ITP Conference Grant awarded to Hadeer Ahmed Mohamed Belal (Egypt, ITP Fellow 2013)

Written by Claire Messenger, Manager, International Training Programme.

We are delighted to announce that an ITP Conference Grant 2023 has been awarded to Hadeer Ahmed Mohamed Belal (Egypt, ITP Fellow 2013).

Hadeer, who is currently Registrar at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, will be using her support grant to travel to the International Congress of Egyptologists 2023 at the Department of Egyptology, Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Hadeer during object in focus presentation

At the conference, Hadeer has been asked to speak and will present a paper on Coptic figures influenced Egyptian heritage life “Tadros Shenouda Al-Manqabadi”.

Hadeer has chosen to present on a unique archive about a Coptic figure that had influence not only on the Coptic community but on Egyptian modern history. Tadros Shenouda Al-Manqabadi lived in the 19th and 20th century AD and had a major part in establishing the Coptic Museum in 1910. 

As Hadeer is working in the museums sector in Egypt she has the opportunity to deal with many different museums.  She hopes to develop her talk to look at the importance of the public figures who preserved heritage and shed light on their achievements under the title “Who was behind the collections of our Museums”.

Hadeer standing in the British Museum boardroom with colleagues sat either side.

More generally Hadeer believes this is a great opportunity for Egyptologists to participate in the 13th International Congress of Egyptology in the beautiful city of Leiden and is looking forward to meeting and learning from other scholars of Ancient Egypt.  While in Leiden she hopes to visit museums where she can see Egyptian collections from the pre-dynastic to the Byzantine.

Since her participation on the ITP Annual Programme 2013, Hadeer has remained an active member of the ITP global network.

In November 2015 Hadeer attended the ITP Mumbai Workshop Creating Museums of World Stories. The workshop was held at CSMVS and was attended by many ITP fellows from different years and countries, UK partners and British Museum Colleagues.

Hadeer working at a table during an ITP practical session.

In 2016 Hadeer attended the Leicester University Museum Studies Conference with the ITP team and fellows from China, Turkey and Uganda. The group gave a workshop at the conference on Shared Histories and Global Voices.

In 2017 Nelson Abiti (Uganda, ITP 2013) successfully applied for an ITP collaborative award entitled The Road to Reconciliation. As a project partner Hadeer contributed to the final products of educational resources, a touring exhibition and an updated permanent display. Hadeer visited Uganda as part of the ITP collaborative award project and took part in a panel discussion on cultural heritage in Uganda.

Hadeer with ITP colleague Abiti Nelson

In October 2018 Hadeer attended the ITP+ Course on Museum Interpretation in Aswan. Fellows and colleagues from Egypt, Sudan and around the world listened to interpretation case studies, participated in project work, sessions on label & panel writing and panel discussions on audience surveys and evaluations. The course was hosted by the Nubia Museum.

We are delighted to be able to support Hadeer to attend and speak at the conference in Leiden and look forward to her sharing her experience with the wider ITP network.