I stayed in London from 31 August till 27 September 2023. This was a great opportunity. For my postdoctoral project on ‘The Early Demotic Papyri from Illahun’ I had applied to study a variety of pieces bearing inscriptions in Demotic including mummy wrappings, ostraca, and papyri in the collections of the British Museum and Petrie Museum, UCL with a view to publishing them. I had also arranged in advance to visit the study room and the libraries in the Department of Egypt and Sudan at the British museum, the Egypt Exploration Society (EES), the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), the Wellcome Collection, and the Institute of Archaeology, UCL to collect the data for a series of articles I hope to publish.

In the study room in the Department of Egypt and Sudan, British Museum

Furthermore, I was very delighted to meet several specialists including Drs Cary Martin and Adrienn Almásy-Martin; I am very grateful to them both for everything they have done for me.

At UCL I met Prof Stephen Quirke who gave up his time to explain how I could access the IoA library. I was delighted also to meet Dr Claudia Naeser there and we discussed many issues. I also visited the Petrie Museum where I had permission to study some Demotic pieces and I met Dr Anna Garnett.

With Dr Hend Elfiky and Professor Stephen Quirke

At the British Museum I visited the public displays of Egyptian material and I was invited to attend the Annual Distinguished Lecture in Egyptology which this year was given by Prof Olaf Kaper whom I had the chance to meet along with other scholars such as Prof Salim Ikram.

Visiting London during September my fellow Trust scholar Hend Elfiky and I had the chance to enjoy the weather and to visit Big Ben, the London Eye, and Tower Bridge. Thanks to the Robert Trust and special thanks to Dr Chris Naunton for everything he did for us.