Barakat Trust Grants Programme

Deadline Date: March 31, 2024

Donor Name: The Barakat Trust

Grant Size: $10,000 to $100,000

The Barakat Trust is seeking applications to fund individual and institutional efforts to promote and preserve artistic culture and heritage related to the Islamic world.

Types of Grants

• A1. Barakat International Studentship
  • One scholarship of up to £25,000 to a student from the Islamic world who has already been accepted on a taught Masters courses in a subject relevant to the history of Islamic art and architecture and/or the study of Islamic archaeology, material culture and/or heritage. Students MUST demonstrate a clear focus on at least one of the subjects in order to be considered for this award. Prospective applicants who are unsure about the relevance of their proposed course of study are strongly advised to contact the Barakat Trust before applying.
  • Applicants must provide evidence of acceptance before any award can be made.
  • Notes on Finances: The grant may be spent on fees or living expenses or a combination of both. Where a student has been accepted on a two-year course, the grant may be awarded or renewed for the second year of the course, on the condition that the student demonstrates outstanding performance during the first year of the course.
• A2. Barakat Postgraduate Student & Early Career Award
  • Postgraduate students, early career professionals, and early career scholars who were awarded a doctorate after 30 June 2019, may apply for grants with an upper limit of £2000 towards the costs of travel for fieldwork, research and study relating to:
    • History of the art, architecture, and material culture of the Islamic world before circa 1920 CE
    • Archaeological investigation of the Islamic world
    • Conservation of artefacts, buildings and material culture produced in or for the Islamic world before circa 1920 CE
    • Libraries, museums, and other public institutions exhibiting the art and material culture of the Islamic world before circa 1920 CE
    • Education and training associated with (1) to (4) 
    • Conferences, exhibitions, and publications associated with (1) to (4) 
  • Notes on Finances: Applicants are advised that awards cannot be paid directly to personal bank accounts. Awards can be paid to the institution which an applicant belongs or the institution at which an applicant is applying to conduct research or to study. Whichever is the case, a representative of the institution, to which the payment will be made, will be required to affirm the cooperation and support of the institution on the application form.
• A3. Barakat Major Awards (Including Digital Projects, Conservation, and Conservation Training )
  • Established scholars attached to research institutions, curators, and heritage professionals may apply for awards with an upper limit of £10,000 for fieldwork, research, study, exhibitions, conservation and documentation projects, and training of professionals in fields associated with history, heritage, conservation and archaeology relating to:
    • History of the art, architecture, and material culture of the Islamic world before circa 1920 CE
    • Archaeological investigation of the Islamic world.
      • Please note: Awards for archaeology projects are normally awarded for a) the first year of an archaeological project, as a start-up grant, or b) for a clearly-defined component or sub-project within a larger archaeological investigation. The Trust will not normally support the same archaeological project for a number of consecutive seasons.”
    • Conservation of artefacts, buildings and material culture produced in or for the Islamic world before circa 1920 CE
    • Digital and Digitisation Projects that focus on disseminating or making the heritage and material culture of the Islamic world more accessible to various audiences. For example, this can include broader types of digital content such as video recordings of crafting or conservation processes.
    • Exhibitions in libraries, museums, and other public institutions to present the art and material culture of the Islamic world before circa 1920 CE
    • Education and Training associated with the points 1 to 5
    • Dissemination of Knowledge through conferences, exhibitions and publications associated with points 1 to 5
  • For this grant category (A3), scholars are normally expected to be attached to research institutions, including but not restricted to universities, museums, and libraries.
  • Note on Finances: Applicants are advised that awards cannot be paid directly to personal bank accounts and must instead be paid either to:
    • the institution to which an applicant belongs; or
    • to the institution at or through which an applicant is applying to conduct research or to study; or
    • in the case of independent researchers, the awards can be paid to an approved organisation by the Barakat Trust and which is relevant to the applicant’s field of work and which is willing to receive the funds on the applicant’s behalf. This can include any relevant organisation such as but not limited to: companies, registered charities, registered community interest companies, registered charitable incorporated organisations, social enterprises, educational institutions including universities, museums, libraries, and archives).
• A4. The Iradj Bagherzade Publication Grants
  • Grants with an upper limit of £6,000 towards the costs of a major publication on the history of the art, architecture and material culture of the Islamic world before circa 1920 CE, the archaeological investigation of Islamic world, and the conservation of artefacts, buildings and material culture produced in or for the Islamic world before circa 1920 CE.
• B1. Barakat Senior Scholar
  • One visiting scholarship of £10,000 to enable an established scholar from the Islamic world to reside in Oxford for three months to carry out a specific programme of research and to deliver a lecture on their research.
• B2. Barakat Postdoctoral Scholarship
  • The Barakat Postdoctoral Scholarship provides a grant of £20,000 to enable a post-doctoral scholar from the Islamic world, who was awarded a doctorate after 30 June 2019, to reside in Oxford for nine months (normally October to June) to carry out a specific programme of research on Islamic art and/or architecture, or to prepare such research for publication.
• B3. Barakat Oxford Masters Studentship
  • One studentship to cover one year’s fees for a student from the Islamic world already accepted by the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies of the University of Oxford to read for an MSt or MPhil in Islamic Art and Architecture. Renewal for the second year of the MPhil may be granted to candidates who perform well in the qualifying examination, but the grant may not be extended to cover doctoral studies.
• C1. Hands on Islamic Art
  • Fostering Inclusiveness and understanding through community engagement with Islamic art heritage in the United Kingdom
  • The Barakat Trust has recently received a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to create this new grant category.
  • This category will offer grants of £8,000 plus in-kind support for projects in the United Kingdom (UK) that use collections of Islamic art in the UK to foster greater understanding about the cultures of the Islamic world, and involve a significant element of public engagement, ideally as part of the process of making collections more accessible. The grant will be open to UK institutions with collections of Islamic art and material culture. They are particularly interested in understudied collections.

Scope of Awards

• The Barakat Trust awards are open to applicants worldwide in the fields of:
  • research into the history of the art and architecture, and the archaeology and material culture of Islamic societies, including archaeological and other fieldwork, and research trips
  • the conservation, preservation, restoration, and presentation to the public of artefacts, buildings and archaeological sites produced by Islamic societies
  • the work of libraries, museums and other public collections in the conservation, documentation, and presentation of artefacts and manuscripts produced by Islamic societies in their broadest sense, including the digitisation of archives and collections, and the training of conservation and curatorial staff
  • the organisation of events intended to further research in the history of the art, architecture, archaeology, and material culture of Islamic societies, including colloquia and conferences, lectures, seminars and workshops, exhibitions, and attendance at such events

Who can apply?

While they have a long track record of supporting projects and initiatives driven by individuals, including but not limited to research trips, publications, and training opportunities, individuals applying for grants from The Barakat Trust need to identify an institution to which grant monies can be transferred on their behalf. They cannot make transfers to personal bank accounts but are strongly committed to the support of individual professional development and projects led by individuals.

Institutions to which they can transfer funds include:

• Registered charities
• Registered community interest companies
• Registered charitable incorporated organisations
• Social enterprises
• Education institutions including universities
• Museums, libraries, and archives
• Companies

Deadlines

• The deadline for all grant applications (except the A3 category) is the 31st of March 2024.
• The A3 Grant Category has two deadlines: 15 February 2024 for submitting an ‘Expression of Interest Form’ ; then shortlisted applicants must submit their A3 applications on 15 March 2024.

For more information, visit The Barakat Trust.