The Institut français du Proche-Orient and the École Normale Supérieure, in partnership with the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, and with the support of the Cedars Foundation, have launched the Houda Ayoub Programme for Research and Travel, which aim is to initiate or to pursue doctoral projects in the Humanities and Social Sciences of the Near East.
The Houda Ayoub Programme offers three-year support packages funded by the Cedars Foundation.
Houda Ayoub was a professor of Arabic at the École Normale Supérieure for more than thirty years, during which time she founded, nurtured and promoted Arabic studies at the ENS. Her passion for transmitting knowledge, her intellectual rigour and her generous dynamism have carried several generations of students and professors. She left us in 2017. May this program be a tribute to her and stand as a small part of her legacy.
1 – Purpose
The programme is designed to support doctoral students in Lebanon so that after their PhD they can contribute to the future of Lebanese universities. The doctoral student must be enrolled at a Lebanese university, public or private. A scientific supervision will be offered at Ifpo, ENS or ZMO, in addition to supervision from the student’s home university.
2 – Beneficiaries
The awards are intended mainly for Lebanese students whom the universities will be able to retain and, where appropriate, on merit, for students resident in Lebanon and enrolled at a Lebanese university.
The awards are intended for PhD students enrolled in a doctoral school in Lebanon for the 2021–2022 academic year to prepare a thesis in one of the following Humanities and Social Sciences disciplines: geography, history, philosophy, literature, linguistics, archaeology, study of religious texts, political science, anthropology, economy and society. In addition to their thesis supervisor, they will be supervised by a tutor at Ifpo and benefit from scientific support at the ENS or the ZMO.
3 – Financing
These awards are funded by the Cedars Foundation. The funding package comprises a monthly allowance that covers a maximum of three academic years and a sum to finance three trips to France or Germany spread over the duration of the thesis preparation. The stay in France/Germany cannot exceed 2 months per year. Tuition fees at the home university – if any – are to be paid by the student at a rate negotiated through the final agreement between Ifpo and the university.
– Award package structure:
• 600€ paid monthly to the doctoral student (by bank transfer) for a period of three years, which corresponds to the duration of the thesis.
• Travel grant of 1800€ (maximum amount, to be adjusted according to the duration of the stay), which will cover, among other things, social security coverage in France or Germany, and transport between Lebanon and the host country.
• Beneficiaries will also be given priority access to university accommodation depending on availability.
• Free visa.
4 – Reciprocal commitment.
The candidate commits to spending 50% of his/her time in Lebanon at the Institut français du Proche-Orient, where he/she will have an allocated work space. He/she commits to engage with Ifpo’s scientific activities and to participate in the activities organised by the ENS and the ZMO, both online and face-to-face, during his/her stay away from Lebanon. An agreement will be made between the home university and Ifpo.
5- Academic eligibility criteria
The candidate must meet the following criteria:
• Hold a research Master’s degree by July 2021 at the latest;
• Be enrolling for their first PhD thesis in 2021, or have already enrolled at the start of either the 2020 or 2019 academic year, but not beyond. The 3-year funding is provided for new PhD students and those who have been enrolled for one year. For PhD students who have been enrolled for two years, funding will be for two years, with, exceptionally, the possibility of a third year. Preference will be given to students enrolling for the first time in 2021.
• Have the linguistic knowledge adapted to the working language and research work of the thesis. Preference will be given to theses written in Arabic and French.
• A thesis panel will be organised each year to validate the continuation of the award (for a maximum of three years).
• Failure to comply with these rules will result in the termination of award.
• No other paid activity may be undertaken during the funding period without the prior agreement of Ifpo.
• When the results are announced, the applicant must state his or her intention to accept or refuse the award by formal letter to Ifpo. If the applicant withdraws, he/she must give reasons for his/her decision. If agreement is reached, the doctoral student’s home institution must agree to accept the conditions of these regulations.
• The recipient of the award must clearly and explicitly mention his/her funding programme (Houda Ayoub Programme for Aid to Research) in any publication or scientific contribution related to the work of the thesis (articles, oral presentations, posters, conference proceedings, etc.);
• Failure to comply with these regulations will entail termination of the grant, and the student pledges to repay all monies already received.
Note that in order to be awarded this grant, the doctoral student must be working full time on his/her thesis.
6- Selection criteria
All scientific disciplines listed in Article 1.2 of these rules are included. Candidates for this programme will be selected on the following criteria:
• Scientific excellence of the applicant.
• Thesis topic of major interest for Lebanon.
• Thesis topic fits within the framework of Ifpo’s research themes.
• Thesis topic fits within the framework of the research themes of the ENS or the ZMO.
• The economic situation of the candidate will be taken into consideration.
7- Application file
The candidate must present the following documents:
• Application form completed by the applicant;
• Scanned identity document;
• Record of marks gained in the last year of study, authenticated by the university of affiliation;
• CV in French or English (2 pages maximum);
• Description of the research project (3 to 5 pages maximum). The project should address the following points: premise, sources, methods, bibliographic state of the art, originality of the approach, research fields, provisional timetable. Two versions of the research project are required, one in French or Arabic, the other in English;
• Endorsement of the thesis supervisor on the application;
• Copy of the cooperation agreement between Ifpo and the home university (optional).
The application, all documents combined into a single pdf file, should be sent electronically to:
– p.koetschet@ifporient.org and ziad.bou.akl@ens.fr with a copy to secretariat.directeur@ifporient.org.
Incomplete applications will not be considered.
The deadline for submission is 28 August 2021.
8- Procedure
• Send the application to the Institute français du Proche-Orient before 28 August 2021;
• Selection Committee meets;
• Possible interview of the candidate by the selection committee;
• Successful applicants will be informed by joint email from the ENS and the Institut français du Proche-Orient. No contact within this period means that the candidate is not selected. No results will be given by telephone; the candidate will be interviewed in the language of his/her research project.
• The necessary administrative documents must be sent to Ifpo at the latest one month before the start of the award (by the beginning of October at the latest).
N.B.: The final awarding of the grant is conditional on passing the Master’s degree and on the agreement of the doctoral school.
