The Barakat Trust was founded as a UK charity in 1987 by two of its founding trustees, Hamida Alireza and Shahnaz Bagherzade, who were struck by the inadequate initiatives to preserve the heritage of the Islamic world, and in many cases, limited professional expertise and understanding in countries where that heritage was to be found. The Barakat Trust was therefore set up to train, educate and enable new generations of professionals committed to preserving the heritage of the Islamic world, and to provide support and nurture their professional growth. Many of The Trust’s grantees are today leading practitioners and academics in the field. Indeed, many of them combine several of these skills, and have benefited from the interdisciplinary approach with which The Trust views the preservation of heritage.