Studentships and Prizes
The Hadid Doctoral Studentship
The Middle East Centre invites applications for the Hadid Doctoral Studentship in Trinity Term each year. Details of how to apply for the 2025-26 academic year will be published here in Trinity Term 2025. The Studentship is available to continuing doctoral students in any faculty of the Humanities and Social Sciences working on the modern Middle East.
The Hadid Scholarship was created by Foulath Hadid (Honorary Fellow) to mark the Middle East Centre’s fiftieth anniversary celebrations in 2007. Three generous benefactors provided the funding for the original endowment of £250,000 – Foulath Hadid and his longstanding friends Mr Jack McCrane and Sheikh Ghassan I. Shaker (Honorary Fellow). Awards are made each year in recognition of financial need and academic excellence. While students may apply from any Oxford college, they need to migrate to St Antony’s to take up the award.
Previous Hadid Scholars
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- 2008-2009 – Reem Abou El Fadl
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- 2009-2010 – Nadia von Maltzahn
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- 2010-2011 – No award
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- 2011-2012 – Nadia Bou Ali
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- 2012-2013 – Dörthe Engelcke
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- 2013-2014 – Djene Bajalan
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- 2014-2015 – Jonathan Haim Furas
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- 2015-2016 – Rowena Binti Abdul Razak
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- 2016-2017 – Zep Kalb
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- 2017-2018 – Emre Caliskan
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- 2018-2019 – Jalal Imran
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- 2019-2020 – Hande Yalnizoglu
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- 2020-2021 – Fuchsia Hart
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- 2021-2022 – Sawsene Nejjar
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- 2022-2023 – Yasmine Zarhloule
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- 2023-2024 – Andreas Bjorklund and Dominic Gerhartz
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- 2024-2025 – Irem Yildiz and Hande Altinay
The Azizeh Sheibani Essay Prize in Iranian and Persian-speaking World Studies
*Deadline for submissions: 25 May 2025*
The Middle East Centre is pleased to invite submissions for the 2025 Azizeh Sheibani Essay Prize in Iranian and Persian-speaking World Studies.
The winner or winners will be invited to dine with the judges at High Table in St Antony’s College, and will receive an award of £400 or, should two winners be chosen, £200 each.
The prize is open to two categories, graduate and undergraduate students. These categories will be judged separately. A prize will not necessarily be awarded in both categories. The prize(s) will be awarded to the best essay(s) in Iranian and Persian-speaking World Studies, in any discipline of the humanities or social sciences. Essays may be on any chronological period: ancient, medieval or modern. Essays should make use of primary sources and will be assessed on the basis of the strength and originality of the research or argumentation.
Essays should be between 6,000 and 8,000 words in length, including footnotes and references. Applicants may choose the most suitable form of citation, though all submissions should be written to the highest academic standard.
The criterion for eligibility is that entrants must be currently registered for a degree at Oxford, or have been so registered in the previous academic year. Essays must not have been published elsewhere, including online.
Winners of the prize are not eligible to enter again.
Results will be announced in sixth/seventh week, with the prize awarded in seventh/eighth week.
All submissions should be sent as a PDF file by email to Dr Stephanie Cronin
Stephanie.cronin@ames.ox.ac.uk
The Azizeh Sheibani Essay Prize in Iranian studies was established in 2010 through the generosity of Dr Soraya Tremayne and named in her mother’s honour. The prize is awarded to the best essay(s) in Iranian studies, in any discipline of the humanities or social sciences. The essays are assessed on the basis of the originality of research and argumentation. Where appropriate, the judges try to assist authors with the publication of the winning essay in a suitable journal.
Previous winners of the Azizeh Sheibani Essay Prize
- 2010-2011 Edward Posnett (Christ Church) and Reza Zia-Ebrahimi (St Antony’s)
- 2011-2012 Zahir Bhalloo (Wadham)
- 2012-2013 Leonardo Davoudi (St Antony’s) and Maziyar Ghiabi (St Antony’s)
- 2013-2014 Hugo Jackson (St Cross)
- 2014-2015 Mohsen Mostafavi (St Hugh’s)
- 2015-2016 Zep Kalb (St Antony’s) and Fitzroy Morrissey (Wadham)
- 2016-2017 No award
- 2017-2018 Marc Czarnuszewicz (Wadham) and Nancy Ko (Magdalen)
- 2018-2019 Ella Cohen Haddon (Wadham) and Anuj Amin (St Anne’s)
- 2019-2020 No award
- 2020-2021 Undergraduate Award Matthew MacGeoch (Wadham) | Graduate Award Shutong Liu (Linacre) and Meghan Clorinda Montgomery (Regent’s Park College)
- 2021-2022 Undergraduate Award Faycal Mallek (Christ Church) | Graduate Award Jan Tomek (St Antony’s) | Honourable mentions Kelly Skinner (Mansfield College) and David Roddy (St Antony’s)
- 2022-2023 Joshua Hall (Wadham) and Munazza Ebtikar (St John’s College)
- 2023-2024 Ashkan Hashemipour (St Antony’s) and Martin Dixon (Magdalen)
