We hope that you and your loved ones continue to stay well and we wish all of those celebrating a very Merry Christmas.

This month we are reflecting on a challenging year for CBRL. Like everyone else, we have had to adapt to an uncertain time as the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the ways in which we connect, collaborate with and learn from others.

2020 started well with our Arab Bedouin exhibition in London and the Knowledge Frontiers Symposium in Amman. But our activities quickly became restricted and all of our events moved online. Although this ended in-person connections, we were able to reach more people online than we could have imagined, with our programme of webinars bringing people together from a whole host of countries across the world.

Despite our institutes being closed for large periods of the year, our teams have been working hard on projects such as the 'Mapping digital cultural heritage in Jordan (MaDiH, مديح) 'project and working with partners to promote Bedouin women's economic empowerment in southern Jordan. We hope to build on this work in 2021, and look forward to the possibility of renewing meetings in-person in future.

We would like to thank those of you who completed our library surveys for our institutes in Amman and Jerusalem earlier in the autumn. The review of our libraries has now been completed and we are pleased to see how valued they are to so many people. We look forward to building on the results and improving our facilities in the future.

Our Networking Partnerships Awards provide funding for the establishment or development of research partnerships between the UK and Levant-based researchers. This is a rolling call where funds are available to support researchers undertaking initial exploratory meetings or research, with a view to preparing a later application for more funding. Find out more and apply here.

In our latest research blog, Dr Kamal Badreshany and Professor Graham Philip, explore the latest archaeological discoveries at Koubba and their significance in the context of the development of Lebanese ancient societies. Read the blog here.