Research Project on Social Sciences

Villa Hegra, in partnership with CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research), IISMM (Institute for the Study of Islam and Societies of the Muslim World), and CEFREPA (French Research Centre for the Arabian Peninsula), launched in 2024 a major research program in the humanities and social sciences dedicated to AlUla.

Entitled “AlUla: Transformations and Social Dynamics of a Development Project,” this program supports research on the social, economic, and cultural dimensions of the oasis’s development and its surrounding areas.

Following the selection process, four projects were chosen for the 2024–2025 cycle. The selected teams conducted fieldwork in the region, aiming to document and analyze ongoing transformations through perspectives including history, linguistics, and anthropology.

In June 2025, a new call for projects was launched, enabling a research team to continue or initiate fieldwork in AlUla over a three-year period.