Only have been appointed to help empower the future of the British International Research Institutes (BIRI). For more than a century the BIRI have been global research partners in the arts, humanities and social sciences – discovering new knowledge, promoting cultural heritage and supporting international engagement. The BIRI comprise eight institutes in a network of regional contacts and activities that covers the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and southern Europe, Africa, Turkey, the Middle East, Iran and Central Asia:

— British Institute at Ankara
— British Institute in Eastern Africa
— British Institute of Persian Studies
— British Institute for the Study of Iraq
— British School at Athens
— British School at Rome
— Council for British Research in the Levant
— Society for Libyan Studies

The BIRI play a vital role in supporting and sustaining world-leading research, connecting researchers in the UK with academic and non-academic communities around the world, and supporting the next generation of academic scholars through a broad range of grant and funding opportunities.

As part of the commission, we will be helping the institutes to identify common ground as well as evidence of existing collaboration across the network. The project includes the creation of a brand identity as well as a manifesto outlining a path towards a more connected future for the BIRI.