Prizes in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies

Born and brought up in Edinburgh, Miss Irene Crawford graduated with an MA General degree from the University of Edinburgh. She travelled widely in the Middle East and Africa, and worked for a time as the private secretary to Ian Smith, the Prime Minister of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in the 1960s. Following her return to Edinburgh, she served the University of Edinburgh for thirty years as the administrative secretary of the Department of Arabic (later renamed Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies - IMES) retiring in the mid-1990s. She was devoted to her job and always took a personal interest in IMES students.

In her retirement, Irene Crawford lived a solitary life but never lost her affection for the department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies. She died in 2007 in her mid-seventies and left a substantial bequest to IMES to be used at the discretion of the Head of Department at that time. Professor Carole Hillenbrand, who worked with Miss Crawford for many years and knew her very well, decided that a prize for the best final year undergraduate Honours student in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies would be the most appropriate way to represent her sentiments and mark her memory.

The value of the Irene Crawford Prize is £400 each year. The prize was inaugurated in 2008.

Previous winners

• 2022 – El Beaton (MA Hons in Arabic and French)

• 2021 – Cathy Dean (MA Hons in Arabic and French)

• 2020 – Joint winners: Archie Vickers (MA Hons in Arabic and Persian) and Polly Rakshi (MA Hons in Arabic)

• 2019 – Samuel Mills (MA Hons in Persian Studies)

• 2018 – Felicity Roach (MA Hons in Arabic and French)

• 2017 – Florence Dixon (MA Hons in Arabic and French)

• 2016 – Eleanor Lucy Deacon (MA Hons in Arabic and Persian)

• 2015 – Annie Hamill (MA Hons in Arabic)
• 2014 – Laurene Veale (MA Hons in Arabic and Politics)
• 2013 – Tessa Grafen (MA Hons in Arabic and Persian)
• 2012 – Lauren Pyott (MA Hons in Arabic)
• 2011 – Emlyn Mooney (MA Hons in Arabic and Persian)
• 2010 – Sam Wilkin (MA Hons in Arabic and Persian)
• 2009 – Sameer Kassam (MA Hon in Arabic and Spanish)
• 2008 – Rachel Heseltine (MA Hons in Arabic and Spanish)

Professor Carole Hillenbrand is an Honorary Professorial Fellow in the department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies (IMES). A member of department from 1979 until her retirement in the summer of 2008, Professor Hillenbrand is a world-leading scholar in Islamic History and has been the recipient of many prizes and honours including an OBE. She has published numerous books and articles, and is actively engaged in a long-term collaborative study of the precious Rashid al-Din manuscript in the University's rare books and manuscripts holdings.

An undergraduate prize has been named in Professor Hillenbrand's honour as a tribute to her dedication to IMES over the years, and the continuing ways in which she enriches colleagues and students with her presence, knowledge, and good cheer.

Awarded annually to the best undergraduate Honours dissertation in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, the prize was launched in 2010 and is valued at £100.

Previous winners

• 2022 – El Beaton (MA Hons in Arabic and French)

• 2021 – Emma Nashaat (MA Hons in Arabic and French)

• 2020 – Archie Vickers (MA Hons in Arabic and Persian)

• 2019 – Samuel Mills (MA Hons in Persian Studies)

• 2018 – Joshua Wilks (MA Hons in Middle Eastern Studies)

• 2017 – Florence Dixon (MA Hons in Arabic and French)

• 2016 – Emma Robertson (MA Hons in Arabic)

• 2015 – Joint winners: Keziah Berelson (MA Hons in Arabic and Politics) and Dodie Shoshan (MA Hons in Arabic and Persian)
• 2014 – Laurene Veale (MA Hons in Arabic and Politics)
• 2013 – Joint winners: Clementine Bogg-Hargroves (MA Hons in Arabic) and Mikko Petteri Lehikoinen (MA Hons in Arabic)
• 2012 – Lauren Pyott (MA Hons in Arabic)
• 2011 – Joint winners: Harriet James (MA Hons in Italian and Middle Eastern Studies) and Florence Cross (MA Hons in Arabic and Spanish)
• 2010 – Leri Price (MA Hons in Arabic)

Previous winners

• 2022 – Ayelen Sprent (MA Hons in Persian and Social Anthropology)

• 2021 – Emily Sinclair (MA Hons in Arabic and Persian) 

• 2020 – Joint winners: Gemma Welsh (MA Hons in Arabic and Persian) and Zahra Ladha (MA Hons in Arabic and Persian)

• 2019 – Nilou Edmonds (MA Hons in Persian Studies)

• 2018 – Mike Fane (MA Hons in Persian Studies)

Established through the generosity of an anonymous donor, this prize honours Professor Robert Hillenbrand, a leading figure in the field of Islamic Art and Architecture. Professor Hillenbrand taught at the University of Edinburgh between 1971 and 2007 and is currently an Honorary Professorial Fellow, who continues to be an active member of our research community. The award is given for an outstanding piece of work by an Honours student (3rd, 4th or 5th year Undergraduate) at the University of Edinburgh. Any written coursework that focuses on the art, architecture or material culture of the Islamic world is eligible for submission.

Previous winners

• 2019 – Lydia Newton (MA Hons in Arabic and History of Art)

• 2018 – tbc

• 2017 – Liam Jackson Abellan (MA Hons in History of Art)

Professor Yasir Suleiman came to Edinburgh in 1990 as the Second Holder of the Iraq Chair of Arabic and Islamic Studies. In 2007 he moved to Cambridge, as the first holder of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Sa‘id Chair in Modern Arabic Studies.

While at Edinburgh, Professor Suleiman was instrumental in the bid that established the Centre for Advanced Study of the Arab World (CASAW) and in the successful bid to establish the Alwaleed Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World. During this time, he also served as Head of the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, Head of the Planning Unit of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (IMES), and Head of the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures.

An MSc prize has been named in Professor Suleiman's honour as a tribute to his service to IMES over the years. Awarded annually to the best MSc dissertation in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, the prize was launched in 2017 and is valued at £100.

Previous winners

• 2022 – Belen Gomez (MSc in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies)

• 2021 – Kristin Helgadottir (MSc in Middle Eastern Studies with Arabic)

• 2019 – Bouchra Mossmann-Fares (MSc in Middle Eastern Studies with Advanced Arabic)

• 2018 – Lynn Houmdi (MSc in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies)

• 2017 – Emma Robertson (MSc in Advanced Arabic)

The Prize for the best MA dissertation in pre-modern Arabic or Persian studies was established in 2024 in honour of the late Professor Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila, who held the Iraq Chair in Arabic and Islamic Studies at IMES from 2016 until his death in 2023. Professor Hämeen-Anttila was a scholar of Classical Arabic literature, Arab-Islamic cultural history, and cultural contacts between Iran and the Arabs. The value of the prize is £150.

Read our tribute to Professor Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila