Want the amazing opportunity to contribute to academic research without the hassle of going to school? This is the Patreon for you!

Humans Against Poor Scholarship (or "HAPS") is a crowd-funded grant program that provides small, summer research grants for Ph.D. students, who are often not funded over summer breaks by their educational institutions. Eligible applicants must be enrolled in a current Ph.D. program in a field related to ancient Near Eastern studies - including (but not limited to) Archaeology, Assyriology, Hebrew Bible and Northwest Semitics, Egyptology, and Art History. Grant applicants are required to participate in a livestream interview during the application process, which allows viewers an opportunity to engage with the students and then ask any questions they have. Patreons are then be able vote on what research they would most like to see funded. Successful applicant(s) are then brought back after their period of funding to talk to Megan and Joshua about what they achieved, and how their work is progressing.

This is where you come in! By becoming a Patreon of Digital Hammurabi, you will not only directly contribute to this scholarship fund, but have the fantastic opportunity to help choose the successful applicant(s).



HAPS is run by two Assyriologists, Megan Lewis and Joshua Bowen, who created the grant as part of their YouTube channel, Digital Hammurabi. Driven by a passion for the ancient Near East and the belief that history is both important and relevant to modern life, Megan and Josh aim to break out of the ivory tower of academia and bring ancient Mesopotamia to the world! Joshua graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a Ph.D. in Assyriology in 2016, while Megan reached the ABD stage and is hoping to complete after their children are all in school.

