Latest News

Recent news from the Society

The Abuse of Risk Assessments to Curtail Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Assembly

Over the past year, BRISMES has observed a troubling trend: health and safety regulations, originally designed to protect workers from injury or illness and established as fundamental rights through decades of union campaigning,1 are now being misused...

Call for Papers | Submissions Now Open for the 2025 BRISMES Annual Conference

Submissions for the 2025 BRISMES conference, hosted by the School of Geography, Politics, and Sociology at Newcastle University, are now open. Please take a look at our call for papers and submit an abstract for an individual presentation, panel and/or...

Academic Freedom | Letter to the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Regarding Alaa Abd El-Fattah

The Committee for Academic Freedom of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) has requested that the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office urgently lobby the Egyptian government for the immediate and unconditional release...

Academic Freedom | Open Letter Regarding the Sentencing of Alaa ʿAbd El-Fattah

BRISMES and SeSaMO have written to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in relation to the sentencing of writer and activist Alaa ʿAbd El-Fattah, detained for exercising his human rights, including the free, peaceful and democratic manifestation of dissent...

Academic Freedom | Joint Response to Iranian Authorities from BRISMES, SeSaMO and MESA

The Committees on Academic Freedom of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES), the Italian Society for Middle East Studies (SeSaMO), and the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) have replied to the Iranian authorities...

Joint Event - Funding Opportunities for Researchers in Middle Eastern Studies at the British International Research Institutes (BIRI): BIAA, BIPS, BISI and CBRL

Join colleagues from BIAA, BIPS, BISI and CBRL for a conversation on funding opportunities for researchers at the British International Research Institutes (BIRI).

Academic Freedom | Letter to University of St Andrews Regarding Ms Stella Maris

The BRISMES Committee on Academic Freedom has written again to the University of St Andrews regarding the university's decision to dismiss its Rector, Ms Stella Maris, from her position as President of the Court and to remove her trustee status. Unfortunately,...

Submissions Open for 2025 Leigh Douglas Memorial Prize

We are pleased to announce that submissions are now open for the 2025 Leigh Douglas Memorial Prize. Please note that the annual deadline for the prize has changed to allow the winner to attend the BRISMES annual conference.