Chevening British Library Coptic Collections Fellowship 2027/2028 for mid-career professionals (Fully Funded to the United Kingdom)

Application Deadline:  27 October 2026, at 12:00 (UTC)

Applications are actually open for the 2027/2028 Chevening British Library Coptic Collections Fellowship. The Chevening British Library Coptic Collections Fellowship is co-funded by the British Library and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

It is open to functions from mid-career professionals from Egypt, Palestine, and Sudan, who’ve a powerful curiosity in Coptic manuscript heritage and cultural collections.

The British Library holds certainly one of the world’s most important collections of Coptic manuscripts, comprising tons of of full and fragmentary codices, in addition to papyrus, parchment, and paper fragments documenting greater than 1,500 years of Coptic historical past, theology, and literary tradition. This internationally vital assortment gives distinctive insights into the historical past of Christianity, Egypt’s cultural heritage, manuscript manufacturing, and scholarly traditions.

The fellowship will happen at the British Library, the place you’ll work intently with Dr. Michael Erdman, Head of Asian and African Studies (interim) to lead a analysis mission.

You will use your language abilities, topic experience, {and professional} expertise to survey the British Library’s Coptic holdings, improve catalogue data, examine assortment provenance, and develop new Opportunities for public and group engagement.

Duration 

The length of this fellowship is 12 months.

• Start: September 2027
• End: September 2028

Fellows may have the alternative to:

• Survey the British Library’s Coptic collections and determine gaps in present cataloguing and documentation.
• Create and improve catalogue data utilizing manuscript proof and present metadata.
• Research, doc, and analyse the provenance of manuscripts to enhance understanding of the historical past and acquisition of the collections.
• Organise and contribute to occasions with Coptic group members and researchers.
• Produce blogs, reviews, and different outputs that increase consciousness of the Library’s Coptic collections.
• Contribute to public engagement actions that promote wider entry to, and understanding of, Coptic heritage.

Fellows will achieve:

• Experience working with certainly one of the world’s main analysis libraries and cultural heritage establishments.
• Opportunities to improve their worldwide tutorial {and professional} profile.
• Specialist expertise in manuscript cataloguing, provenance analysis, and collections documentation.
• Practical expertise of planning and delivering group and public engagement actions round heritage collections.
• The alternative to contribute to the future accessibility and interpretation of a globally vital assortment.

Eligibility standards

In addition to assembly our standard eligibility criteria, you should:

• Be residents of Egypt, Sudan, or Palestine. Applicants ought to usually be resident in certainly one of these nations, nevertheless residents of those nations who’re resident elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa area in Chevening eligible, ODA-eligible nations (Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen) may additionally apply. Applicants should reveal a transparent intention to return to and contribute to their nation of citizenship following the fellowship and should return there for a minimum of one 12 months after the fellowship ends 
• Have a postgraduate stage qualification (or equal skilled coaching or expertise in a related space) at the time of application
• Have vital skilled and/or tutorial analysis expertise (a minimum of 5 years)
• Be at present employed or enrolled as a PhD candidate (your PhD should not be with a UK/EU or USA college)
• Have glorious information of Coptic (Sahidic or Bohairic), with information of Arabic and/or Greek fascinating
• Have good written and spoken English, with the means to talk analysis findings successfully
• Have expertise of cataloguing and dealing with manuscript collections, with information of manuscript description requirements
• Have expertise of provenance analysis and documentation, or a demonstrable curiosity on this space
• Have expertise of working with heritage communities or delivering engagement actions associated to cultural heritage collections

Benefits

Each fellowship contains:

• 12-month interval of project-based exercise at the British Library
• Living bills for the length of the fellowship
• Return financial system airfare
• Allowance bundle for fellowship-related actions
• Up to £1,000 for authorized project-related bills

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the Chevening British Library Coptic Collections Fellowship