NYU Institute for the Study of the Ancient World

What NYU Institute for the Study of the Ancient World does

ISAW is an independent research center within New York University, founded in 2006 by Shelby White and the Leon Levy Foundation, that cultivates comparative and connective investigations of the ancient world spanning the Mediterranean to East Asia. It operates as a non-profit academic institute without tuition charges, offering fully funded doctoral and postdoctoral programs, hosting visiting research scholars, and supporting active archaeological fieldwork in at least eight countries (Egypt, Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan, Uzbekistan, China, Crete, Tunisia, and Mongolia). The institute is staffed by approximately 47 personnel, including roughly 10 core faculty members led by Director Greg Woolf (since 2025) and Associate Directors for Administration, Academic Affairs, Digital Programs, Budgeting/Financial Operations, and Exhibitions.

The institute's core products and underlying technology consist of scholarly publications, digital research infrastructure, and field research programs. ISAW publishes the ISAW Monographs open-access series with NYU Press (six+ volumes on Amheida alone) and maintains two principal databases: the Pleiades Geographic Database (a community resource for ancient place data) and the Amheida Excavation Database (publicly accessible excavation records at amheida.com). Technology operations are supported by an Assistant Director for Technology Operations. Additional programs include the Leon Levy and Rostovtzeff annual lecture series, the Bernard and Lisa Selz Gallery exhibitions, and a specialized library open to scholars regardless of affiliation.

ISAW's business model is fundamentally grant and endowment funded rather than revenue generating. The foundational gift from the Leon Levy Foundation underwrites all doctoral fellowships and core operations; supplemental funding flows from government grants, private foundations (Mellon, ARCE, Partner University Fund, Peter Jay Sharp Foundation), and individual donations (including the Bagnall-supported Rostovtzeff Lectures). Pricing is non-existent for educational services—doctoral and postdoctoral training, library access, and public lectures are all free—while publication revenue (if any) accrues through NYU Press. The institute's "customers" are doctoral and postdoctoral students, visiting scholars, the general public attending lectures and exhibitions, and the global academic community consuming its open-access scholarship. Strategic partnerships with Columbia, Washington University in St. Louis, LMU Munich, the Uzbek Academy of Sciences, and the Archaeological Society at Athens anchor field research collaboration.

Name

NYU Institute for the Study of the Ancient World

Legal name

Institute for the Study of the Ancient World

Website

https://isaw.nyu.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

ISAW is a non-profit NYU research center founded in 2006 by Shelby White and the Leon Levy Foundation that offers fully funded doctoral and postdoctoral programs in ancient world studies, conducts multi-country archaeological fieldwork, publishes open-access scholarship, and maintains digital research databases.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Foundational Gift - Leon Levy Foundation: ISAW was created in 2006 by a gift from the Leon Levy Foundation to New York University. This foundational gift enables the institute to offer full fellowships to all doctoral students.
2. Government and Foundation Grants: Funding from government agencies and foundations supporting exhibitions, archaeological excavations (Turkey, Egypt), the Pleiades database, lectures series, and scholarly conferences.
3. Private Donations: Support from individuals contributing to ongoing vitality of ISAW's work, including named lecture endowments (Rostovtzeff Lectures supported by Roger and Whitney Bagnall).

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

NYU ISAW is a graduate research institute that trains doctoral and postdoctoral scholars in the interdisciplinary study of the ancient world, supports original archaeological excavations and humanities research, publishes scholarly work, and presents museum-style exhibitions and public programs interpreting ancient cultures for academic and general audiences.

Product overview

ISAW is an academic research institute within NYU that offers scholarly publications (ISAW Monographs), research databases (Amheida Database, Pleiades), archaeological excavation programs (Amheida, Kınık Höyük, Bukhara, Lyktos, Chinese Bronze Age Project), lecture series (Rostovtzeff Lectures, Leon Levy Lectures), library services, and doctoral/postdoctoral education programs. The institute operates as a unified academic center combining research, graduate education, and public outreach focused on ancient world studies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Doctoral Program in Ancient World Studies
• Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
• Archaeological Fieldwork and Research Projects
• Museum Exhibitions and Public Programs
• Scholarly Publications

Quantifiable outcome

• Graduates enter the global academic community as intellectual leaders
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Washington University in St. LouiscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Washington University in St. Louis became a collaborating institution in the Amheida excavation project in 2022, with Prof. Nicola Aravecchia serving as archaeological director.
• Columbia UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2008Columbia University continues as a partner in the Amheida excavation project, which began at Columbia in 2001. The collaboration enables joint archaeological research in Egypt's Dakhla Oasis.
• Dakhleh Oasis ProjectcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational venture entering its fifth decade, dedicated to studying interaction between human settlement and environment in the Dakhla Oasis from earliest human presence to modern times.
• Institute of Archaeology at the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan in SamarkandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on the Oasis Wall Around Bukhara archaeological project investigating territorial barrier-walls in Western Central Asia.
• Ludwig-Maximilians-University in MunichcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint project with LMU Munich for excavations at Gird-i Rostam in Iraqi Kurdistan, with co-direction by Dan Potts and Karen Radner.
• Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and ArchaeologycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on the Chinese Bronze Age Economics Project involving bone working analysis and replication experiments at Zhengzhou Shangcheng.
• American Research Center in EgyptsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerARCE provided support for protective enclosures for decorated blocks from the Amheida temple, as well as general support for the excavation project.
• Partner University Fund (French-American Cultural Exchange)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerFunding support for the Amheida project and the El-Deir Partnership collaboration with University of Limoges.
• University of Limoges (El-Deir Partnership)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with mission based at University of Limoges working at El-Deir in the Kharga Oasis, led by Gaëlle Tallet.
• Archaeological Society at AthenssupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerLyktos Archaeological Project runs under the auspices of the Archaeological Society at Athens, co-directed with Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA: University-based archaeology research center with active international fieldwork, graduate training, and a publication series; comparable to ISAW's academic research and field-archaeology model within a major research university.
• American Academy in Rome: Residential humanities fellowship institution awarding the Rome Prize across ancient studies, arts, and humanities; shares ISAW's model of competitive fellowships, a specialized library, and scholarly publications anchored by an endowed foundation.
• Institute of Classical Studies, University of London: UK center for classical studies hosting libraries, research projects, and postdoctoral fellowships; current ISAW Director Greg Woolf previously directed ICS, and both institutions serve as convening hubs for ancient-world scholarship with library and event programming.
• Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan: University museum of archaeology with active excavations, graduate student training, and public exhibitions; comparable to ISAW's combination of field archaeology, collections-based exhibitions, and graduate education.
• Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection: Harvard-affiliated independent research center focused on Byzantine, Pre-Columbian, and Garden and Landscape Studies, with a residential fellowship program, museum, and publication series — closely mirrors ISAW's endowed research-center model with full fellowships and exhibitions.
• Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz (Max Planck Institute): Max Planck humanities research institute based in Florence with residential fellowships, library, and publication programs focused on Italian and Mediterranean art and history; closely mirrors ISAW's endowed humanities research-center model with library and scholarly publishing.
• Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, Brown University: University archaeology institute offering graduate degrees and conducting fieldwork across the Mediterranean and Near East; comparable to ISAW's combination of graduate education, archaeological projects, and public programming within a major research university.
• Oriental Institute, University of Chicago: University research institute and museum for ancient Near Eastern studies combining archaeology, graduate training, and a museum; directly comparable to ISAW's Mediterranean-Near East archaeology footprint and museum/exhibition programming.
• American Research Center in Egypt: Non-profit supporting archaeological research, preservation, and publication in Egypt; an active ISAW partner (supporting the Amheida project) and directly comparable as an ancient-world research and fieldwork organization with fellowship and grant programs.

Broad incumbents

• Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton: Premier independent research institute hosting resident scholars across humanities, social science, mathematics, and natural science; shares ISAW's independent research-center-with-fellowships architecture but operates at substantially larger scale and across a much broader mandate.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/isawnyu
• Facebookfacebook.com/isawnyu
• Instagraminstagram.com/isawnyu
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/institute-for-the-study-of-the-ancient-world

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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