CMAUCH Annual Training Bursary Grant – 2019

Emad Khalil

The Foundation currently supports the CMAUCH with an annual grant to support the building of a range of expertise, enabling students to attend relevant training courses to further their skills. During 2019, six students benefited from the grant; two of which attended training courses and four presented their research in relevant conferences. If it was not for the grant, it would have been impossible for them to carry out such activities. The training they had and the conferences they attended have contributed significantly to the students’ professional and personal development.

The Students who were awarded the training bursary grant are:
1- Mohamed Salama – International Course Workshop Photogrammetry in Underwater Archaeology Theory and Practice – 17– 24 June 2019, Zadar, Croatia.
2- Fatma Hammad – Red Sea Conference IX – 2-5 July 2019, Lyon – France
3- Yomna Mohamed – Basic Underwater Archaeology Course – 2-14 September 2019, Zadar, Croatia.
4- Sara Ibrahim – MAGS 2 – 22-23 February 2020 – Oxford, UK. She has also studied 4 English Language Course to improve her academic and writing skills.
5- Mohamed Khedr – MAGS 2 – 22-23 February 2020 – Oxford, UK
6- Mirette Magdi – MAGS 2 – 22-23 February 2020 – Oxford, UK

The benefits gained from the activities carried out by the students are variable. For students who attended training courses (Mohamed and Yomna), the courses have helped them develop their skills which they directly utilise when contributing to the CMAUCH research projects. Moreover, they are transferring the skills they acquired to other students and researchers which is very useful for building capacity and different expertise. For example, Mohamed has carried out several training sessions at the CMAUCH in photogrammetry and digital modeling or UCH. The training was attended by CMAUCH students as well as a number of archaeologists from the Ministry of Antiquities.

As for students who attended conferences and gave presentations about their work; this has been a great experience for each of them. It was each student’s first time as a speaker in international conferences. It allowed them to talk about their research to a wider audience and to get feedback from other researchers with different backgrounds and interests. It is also a great chance for networking and exchanging ideas. Once they return back they are required to give a presentation to the CMAUCH staff and students about their topics and experience during the conference and to share their experience with them.

Fatma Hammad – Red Sea Conference – “My attendance developed my technical background and different skills and brought me up with different questions with regards to my PhD proposal that I have not considered before. The increasing number of works on the Islamic period in the whole Red Sea area which were discussed through the conference gave me the knowledge and the information to improve my ideas, experience and relationships in the field of maritime archaeology, and helped me to keep up to date with the latest discoveries”. 

Yomna Mohamed – Basic Underwater Archaeology Course – “After I finished the course I achieved remarkable progress in diving as one star diver and I had a good idea about the methods of documenting the site using different measuring techniques and basic photogrammetry methods”

Sara Ibrahim – MAGS 2020 – “The international assembly provided a great opportunity to network with our peers and professors while furthering our collective knowledge on maritime archaeology and the future of our exciting field………..As Maritime Archaeology is a global field, it is extremely beneficial for not only my network to grow, but also the perspectives, systems, and methodologies used in differing locations.”.

Find out about other activities of the CMAUCH supported by the Foundation here