The Doreen & Leila Ingrams Scholarship Fund

The Doreen & Leila Ingrams Scholarship Fund was established by Leila Ingrams in 2004 to support female Palestinian students with priority given to those with special educational needs. In 2004 Leila set up the Doreen Ingrams Scholarship with Friends of Palestinian Universities (formerly Fobzu) in her mother’s memory.

After Leila’s death in 2015, the fund was renamed to honour Leila’s own remarkable legacy alongside that of her mother. Today the scholarship relies on the ongoing support of family and the generosity of colleagues and friends of Leila. 

Given the challenging political and economic situation, and living under occupation, many Palestinian students are deprived of the right to education. I feel contented and happy that after making a huge effort at high school, I am able now to fulfil my dream of studying at Birzeit University, and pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Finance.

Hadeel, Ingrams Scholar, Birzeit

Doreen & Leila Ingrams – Scholars and Promoters of Arab-British understanding

Doreen Ingrams (1906-1997) was the daughter of the Liberal Home Secretary, Edward Shortt MP. In 1930 she joined her husband Harold Ingrams who was then a colonial administrator in Africa and the Middle East. In later years Doreen worked for the BBC’s Arabic service and wrote the influential book Palestine Papers 1917-1922: Seeds of Conflict (Eland books) which draws on colonial records to illustrate Britain’s role in the dispossession of the Palestinians. She became a founder member of the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU). She was jointly awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society and the Lawrence of Arabia Medal of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs in addition to the Sir Richard Burton Medal of the Royal Asiatic Society. In 1993 she collaborated with her daughter Leila on the exhaustive 16-volume Records of Yemen 1798-1960 (Cambridge University Press).

Doreen and Leila have been inspiring and exemplary voices of compassion for women students who are the future of their communities in Palestine and beyond. As a trustee and member of the extended Ingrams family, I find it important that this fund shows solidarity with those who live daily in the face of political and societal challenges and are aspiring to live more fulfilling lives.

Peter Ingrams 

Born in Cairo in 1940, Leila continued Doreen and Harold’s legacy, spending her early childhood in Aden and al-Mukalla, Yemen. Leila also worked for CAABU and dedicated herself to advancing the Palestinian and wider Arab cause for justice. This was to be a commitment she would maintain for the rest of her life. With Richard Pankhurst, Leila published Ethiopia Engraved (Routledge) as well as numerous articles on the Middle East and Africa. In recognition of her own scholarly contribution, Leila was made a Life Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.