The Thesiger-Oman Fellowship offers two Fellowships of £8,000 annually for geographical research in the arid regions of the world. One fellowship will focus on physical aspects of arid environments and the second fellowship awarded will consider the human dimension of arid environments.
The fellowship funds a researcher with an outstanding research proposal, including periods of arid environment fieldwork. Research within the Middle East and other areas visited by Thesiger, will be given priority.
Deadline: 23 November 2012
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Thesiger-Oman Fellowship guidelines (PDF) - guidelines for this years Award are currently being updated
Research Ethics and Code of Practice (PDF)
Thesiger-Oman Fellowships recipients
2011: Richard Walker (Oxford University). Ten thousand years of environmental change and human habitation in NE Iran. The effect of environmental change on human populations in the dessert
2011: Troy Sternberg & David Thomas (Oxford University). Human-Hazard Interaction – documentation, social exposure and system resilience in the Gobi Desert. The project will provide, for the first time, an integrated analysis of the nature and impact of hazards on societies in the Gobi Desert of northern China and southern Mongolia
2010: Giles Wiggs and Richard Bailey (Oxford University). Stressed deserts: identifying tipping points in vegetation and wind erosion in response to increasing environmental pressure. Wind erosion on semi-arid desert surfaces responds dynamically to changing vegetation patterns caused by environmental stress. This project employed field work and aerial survey analysis in the semi-vegetated SW Kalahari Desert, to calibrate a newly developed vegetation distribution model which predicts vegetation cover as a response to environmental stress
2010: Abigail Stone (Oxford University). Rainfall in the desert sand: groundwater recharge rates and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in the southern Kalahari. Predicted reductions in rainfall in southern Africa will reduce groundwater recharge rates and may contribute to dunefield reactivation. There is pressing need to better understand the sustainability of groundwater to sustain human livelihoods. This study quantified average recharge rates over 1000 years to provide the first chronology of relative moisture changes.
2009: Dr Mike Rogerson (University of Hull). Understanding the Libyan Monsoon. The project team visited two caves (Rhar Djebel Serdj and Rhar Nefza) from which they recovered a total of 8 speleothem and 4 drip-water samples and a range of cave climate data. Rhar Djebel Serdj was found to be especially well decorated, and considered a location for future research
2009: Dr Henning Bjornlund (University of Lethbridge and University of South Australia). An analysis of institutional arrangements of the falaj irrigation systems in Oman. The project explored the distinctive institutional settings of the Omani falaj system, developed within a closed society, and the consequential demand for water as a result of the modern technology
2008: Dr Phil Hughes (University of Manchester). Pleistocene climates of the Northwest Sahara Desert: evidence from the glacial record in the Atlas Mountains, Morocco. The project location was important as glaciation in these mountains has major implications for understanding moisture transfer between the North Atlantic Ocean and the Sahara Desert during Pleistocene cold stages
2008: Professor Andrew Smith (Dowling College, USA). Agricultural practices in the desert environs of Wadi Araba, Jordan: Exploring new, sustainable approaches to modern economic development. The project studied the regions depleting aquifer's, tapped for agricultural irrigation in response to economic development. The researcher sort to determine whether ancient dry-farming techniques could be a more sustainable approach
2007: William Rowe (Louisiana state University). An analysis of the economic and environmental resurgence of the historic region of Herat, Afghanistan and its desert environs after twenty-five years of conflict. The project analysed the different levels of local society at the city, village, and nomadic levels, and sort to determine the impact of years of conflict and occupation
2007: Mark Powell (University of Leicester). Channel morphology and sedimentology in upland dryland environments, Negrev, Israel: characteristics and controls. The project characterised the morphological and sedimentological characteristics of upland gravel beds in the Negrev Desert and sort genetic explanations for the distinct channel morphologies identified
2006: Dr Conall Mac Niocaill (University of Oxford). Characterising the history of mountain building in North East Iran. This project sort to determine the history and topographic evolution of the desert region in response to the uplift of the region at the northernmost part of the Arabian-Eurasia continental collision
2005: Professor David Thomas (Oxford University Centre for the Environment). Arabian quaternary climate changes
2005: Dr Heba Abdel Aziz (Ministry of Tourism). Reconstructing Omani Nomadic landscape. The project assessed the impact of tourism on the nomadic lifestyle existing in the eastern province of Oman, following a significant increase in tourist numbers: The result of which is a higher demand on the cultural and natural assets of the region represented by the indigenous nomadic communities and their habitats
About the Award
By the kind generosity of the His Majesty Qaboos bin Said Al Said, Sultan of Oman, the Society offers two annual Fellowships, as a memorial to Sir Wilfred Thesiger.
The annual fellowship reflects Thesiger’s interests in the peoples and environments of the desert. Thesiger travelled in arid environments extensively, both during his service in World War Two and for research. There are several books documenting Thesiger’s adventures; Arabian Sands (1959) recounts his travels in the Empty Quarter of Arabia between 1945 and 1950 and describes the vanishing way of life of the Bedouins.
The annual Fellowship, which is funded through an endowment from the Sultan of Oman, has been running since 2005.