Competition rounds for research grants of up to £8,000 are held in April and October each year. The number of grants awarded in each round remains at the Board’s discretion. Additionally, the Board reserves the right to amend the figure of £8,000 at any time.

The Board considers eligible research addressing the archaeology of all periods of the human past in the Middle East and North Africa apart from that of Classical Antiquity (i.e. the sphere of influence of 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.

The Fund supports archaeological research but it does not support literary or philological studies.

Research focused on the archaeology of the following countries is eligible for support: 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. Priority is given to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Türkiye.

Applicants must be ordinarily resident in the UK or affiliated to a UK institution.

Previous research grants from the Wainwright Fund have supported many specialists in Near Eastern archaeology, including: Eleni Asouti's archaeobotanical research at Ekşi Höyük, Türkiye; Rennan Lemos' study of object metamorphosis in ancient Nubia (Sudan); John McGinnis' work for the Nimrud Project (Iraq Heritage Stabilisation); Silvia Lischi's fieldwork in Kohr Rori, Oman; Anna Stevens and Gretchen Dabbs' fieldwork in the North Desert cemetery at Amarna, Egypt; Claudia Glatz's project on social difference and inequality at the Late Chalcolithic site of Shakhi Kora, Kurdistan Region of Iraq; and Sergio Russo's Tell Muhammad Project, Iraq.

Applicants will need to download and complete the Application Form 

The deadlines for all applications are strictly 1st April for the May meeting of the Board and 1st October for the November meeting of the Board. Please contact the Secretary with any questions at wainwright.fund@ames.ox.ac.uk. 

Members of the Board of Management of the Wainwright Fund are eligible to apply for grants, but must take no part in the decision-making process concerning their application. They must excuse themselves from the meeting before the Board’s discussion of their application and only return after the other members have made their decision.

Some useful guidance for applicants for the Research Grant is available here: