with Iraqi stakeholders including cultural workers and activists, researchers, state authorities and other parts of Iraqi society to aid the country's post-conflict recovery.
Supporting Iraqi colleagues' research
Meet the London team
Our six research aims
Research Grants Scheme and Mini-Grants Scheme. We offered a range of grants to support Iraqi-led research on the ways in which heritage, history and the humanities can improve life in Iraq.
Visiting Scholarships. In partnership with The British Institute for the Study of Iraq, we offered a visiting scholarship scheme to bring Iraqi heritage professionals and academics to the UK for two-month placements.
Graduate Studentships. We offered a small number of MA+PhD studentships, covering the full costs of graduate study in a history or heritage related subject at UCL.
Research Capacity Development. Building on the success of our British Academy funded Iraq Publishing Workshops in 2019, we offered a multi-year programme, AcademIQ, designed to support Iraqi researchers in the arts, humanities and social sciences with academic skills development.
Research Networks. We supported the development of disciplinary research networks in Iraq, including the highly successful Kurdish Cultural Heritage Network.
All our activities were driven by six clearly defined research aims, each linked to one of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.
Meet the Management Committee
The Network was run by a small team, based in the History Department at University College London, and led by Professor Eleanor Robson. Read about our research.
Meet the Co-Directors
Several Co-Directors, in the UK and Iraq, also supported the Network's aims through leadership and research.
The Network was advised by a committee of experts, who met with the leadership team every three months to help them achieve the Network's aims and objectives, on time and within budget.
Equal Opportunities
The Nahrein Network was committed to eliminating unlawful discrimination and promoting equality of opportunity and good relations across and between the defined equalities groups in all of their relevant functions.
Accordingly, no eligible funding applicant or external stakeholder should receive less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, marital status, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, race, colour, nationality, ethnicity or national origins, religion or similar philosophical belief, spent criminal conviction, age or disability.
Equally, all funding proposals were assessed on equal terms, regardless of the sex, age and/or ethnicity of the applicant. Proposals were therefore assessed and graded on their merits, in accordance with the criteria and the aims and objectives set for each call for funding.