Laurie Merigeaud

Please tell us about your research project.
I am a PhD or "DPhil" candidate at Aix-Marseille University, affiliated with the Institute of African Worlds and Cedej Khartoum. My research project focuses on the social history of Sudanese women teachers during the Anglo-Egyptian colonial period and the first post-independence decade (1920-1970) in North Sudan.
For this research, I am mainly working with records from colonial archives stored in the UK, notably at Durham University Oxford University. At the same time, I am also conducting oral history interviews with former Sudanese female teachers who are now exiled in Cairo, Egypt, and who were trained as teachers in the late 1940s-1950s. 

Could you please tell us a bit more about your scholarship/exchange programme?
I am one of the lucky residents to have been awarded the ‘scholarship of the month’, a one-month research grant offered by the Maison Française d’Oxford. This opportunity not only allows me to conduct archival research, but also to work in the best possible conditions and benefit from the very rich scientific programme of the many colleges and faculties here at Oxford University.

First impressions of Oxford/the University?
Oxford is a beautiful city, ideal and almost surreal for studying. The parks, gardens, colleges and libraries are splendid, and everything seems designed to encourage you to relax and work. I hope I'll have the opportunity to come back very soon!