More about the Visiting Scholarships Scheme

What did the scholarships cover?

• The scholarships covered:

  • Reasonable research costs;

  • Institutional fees (e.g. university access and library usage).

• And for placements in the UK, we also provided:

  • 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 did 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

The scheme was aimed at Iraqi nationals, currently resident in Iraq, who wanted to carry out a project relating to one or more of the Nahrein Network's six research aims.

• Applicants could not normally be a previous recipient of a Nahrein Network or BISI Visiting Scholarship.

• They should be a resident of Iraq (including KRI) though we did consider exceptions.

• When necessary, we asked applicants to take an English language test because a working level of English language was needed in order to benefit from the scholarship.

• The Scholarship Scheme funded research-related activity and not the restoration, documentation or conservation of buildings, sites or collections, or archaeological digs. Nor could we fund work that directly involved children. The scholarship was designed to support the intellectual aspects of cultural heritage in the sustainable development of Iraq.

• Applications without a UK host were not considered.

• The scheme included PhD students as well as cultural heritage professionals and academics.