The Courtauld has received a Getty Connecting Art Histories grant supporting the Mongol Connections research initiative led by Professor Sussan Babaie

Mongol Connections is a travelling seminar led by Professor Sussan Babaie at The Courtauld that runs alongside a collaborative exhibition at The Royal Academy of Art (2027) with Professor Babaie in partnership with Professor Shane McCausland at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and Dr. Adrian Locke at the Royal Academy of Art (RA).

Mongol Connections approaches histories of the arts of the Mongol era (13-14^th centuries) as intersecting, connecting, and competing histories of objects, artists, and technologies, across the Eurasian expanse of the Great Mongol State. The seminars will bring together scholars, conservators, archaeologists, and cultural heritage professionals from Mongolia, East, West and Central Asia, as well as Europe and North America with leading subject specialists. The traveling network will convene in Mongolia (2025), Uzbekistan (2026) and the United Kingdom (2027), with the final trip timed to coincide with the opening of the exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art, London, on the art of the Great Mongol State, and with its accompanying conference. The programme will include study of archaeological sites and objects, museums and collections, along with scholarly presentations at each area’s leading academic institutions. The travelling seminar will create a network of researchers of all career stages from multiple localities along the Mongol routes, to generate new collaborative and interdisciplinary research.

The Getty grant has also made possible the appointment of Postdoctoral Fellow Dr Amanda Leong at The Courtauld who will be project managing with Professor Babaie and will conduct research and teaching at The Courtauld for the duration of the grant, from 2024 to 2027.