April 2012

The Director of the Institute of Iranian Studies, Prof. Dr. Philip Kreyenbroek, received the Farabi International Award in the field of Islamic and Iranian Studies, at a ceremony that was attended by the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Tehran on 29 October 2011.

12 December 2010, Prof. Dr. Philip Kreyenbroek - Director of the Institute of Iranian Studies in Göttingen and Dr. Khanna Omarkhali - Lecturer in Kurdish Studies visited Salahaddin-University Hewler, in the Kurdistan region in Iraq. During the meeting with the President of Salahaddin-University Hewler Dr. Ahmed Anwar Dezaye and the Director of the Academic Relations Dr. Mohammed Aziz Saeed, different ways of future collaboration between the universities were discussed. These included joint research, a Split-site PhD program; student exchange; exploration of oral Kurdish literature, as well as study of the minorities living in Kurdistan. After the meeting, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Salahaddin-University Hewler and the Georg-August-University Göttingen.

On 18 December 2010, there was a meeting with the Director of Resources of the University of Kurdistan Hewler Dr. Khawla Khanekah and staff members. Subjects of discussion were student exchange program and the future collaboration between universities.

13 December 2010, Prof. Ph. Kreyenbroek and Dr. Kh. Omarkhali had a meeting with the President of the Kurdish Academy of Science Erbil Dr. Shafiq Qazzaz and staff members of the Kurdish Academy. During the meeting, various forms of future collaboration, in the form of joint scientific projects were discussed. In the evening 13.12.2010, Dr. Omarkhali conducted a seminar on Yezidism and Ahl-e Haqq cosmogonic myths at the Kurdish Academy.

International Conference on the Revitalization of Scientific Research in Kurdistan

From 14^th till 16^th December 2010, Prof. Dr. Kreyenbroek and Dr. Omarkhali participated in the International Conference on the Revitalization of Scientific Research in Kurdistan, organized by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Erbil. On 16th December, Prof. Kreyenbroek gave a lecture on the Oral Traditions in Kurdistan at the conference. The objectives of the conference were to support the efforts of Kurdish researchers to widen their contacts and networks, engaging international academics in split-site PhD supervision, promoting long-term relationships between Universities in Kurdistan and Western Centres of Excellence.