2025 marks ten years since the death of our Founder, Dr Robert Anderson, a musician and Egyptologist. Robert had founded the charity in 1988 to formalise the assistance he had given to talented young scholars and performers over many years, mostly by providing them with small grants and accommodation in his London houses.

Robert in rehearsal, Westminster Cathedral, 1975

Robert, along with his Trustees, ran and guided his charity for the rest of his life, but in 2015 the Trust lost its Founder and inspiration, and many people around the world lost a cherished mentor. In July the Trust celebrated his life and legacy with a special concert at Leighton House which was led by the Trust’s Resident Musician Michal Oren.

Michal Oren and her musicians at the Trust’s summer concert at Leighton House in July 2025

In the years since Robert’s passing the Trustees, Director, Chris Naunton, and Co-ordinator, Howard Davies, have taken on the task of continuing Robert’s work. We have been very fortunate that Robert left the Trust in good health financially, and that legacies left by some of his friends have allowed us to maintain and diversify our activities.

The visitors’ programme remains a very important part of our work. This year twenty-three young scholars from ten different countries were offered places to spend time in London on their research. Some were studying Egyptology, Classics or Archaeology – Robert’s own principal specialisms along with music – but other subjects including museology, comparative law, film studies, and music tuition were also represented.

In addition to our visitors, who are with us for a period of one month of intensive research, the Trust now also provides accommodation in the longer term to a musician and an Egyptologist or archaeologist in Kensington, and to a student or scholar of another Humanities subject in Highgate. Our longer-term residents are chosen in collaboration with partner institutions which so far have included the Royal College of Music, Egypt Exploration Society, and Kings College London.

Amany Abd el-Hameed, the Trust’s first Joan Hawkins Resident Egyptologist

We believe that offering a mix of shorter and longer term placements allows the Trust to support a wider range of talented young people. Longer term placements also offer better value by allowing for a reduction to the one-off costs – in financial and administrative terms – of visas and flights.

Furthermore, we are now in a position to offer a wider variety of financial grants. In addition to the bursaries offered to our visitors and longer-term residents, we also support two musicians at the Royal College of Music through the Jean Middlemiss Award and Award in Memory of Ilona Eibenschütz, and in 2025 we began offering small grants through the Hawkins Special Fund.

Florence Cope, Jean Middlemiss Award holder 2023-25 

We have also recently inaugurated a new series of informal concerts, hosted in Dr Anderson’s music room in Kensington.

As we begin the second decade following The Founder’s death further new projects are also under consideration and we are excited about the Trust’s prospects for the future. Robert saw that there was a need to support young people, especially in the subjects he was most passionate about. That need has only grown since his death. The energy Robert gave to the cause was a source of inspiration to everyone he met, and all of us involved with the Trust are grateful for the opportunity to continue his work.

From left to right, top to bottom: Florence Cope, Jean Middlemiss Award (2023- ); Dr Ahmed Kamal, first visitor to the Kensington house in 2025; Dr Reham Zaky; Sonia Dixon; Michal Oren (Resident Musician 2022-25), conductor and resident Alvin Arumugam, Amany Abd el-Hameed (Resident Egyptologist 2024) and Marina Buffa Cesar outside the Kensington house; Dr Aleksandar Radovanović; Eman Selim; Filipe Abreu playing Richard Strauss’s Violin Sonata in E-flat Major during the 2024 summer concert at Hornton Street; Eleonora Terleckiene; Ahmed Elnasseh; Dr Anica Radosavlević-Krsmanović; Louis-Victor Bak, Ilona Eibenschütz Award (2023-25). All the above were visiting scholars in 2024 unless otherwise stated.