The Kemet Klub Grant scheme is proud to fund the research of students in Egyptology.
The following students have received Kemet Klub grants to help them complete their projects.
Researchers we have funded
May 2026 Funding Round
Lenna Ann Lyons
Durham University
Through my master’s research of ancient Egyptian goldsmiths, I discovered what appeared to be a movement of classes which, in ancient Egypt, was not a typical occurrence. Now, for my PhD, I am researching how goldsmiths rose in social status. I am also studying the development of technology from the Predynastic to the New Kingdom period through microscopic and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis of gold artefacts. This will tell me how goldsmiths’ skills developed over time and will help establish the technical and stylistic trends of certain periods.
Lenna.a.lyons@durham.ac.uk
Bethany Reay
Manchester University
My PhD project combines iconographic analysis with archival research to reconstruct the archaeological context of Egyptian cartonnage using original excavation reports and in-person study of museum collections. By analysing the stylistic, functional, and religious representations of figures across cartonnage from different geographic regions, the project investigates how these images interact with and protect the deceased within wider funerary and theological frameworks.
bethany.reay@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Katy Batha
Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
My research is to explore the genesis of bone and ivory furniture components,and their source animals, in Early Dynastic Egypt. While ivory furniture became de rigueur amongst the Near Eastern elite by the Bronze Age, we have no account of how this began. The role of bone in this story has been completely sidelined.
This project seeks to reveal how bone and ivory furniture components became woven into the project of power signification in the Early Dynastic period of Egypt and, by identifying taxa and geographic origins of source animals, to restore the influence of human-animal interconnecions to this important narrative.
katy.batha@students.mq.edu.au
Amany Abd El Hameed
Helwan University (Al Asema)
In 1901, Flinders Petrie removed a dynastic-era stela from Abydos and transferred it to the Penn Museum in Philadelphia. Egyptian law at the time prohibited the export of registered objects — and Petrie himself acknowledged the registration in writing before proceeding regardless. The Egyptian Museum’s own records still list the original under its Catalogue Général number, concealing that what is displayed today is a replacement.
Amany Abd El Hameed’s PhD research centres the Egyptian archival record — the Amélineau excavation papers at IFAO and the Egyptian Museum’s registration files — to reconstruct the full legal and ethical dimensions of this transfer. Phase 2 of her project, supported by the Kemet Klub, takes place in Cairo between July and August 2026.
December 2025 Funding Round
Ariadne Argyros
Durham University
I am a fourth-year PhD student in Egyptian archaeology, and most of my work revolves around
research, teaching, and sharing ideas with different audiences. I have presented my work at national
and regional conferences, organized multiple graduate symposia and workshops, and balanced that
alongside teaching and mentoring first- and second-year undergraduates. Through these academic
experiences I have developed strong research, organizational, and communication skills.
I am also incredibly passionate about bridging the gap between the ancient and modern worlds,
making history exciting and understandable for the public. Beyond academia, I draft articles on a
variety of Egyptological topics for both specialists and general readers, and I am currently curating a
permanent online exhibit on the Wellcome Egyptian amulet collection at the Oriental Museum. I
have also designed and taught masterclasses geared toward non-specialists, focusing on making
ancient Egypt approachable. At the Save Ancient Studies Alliance, I intern in the grant writing
department, where I help source and draft funding applications for projects that make learning
about the ancient world more open and inclusive.
ariadne.t.argyros@durham.ac.uk
Alexandra Warwick
The University of Manchester
My research focuses on the health and mortality of subadults buried between the First and Second Cataracts of the Nile during the Ptolemaic, Roman, and Christian Periods, and how collection practices have affected the information we have access to. Excavation reports from the first Archaeological Survey of Nubia (1907-1911) and curated remains of these mostly skeletal individuals, held in the Duckworth Collection at the University of Cambridge, provide the information from which demographic profiles, mortality rates, and dental and chronic health conditions can be identified, offering insight into the lives of the most vulnerable members of ancient society.
alexandra.warwick@manchester.ac.uk
March 2025 Funding Round
Waleed Mohamed Hawatky
The American University in Cairo
Waleed’s career focus is the study of ancient Egyptian music, he is presently writing his thesis on music during the Amarna Period, aiming to demonstrate the evolution of musical conventions and practices from the earlier part of the 18th Dynasty into and through the Amarna Period, eventually, transitioning towards the Ramesside Period. The overarching research question is whether or not, firstly, musical practice and conventions changed significantly as with other artistic and social features of Akhenaten’s reign and, secondly, whether or not these changes coincide specifically with core elements of the Atenist philosophy. Waleed can be reached through his email: wmhawatky@aucegypt.edu
Waleed’s career focus is the study of ancient Egyptian music, he is presently writing his thesis on music during the Amarna Period, aiming to demonstrate the evolution of musical conventions and practices from the earlier part of the 18th Dynasty into and through the Amarna Period, eventually, transitioning towards the Ramesside Period. The overarching research question is whether or not, firstly, musical practice and conventions changed significantly as with other artistic and social features of Akhenaten’s reign and, secondly, whether or not these changes coincide specifically with core elements of the Atenist philosophy. Waleed can be reached through his email: wmhawatky@aucegypt.edu
The Research report
Wafaa Hamza
The American University in Cairo
The topic of my MA research is ‘The shell remains in Prehistoric Egypt’. The research methodology depends on: a descriptive method to determine the types of shells, and an analytical method to examine shell uses and their symbolism. In addition, comparing different types of shells from different sites in Prehistoric Egypt, where they were found. And try to figure out the relation between specific types and certain sites and uses. Most of the previous research about shells in Prehistoric Egypt had no detailed or complete studies. So, having not many studies on the subject of Archaeomalacology in Egypt, the outcome of this research would be a benefit for the scientific community and for whoever wants to study or is interested in it.
The Research Report
David Brügger
The University of Oxford
David is a PhD Student in Egyptian Archaeology at the University of Oxford, who is researching how ancient Egyptian private individuals, and artists in particular, used statuary to advertise themselves to peers, descendants, and deities, questioning our own, contemporaneous self-presentation craze.
He is affiliated to Harris Manchester College and member of the IFAO’s ‘Mission d’étude de Deir el-Medina’. He holds a MA in Egyptology distinguished by the A.H. Kyd Prize from the University of Manchester.
The Kemet Klub Grant will help him organise an international workshop in Oxford to lay the groundwork for a comprehensive handbook on recycling and reuse in ancient Egypt. He can be reached through his research web site: www.deirelmedina.art
The resulting Workshop
December 2024 Funding Round
Trent Hugler
Hertford College and Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford.
Hugler’s research explores the erasures on Hatshepsut’s monuments, which occurred about twenty years after her death. Her names and images were removed and, in some cases, replaced with those of her father Thutmose I, half-brother/husband Thutmose II, or stepson/nephew Thutmose III. In some instances, even offering tables were carved over her images. This phenomenon, termed ‘damnatio memoriae’ or ‘proscription’, is attested on monuments everywhere throughout Egypt where Hatshepsut is mentioned. Interestingly, the erasure methods varied.
Trent’s research is to study how these erasures and recarvings were carried out on a monument-by-monument basis to understand how and why the proscription occurred. He can be contacted via his email: Trent.Hugler@hertford.ox.ac.uk He is also the communications Officer for the ASE.
The Research Report
Ernesto Graf
University of Granada (Spain)
Graf’s research is on the tomb of Neferhotep (TT49), located at the necropolis of el-Khokha (Luxor, Egypt), was build for a scribe and high official associated with the temple of Amun at Karnak during the reign of Ay (circa 1325-1320 BCE).
Supported by a grant from the Kemet Klub, he will be participating in the 2025 fieldwork season of “The Research and Conservation Project of the Tomb of Neferhotep” a longstanding international initiative centred around the study of TT49. His involvement will contribute to enhance our comprehension of Neferhotep’s legacy and the intricate context surrounding the Amarna Period and its aftermath.
The Research Report
Maarten Praet
Department of Near Eastern Studies, John Hopkins University
Praet’s research is focused on Mentuhotep II. The importance of Mentuhotep II in current Egyptological narratives cannot be understated. Mentuhotep II is said to have made important artistic, political, societal, and religious innovations that would last for the next 2000 years. Nevertheless, much of the evidence for Mentuhotep’s reign, such as a large number of unpublished wall fragments from his funerary temple at Deir el-Bahari is yet to be comprehensively studied and published. By analysing these decorated wall fragments of Mentuhotep’s temple, his doctoral research aims to provide some answers that can fundamentally improve our understanding of this transitional period in ancient Egyptian history. Maarten can be reached through his academia.edu page.