Scientific Committee

The Scientific Committee was set up in 1985 at the initiative of Professor Denis van Berchem in order to offer advice to the Board regarding the worthiness of projects, to assist in developing research programmes and in examining applications to the Foundation. Today, the Committee consists of the following:

  • President, Prof. Charles Genequand, Université de Genève,
  • Prof. Giovanni Curatola, Università degli Studi di Udine,
  • Prof. François Déroche, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, IVe Section, Paris,
  • Prof. Heinz Gaube, Eberhard-Karls-Universität, Tübingen,
  • Prof. Renata Holod, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia,
  • Prof. Ludvik Kalus, Université de Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV),
  • Prof. Hugh N. Kennedy, School of African and Oriental Studies, London,
  • Mme Louise Martin-van Berchem, member of the Board, Geneva,
  • Prof. Michael Rogers, curator, Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London,
  • Nour Foundation, London,
  • Prof. Gregor Schoeler, Université de Bâle,


The Committee met for the first time on the 22nd of October 1985 in Geneva with the following people attending:

  • Prof. Denis van Berchem, former president, Université de Genève,
  • Mr. Alain Dufour, Geneva-based publisher,
  • Prof. Nikita Elisséeff, Université Lyon II (member from 1985 to 1997),
  • Prof. Charles Genequand, Université de Genève,
  • Prof. Oleg Grabar, Harvard University and Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton (member from 1985 to 2000),
  • Prof. Ludvik Kalus, Université de Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV),
  • Prof. Michael Meinecke, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Damascus, and Director of the Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin (member from 1985 to 1995),
  • Dr. Basil Robinson, former conservator of the Victoria and Albert Museum of London (member from 1985 to 1997,
  • Prof. Michel Terrasse, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, IVe Section, Paris (member from 1985 to 2000).

In 1985, Professor Denis van Berchem was appointed president of the Committee by the Foundation's Board, and Alain Dufour and Charles Genequand were asked to report to the Board on the discussions of the Committee. Professor Giovanni Oman, from the Istituto Universitario Orientale in Naples, was also a member of the Committee from 1986 until 1999, Professor C. Edmund Bosworth, from the University of Manchester, from 1986 until 2002, and Professor Mikel de Epalza, from the Universitad d'Alacant, was a member from 1998 until 2000.

In 1992, Professor Charles Genequand took over from Professor Denis van Berchem who retired from the presidency of the Scientific Committee but continued to sit at the Board until his death in 1994.