A gift from the Egyptologist and archaeologist Gerald Averay Wainwright (1879-1964) first established this fund in 1952:

'Congregation at Oxford will be asked on Tuesday next to accept a gift of £4,000 from an anonymous benefactor who wishes to encourage the study by schoolboys and by more mature students of non-classical archaeology and general history, as deduced from comparative archaeology, of the countries of the Near East.'

The Times, May 7th 1952 

This original gift was later generously augmented in the donor’s will and continues to fund archaeological research in the Middle East and North Africa.  

The Board of Management for the Wainwright Fund operates for the making and awarding of grants under the terms of University of Oxford Statute IX.I.273:6: 'at its absolute discretion for the furtherance of the study of the archaeology of the Near East.' The donor's memorandum (1952), through which this summary definition is interpreted, includes the following relevant passage: 

'to encourage the study... of the non-classical archaeology and general history as deduced from comparative archaeology (archaeology being taken to mean the study of the objects as a science in itself, hence excluding language, literature or philology) of the following countries (hereinafter called the Near East): Asia Minor, Armenia, Caucasia, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Arabia, Abyssinia, the Sudan to West Africa, the Sahara, Cyrenaica, Tripoli, Tunisia and its islands, Algeria, Morocco, with preference being given to the first nine.'

In modern conditions, the Board considers this to mean: 

• Research addressing the archaeology of all periods of the human past, apart from that of Classical Antiquity (i.e. the sphere of influence of the Classical Greek and Roman Worlds between c. 600 BCE and 500 CE), from the Palaeolithic up to and including the medieval and post-medieval periods;  

• Archaeological studies but not literary or philological studies;  

• Research focused on the archaeology of the following countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cyprus, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Türkiye, United Arab Emirates, Western Sahara, and Yemen.  

The Fund awards research grants, sponsors Postdoctoral Research Fellowships and, when possible, one-year Early Career Fellowships. 

The Wainwright Fund's original annual "schoolboys" prize is now the Wainwright Annual Ancient Object Biography Competition. It is open to Key Stages 4 & 5 (England, Wales, and Northern Ireland) and S4-S6 (Scotland)students of any gender who are attending school or who are homeschooled in the UK, with a £250 book voucher for first prize and a £100 book voucher for the runner-up. In addition, with the entrants’ permission, both the first prize and runner-up entries are published on the Fund’s website.

The Board of Management for the Fund meets twice yearly in May and November. The Board decides upon the recipients of research grants and the first prize and the runner-up of the Wainwright Annual Ancient Object Biography Competition. Separate committees are gathered for the appointment of Fellows. Regarding both research grants and Fellowships, the Secretary will contact each applicant with the outcome of their application shortly after the meeting.

The Board of Management currently consists of the following:

• Professor Elizabeth Frood - Associate Professor of Egyptology, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford (Chair) 

• Dr Ashley Coutu – Senior Research Curator, Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford 

• Professor Douglas Baird – Garstang Chair of Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool 

• Dr Nancy Highcock – Jaleh Hearn Curator for Ancient Middle East (Assistant Keeper), Department of Antiquities, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford 

• Dr Yağmur Heffron – Lecturer in the History of the Ancient Middle East, Faculty of Social & Historical Sciences, University College London 

• Professor Wendy Matthews – Associate Professor in Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, University of Reading  

• Professor Liam McNamara – Keeper of the Department of Antiquities, Lisa and Bernard Selz Curator for Ancient Egypt and Sudan, Associate Professor of Egyptology, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford