Thousands of study and academic opportunities in Middle Eastern Studies are available internationally. Conferences and summer schools in Middle Eastern Studies are organized regularly in the best academic centers of the world. The majority of universities and many foundations also offer BA, MA, and Ph.D. programs in Middle Eastern Studies as wells as postdoctoral research grants, awards, and fellowships. Below you will find the updated list of international opportunities available in Middle Eastern Studies.
Middle Eastern Studies Scholarships
- The University of Tennessee Middle East Studies Scholarships
- The University of Edinburgh Islamic & Middle Eastern Studies Ph.D. Scholarship
- University of Houston Middle Eastern Studies Scholarships
- University of Cambridge Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Postgraduate Funding
- University of Central Florida Middle Eastern Studies Scholarships
- University of Louisville Middle East & Islamic Studies Program Scholarships
- The Ohio State University Middle East Studies Center Graduate Funding Opportunities
- Portland State University Middle Eastern Studies Center Scholarships
- The University of Minnesota Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Scholarships & Grants
- LSE Middle East Centre Emirates Scholarships
Middle Eastern Studies Fellowships
- CMES Student Grants and Fellowships
- Fordham University Middle East Studies Scholarships & Fellowships
- Brandeis University Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies Program Fellowships
- UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies Fellowships
- University of Cambridge Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Early Career Fellowship Schemes
- IJP The Middle East Fellowship
- University of Illinois Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Faculty Fellowships
- Middle East Institute Graduate Research Fellowship
- University of Washington Middle East Center Fellowship
- Duke University Middle East Studies Language Fellowships
Middle Eastern Studies Conferences
- Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting
- Harvard University CMES Conferences & Workshops
- BRISMES Conference
- Edinburgh University Middle East Studies Association Conference
- IMES Annual Conference
- NSMES Conferences
- Princeton University Middle East Studies Association Conference
- MELA Annual Conference
Middle Eastern Studies relevant accounts on Twitter
- @IMESuoe
- @MESA_1966
- @CMES_LUND
- @MESF_Deakin
- @KingsMiddleEast
- @DukeMidEast
- @HarvardCMES
- @IJMES1
- @NewMEStudies
- @CMES_UA
Middle Eastern Studies as a discipline
The main goal of the Middle Eastern Studies discipline is to provide students with comprehensive knowledge about the Middle East, its politics, culture, history, traditions, and other essential aspects.
The first tool for enriching students’ understanding of the region is language. Students explore the main languages spoken in the area to have access to the local learning materials.
However, the discipline covers significantly more than pure languages. Particularly, students dig deep in the Middle East culture & traditions in parallel to learning the languages.
Therefore, Middle East studies are for inviting scholars to the local community, where they develop an in-depth knowledge of the region and become ready for careers where they will need to communicate and cooperate with locals.
Cultural understanding is the key takeaway of the academic program, making students competitive in any field they choose later. For example, you can take management as your graduate degree major and Middle East Studies as your undergraduate major. This combination will make you far more competitive for managerial roles than those who simply studied management. You will also have all the prerequisites for easily integrating into Middle East communities.
That’s why the career applications of Middle East major graduates are also broad. In any field where there is a part of internalization or cooperation with the Middle East region, the graduates of the discipline are in demand.
Research opportunities in the Middle Eastern Studies
Middle Eastern Studies are very interdisciplinary. So are the research opportunities in the field. As the discipline has strong connections with the field of history, anthropology, literature, architecture, etc., you can meet the Ph.D. programs where your dissertation topics will be joint with any of those fields.
Anthropology & Middle East Studies
The roots of the culture can’t be better found somewhere else than in the past. The research projects of Anthropology and Middle East Studies will invite you to explore the region through exploring the artifacts found in the area. You might cooperate with field professionals to contribute to research projects, or you might access the previous anthropology research and come up with your unique interpretations.
You might be interested in the Anthropology study and research opportunities.
History & Middle Eastern Studies
Though Middle Eastern Studies do not specifically focus on a separate aspect of the region, you can choose a particular direction for your research projects. As an example, you can conduct your research by emphasizing the region's history overall the other fields like culture, religion, languages, etc. The Middle East is rich with historical events, and there is much room to explore new events or add a new light to already explored ones.
You might be interested in History study and research opportunities.
Linguistics research within Middle Eastern Studies
The main research area within the Middle Eastern languages is language pedagogy, and the Ph.D. and research projects rotate over the subjects such as phonology, morphology, syntax, etc. Besides, students focus on regional varieties of Middle Eastern languages and find new languages in social, political, and historical contexts.
You might be interested in Linguistics research and study opportunities.
Religion research within Middle Eastern Studies
Religion plays a vital role in the Middle Eastern region. Therefore it’s one of the main research areas within the discipline. You will mainly study Islam and its influence on the other life spheres of the region from historical times up to contemporary. Islam is the second-largest religion in the world after Christianity, and you would have a fascinated academic journey while studying it.
You might be interested in Religious study research and study opportunities.
Literature research within Middle Eastern Studies
A rich culture of the Middle Eastern region is reflected in its literature, and you have the opportunity to join the community of scholars who deepen their knowledge in this area of the discipline. Literature research covers pre-modern and modern times and often relies on the comparative analysis of the region’s literature.
You might be interested in Literature research and study opportunities.
Archaeology research within Middle Eastern Studies
Archaeology research studies the Middle East and its vast cultural diversity through the footprints of the past. As archaeology itself has strong connections with history, you will also view the region in the context of its historical relationship with Greek and Roman cultures as those with more robust connections.
You might be interested in Archaeology research and study opportunities.
Politics research within Middle Eastern Studies
Political research of Middle Eastern Studies goes beyond the narrows scope of the region’s politics. As one of the key players in the global political environment, studying Middle Eastern politics will answer why the world is where it is now and what political decisions affected it.
You might be interested in Politics research and study opportunities.
The list of the joint Ph.D. programs can be continued. However, you will find better advice on this topic in your host university faculties. The interfaculty relationships and the directions of research programs vary based on whether you study the Middle East in Middle East countries or outside of it. Therefore, consult with your faculty advisors and dedicated professors to better navigate the Middle East research opportunities. For your initial orientation, read below the most popular research topics of the discipline that unite many scholars' efforts in the area.
- Ethnic Mythmaking in the Middle East
- A Material and Intellectual History of Manuscript and Print Production in the Middle East
- Nineteenth-Century Sultans
- Piety, Knowledge, and Rulership in Medieval Islam
- Mobility and Encounter in the Ottoman Balkans
- Visitations and Valuations Between Iran and Syria in Turkey
Other than the mentioned study & research directions, there are also crucial aspects of current conflicts between the Middle East countries. The examples include, but are not limited to, war situations in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, tensions in Egypt. In addition, the current situation highlighted the power struggle of Turkey in the region.
Many academic programs will also focus on those topics, allowing you to explore the past and the present and the future of the region. Usually, the breakdown of the academic degrees is as follows. Students explore general areas of the Middle East at the undergraduate level and research the conflicting situations in the graduate programs.
As in the modern world, no state operates independently, research on Middle East conflicts is essential for the global stability and security aspects. Researchers enrich the theoretical base of the possible solutions that can bring weapons down and establish an atmosphere of peaceful negotiations. We hope this section of ARMACAD will grant you enough funding opportunities to become one of the field professionals who will make a breakthrough in the field.