BRISMES Award for Services to Middle Eastern Studies
About the Award
This is an honorary award established in 2000 by BRISMES Council. It is presented annually in recognition of outstanding services to Middle Eastern Studies.
Terms of Reference
The award is intended for persons or organisations who have made a consistent contribution to Middle East Studies in Britain over a period of years or to a person or organisation who has made an outstanding single contribution over the previous year. Anyone or any organisation fulfilling these criteria, as specified below, is eligible, without exception on the basis of nationality, residence, profession or background. The following are guidelines to the criteria that BRISMES will consider but BRISMES will accept nominations outside these guidelines if the proposer makes a persuasive case for doing so.
- For an outstanding record in published research on the Middle East;
- For the establishment of new departments or significantly expanding positions in the field of Middle East Studies;
- For providing/winning major new resources for Middle East Studies in Britain;
- For exceptional contributions to raising the profile of Middle East Studies in and outside the UK.
2025 Recipient
Professor John Chalcraft
We are very pleased to announce that Professor John Chalcraft is the recipient of the 2025 Award for Services to Middle Eastern Studies, presented at our Annual Conference in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the field.
John Chalcraft is Professor of Politics in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics. Yet his intellectual journey began as a historian of the modern Middle East, and throughout his career he has remained committed to recovering the histories, experiences and political agency of those too often overlooked. His scholarship has consistently illuminated popular movements and subaltern histories, revealing how ordinary people shape extraordinary historical transformations.
The range and depth of his work are remarkable. Through books such as The Invisible Cage: Syrian Migrant Workers in Lebanon, The Striking Cabbies of Cairo and Other Stories: Crafts and Guilds in Egypt, 1863–1914, and Popular Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East, John has uncovered untold stories through meticulous research while developing path-breaking theoretical insights. More recently, in From Subordination to Revolution, he has drawn together decades of reflection on popular mobilisation, producing not only a powerful Gramscian explanation of how collective political action emerges and transforms societies, but also a theory of praxis. At a time marked by deep political, social and ecological crises, the book asks how people might move from subordination to collective agency, and how transformative political projects can be built in the world we inhabit today.
But John’s contribution to Middle Eastern Studies extends far beyond his publications. He is not only a leading intellectual and first-rate scholar; he is someone who embodies the values that animate his work. He has never treated scholarship and political commitment as separate spheres. Whether supporting Palestinian rights, participating in trade union organising, or engaging in broader struggles for justice and equality, John has consistently brought his intellectual rigour and moral conviction to the political questions of our time.
He has enriched our understanding of the Middle East, strengthened our scholarly community, and inspired generations of students and colleagues.
2001-2023 Recipients
- Professor Ilan Pappé (2024)
- Professor Karma Naboulsi (2023)
- Professor Laleh Khalili (2022)
- Professor Nicola Pratt (2021)
- Professor Paul Starkey (2020)
- Professor Deniz Kandiyoti (2019)
- Paul Auchterlonie (2018)
- Professor Charles Tripp (2017)
- Sir Roger Tomkys (2016)
- Professor Carole Hillenbrand, CBE (2015)
- Professor Ian Netton (2014)
- Alastair Newton (2013)
- Professor the Baroness Afshar, OBE (2012)
- Sir Harold Walker (2011)
- Patrick Seale (2010)
- Professor Roger Owen (2009)
- Professor Fred Halliday (2008)
- Professor Edmund Bosworth (2007)
- Professor Harry Norris (2006)
- Professor Geoffrey Lewis (2005)
- Professor Ann Lambton (2004)
- Dr Derek Hopwood, OBE (2003)
- Professor William Montgomery Watt (2002)
- HH Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi (2001)
Database of Expertise
The Database of Expertise in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies provides a publicly available list of MENA experts with their research and areas of expertise.
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