Researching in a disputed territory throws up many barriers, but funding may smooth the path
Mazen’s top tips
- Apply in the second year of your PhD, when you’ve narrowed down your thesis.
- Give yourself time to explain the travel costs in your application.
- If it’s your first trip to the Middle East, get a briefing from friends or colleagues who have been there.
Mazen Iwaisi is a postgraduate student at Queen’s University Belfast studying for a PhD on the effects of politics on archaeological studies in Palestine. He won an £800 Travel Grant from the Council for British Research in the Levant aimed at helping him overcome some of the impediments to academic endeavour in a politically sensitive environment.