Africa holds some of the world’s most significant Islamic architectural and artistic traditions. Yet these sites face mounting pressures from climate change, urban development, conflict, and limited conservation resources. The Barakat Trust grants programme offers African heritage professionals, researchers, and institutions a pathway to address these challenges through funding that ranges from 2,000 GBP for early career fieldwork to 25,000 GBP for international studentships.
A UK charity founded in 1987, Barakat Trust operates for educational and heritage purposes focusing on the heritage of the Islamic world. The grants include the following:
- Barakat Senior Scholar: One visiting scholarship of 10,000 GBP 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.
- Barakat Postdoctoral Scholarship: A grant of 20,000 GBP to enable a post-doctoral scholar from the Islamic world, who was awarded a doctorate after 30 June 2021, 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.
- 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.
