The British Institute for the Study of Iraq was established as the British School of Archaeology in Iraq on January 14, 1932 in memory of Gertrude Bell, the pioneer archaeologist responsible for setting up the Iraq antiquities service and museum. The School sponsored important fieldwork and surveys in Iraq and Syria, and had a resident director in Baghdad when sanctions in the 1990s forced it to move its fieldwork to Bahrain, Kuwait and Syria. It was renamed on December 12, 2007 the British Institute for the Study of Iraq, thus reflecting its widening remit, namely to advance research and public education relating to Iraq and neighboring countries in anthropology, archaeology, geography, history, philology and related disciplines within the arts, humanities and social sciences. It is currently providing grants for Iraqi scholars and books and other equipment to The Iraq Museum and other institutions to participate in the rebuilding of Iraq's heritage.