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The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the British Academy (BA) have today announced the results of the new joint scheme to fund Visiting Fellowships from South Asia and the Middle East.

The aim of the Visiting Fellowships is to attract early-career researchers particularly from South Asia and the Middle East to collaborate on research.  In total 19 fellowships, which will be a minimum of two months in duration, have been awarded, 12 from the Middle East and 7 from South Asia.  It is also hoped that through these Visiting Fellowships longer term plans for collaborative research could be developed.

Research areas to be focused on by the Visiting Fellows are diverse covering topics such as:

• The corporate community involvement of multinational enterprises:  A comparative perspective of the UK and Lebanon
• Dilemmas of development in unstable and fragile societies
• The development of townscape as an urban design and conservation pedagogy: The architectural review and work of Thomas Sharp
• Broken hearts, shared spaces:  The survivors of the partition of India in the United Kingdom
• Ethno-religious diversity and exclusion:  Buddhicization of a popular pilgrimage site in Sri Lanka
• Globalization and Indian film culture

Chief Executive of the ESRC, Professor Ian Diamond commented “I am delighted that by working together with the British Academy we can facilitate the sharing of skills and knowledge between talented researchers from increasingly influential areas of the world and the UK, helping to invigorate, and further strengthen, British social science and the research methods behind it.”

Dr Robin Jackson, Chief Executive and Secretary of the British Academy, said "The British Academy is very pleased to be working in partnership with ESRC to support these fellowships, which will offer invaluable opportunities to strengthen research links between this country and areas of rapidly growing interest and importance to the UK".

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:

ESRC Press Office:

Alexandra Saxon Tel: 01793 413032, e-mail: alexandra.saxon@esrc.ac.uk  

Annika Howard Tel: 01793 413119, e-mail: annika.howard@esrc.ac.uk    

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. The complete list of ESRC / BA Visiting Fellowships that have been awarded is as follows:

 Middle East

·        Dr K S A Al-Shehari, Sana'a University of Science and Technology, Yemen, Middle East

 Translating brand names of medicine-related products between English and Arabic

 Hosted by: Mrs B Adab, Aston University

• Dr M S Al-Zyoud, The University of Jordan, Jordan, Middle East

Peace education in Jordanian and British schools:  A comparative study

 Hosted by: Professor W J Morgan, University of Nottingham

·        Mr S Assaf, University of Baghdad, Iraq, Middle East

 The living conditions of Iraqi women in a context dominated by unemployment and ambient insecurity

 Hosted by: Dr M Mundy, London School of Economics and Political Science

·        Dr A Eideh, Alquds University, Palestinian National Authority, Middle East

 Fitting general linear models or longitudinal survey data under informative sampling

 Hosted by: Professor P W F Smith, University of Southampton

·        Dr E Erten, Izmir Institute of Technology, Turkey, East Europe

 The development of townscape as an urban design and conservation pedagogy: The architectural review and work of Thomas Sharp

 Hosted by: Mr J Pendlebury, University of Newcastle upon Tyne

·        Dr A Fayyad, Consultative Centre for Studies and Documentation, Lebanon, Middle East

Dilemmas of development in unstable and fragile societies

Hosted by: Dr K Sen, International NGO Training and Research Centre

·        Dr A Garnai, Tel Aviv University, Israel, Middle East

Tainted with democracy:  British women writers and the French Revolution

Hosted by: Professor H C Guest , University of York

·        Dr H Jad, Bir Zeit University, Palestinian National Authority, Middle East

Forging a common ground between secularism and Islamism:  Exploring the field

Hosted by: Professor H Elsadda, University of Manchester

·        Dr D Jamali, American University of Beirut, Lebanon, Middle East

The corporate community involvement of multinational enterprises:  A comparative perspective of the UK and Lebanon

Hosted by: Dr A I Millington, University of Bath

·        Dr A Kventsel, The Hebrew University, Israel, Middle East

Walter Pater and fin-de-siecle decadence

Hosted by: Professor F J O'Gorman, University of Leeds

·        Dr Z Makhamreh, University of Jordan, Jordan, Middle East

The environmental impact of agricultural policy changes on land use and household in Jordan using GIS and remote sensing

Hosted by: Professor R  Hudson, FBA, University of Durham

·        Dr G Ofek, Bar-Ilan University, Tel-Aviv, Israel, Middle East

The new woman's testament: Biblical narratives, allusion and imagery in "new woman" fiction

Hosted by: Professor A Heilmann, University of Hull

South Asia

·        Dr P De Silva, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka,

Ethno-religious diversity and exclusion:  Buddhicization of a popular pilgrimage site in Sri Lanka

Hosted by: Professor J R Spencer, University of Edinburgh

·        Dr K I Iqbal, East West University, Bangladesh,

Location of the nation:  Bangladesh in British archives, 1966-1971

Hosted by: Dr J E Wilson, King's College London

·        Dr M F A Khan, Lahore University of management Sciences, Pakistan,

Broken hearts, shared spaces: the survivors of the partition of India in the United Kingdom

Hosted by: Dr A Valassopoulos, University of Manchester

·        Dr R Mazumdar, Jawaharial Nehru University, India,

Globalization and Indian film culture

Hosted by: Ms R Thomas, University of Westminster

·        Dr N S Paudel, ForestAction, Nepal,

Understanding environmental governance within Nepal's community forestry

Hosted by: Professor K Homewood, University College London

·        Dr M C Puri, Centre for Research on Environment Health and Population Activities, Nepal,

Financial exclusion form reproductive health services in Nepal

Hosted by: Dr Z Matthews, University of Southampton

·        Dr E A Rodrigues, St Xavier College, India,

Religion, politics and the nation:  A case study of Dalit conversion to Buddhism

 Hosted by: Dr J Zavos , University of Manchester

2. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training relating to social and economic issues. It supports independent, high quality research relevant to business, the public sector and voluntary organisations. The ESRC’s planned total expenditure in 2007-08 is £181 million.  At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and research policy institutes. More at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk  

3. The British Academy, established by Royal Charter in 1902, is the national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It is an independent, self-governing fellowship of more than 800 scholars, elected for distinction and achievement in one or more branches of the academic disciplines that make up the humanities and social sciences.  More at http://www.britac.ac.uk

4. ESRC Society Today offers free access to a broad range of social science research and presents it in a way that makes it easy to navigate and saves users valuable time. As well as bringing together all ESRC-funded research (formerly accessible via the Regard website) and key online resources such as the Social Science Information Gateway and the UK Data Archive, non-ESRC resources are included, for example the Office for National Statistics. The portal provides access to early findings and research summaries, as well as full texts and original datasets through integrated search facilities. More at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk