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The Nahrein Network

After decades of conflict, invasion, occupation and sanctions, how can universities, museums, and community groups in Iraq and its neighbours be supported to improve the social, cultural, economic and educational benefits of local people? And how can local experts take ownership of this work to reclaim their ancient heritage as local history?

ZigguratZiggurat at Ur, southern Iraq
Nahrein is the Arabic name for Mesopotamia, the area between the two rivers Tigris and Euphrates, centred on modern-day Iraq and northern Syria. The Nahrein Network fosters the sustainable development of antiquity, cultural heritage and the humanities in this region by supporting interdisciplinary research to enable universities, museums, and community groups to better serve local, post-conflict needs.

Speaking about the Network in 2021, UCL’s Head of History and Principal Investigator on the project, Prof Eleanor Robson, said that, “Since 2014, the destruction of heritage sites throughout Syria and Iraq has received widespread publicity, with talk of a ‘race against time’ to preserve what remains. International projects have invested millions in the documentation, digitisation and conservation of threatened and damaged buildings and archaeological sites across the Middle East. However, only a few of these projects focused on the interests and impact on the ground for local people in their communities. It is the longer-term impact on them that is the priority for the Nahrein Network.”

The Nahrein Network is a long-running collaborative project between the University of Oxford, University College London (UCL), University of Al-Qadisiyah, and Sulaimania Polytechnic University. Among other activities, it funds small and large-scale research projects and a visiting scholarships scheme, organises publishing workshops, and engages with policy work.

Demonstrating the diversity of projects funded by the Network, grant awards include projects to establish a local cultural heritage network for the Kurdistan Region; the development of a plan to map, protect and preserve the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of minority groups in Baghdad; and research to build sustainable local tourism in the Iraqi Marshlands, now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Illustrating its impact on policy, the Nahrein Network has offered advice to the Government of Iraq around the long-term protection and safeguarding of cultural heritage, contributed towards the European Union External Action Service (EEAS) report on the ‘Role of the EU in the Protection of Cultural Heritage in Conflict and Post-Conflict Contexts in the Middle East’, and partnered with Chatham House to deliver a number of webinars and roundtable meetings on cultural heritage in Iraq.

The Network was initially funded by an AHRC Global Challenges Research Fund grant. In February 2021 an anonymous donor generously donated £11m to UCL and partners to continue the work of the Nahrein Network.

 
Related websites
The Nahrein Network Website

“Since 2014, the destruction of heritage sites throughout Syria and Iraq has received widespread publicity, with talk of a ‘race against time’ to preserve what remains ... However, only a few of these projects focused on the interests and impact on the ground for local people in their communities. It is the longer-term impact on them that is the priority for the Nahrein Network.”

Professor Eleanor Robson