16.06.2023 Marburg University's Exciting Interdisciplinary Project Receives Funding for Scientific Collaboration

New Interdisciplinary project of Marburg University with the universities of Ayn Shams (Cairo), University of Alexandria and the American University of Beirut receives funding in the DAAD Ta’ziz programme - Scientific collaboration.

We are thrilled to announce that Marburg University, in partnership with Ayn Shams University, University of Alexandria, and the American University of Beirut, has secured funding in the prestigious DAAD Ta'ziz programme for their groundbreaking interdisciplinary project. This exciting venture will foster scientific collaboration and pave the way for innovative research and discoveries. The name of the prject will be "Dealing with Material Culture in the Eastern Mediterranean. Between Excavation and Digitization.” New Interdisciplinary project of Marburg University with the universities of Ayn Shams (Cairo), University of Alexandria and the American University of Beirut receives funding in the DAAD Ta’ziz programme - Scientific collaboration."

Project managers in Marburg are Prof. Dr. Tanja Pommerening (History of Pharmacy and Medicine/FB 16), Prof. Dr. Winfried Held (Classical Archaeology/ FB 6) and Prof. Dr. Albrecht Fuess (Islamic Studies/CNMS/ FB 10). The project aims to bring the fields of Egyptology, Islamic Studies, Classical Archaeology and the History of Pharmacy and Medicine from Marburg University together with colleagues from Germany, Egypt and Lebanon in order to develop a holistic approach on materiality in research and teaching. The involved colleagues from the University of Marburg build on decades of research, archaeological work, digital archiving and teaching in Egypt, Lebanon and Germany. Moreover, they successfully applied in the past for mutual DAAD and DFG projects with the American University of Beirut, Ayn Shams University, Cairo and Alexandria University. Within the new program annual academic workshops and student’s autumn schools in Egypt, Germany and Lebanon will be held. Moreover, we will organize exchange programmes for scholars and students. We aim that thereby the expertise on the ways material culture was produced in different periods of time in the same region and the ways we deal with these cultures in the digital age will expand tremendously and be accessible to a much wider audience. By leaving the comfort zones of our individual fields this shall lead to open our horizons as researchers and train a new generation of young scientists in Lebanon, Egypt and Germany who shall be up to the challenges of our time. The project builds on the DAAD-German Egyptian programme partnership project “Digital Heritage in Cyberspace” which ran in the years 2021 and 2022 and developed the option of a bi-national master programme between Marburg and Ayn Shams University (Digitization and Preservation of Epigraphic Heritage, DEPH). In this program a digital lab was inaugurated at Ayn Shams University with the help of the DAAD funding. The possible bi-national Master and the lab will be open to further partners of the network as well and serve as nucleus for similar activities with the American University of Beirut and the University of Alexandria.

Project Partners in Egypt are: Ain Shams University, Cairo (Faculty of Archaeology), Prof. Dr. Heba Saad, Islamic Archaeology, Bibliotheca Alexandrina; Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Kairo; Institut français d’archéologie orientale du Caire.

Project Partners in Lebanon are: American University of Beirut; Deutsches Orient-Institut, Beirut. Project Partners in Germany are: Gotha Research Library, University of Erfurt; Bibliotheca Arabica (The Saxon Academy of Sciences); Leipzig, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Orient-Collection; Specialized Information Service Middle East-, North Africa- and Islamic Studies (FID) /Middle East Virtual Library (MENALib) at the University of Halle