“The world needs the humanities more than ever”: Unveiling Oxford’s unique new centre

View of the Great Hall: Credit Hufton + Crow

Today, I am delighted to launch the University of Oxford’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities.

The Schwarzman Centre is a unique hub for catalysing our teaching, research and public engagement; a one-of-a-kind space where academia and culture will intersect to create something extraordinary. Housing seven of our academic faculties and two research institutes, alongside a library, a collection and a suite of state-of-the-art performance venues, it will empower us to work together across disciplines in a spirit of radical curiosity.

The Schwarzman Centre represents an extraordinary vote of confidence in the humanities disciplines at a time when the world needs them more than ever. We shall open the platform it offers to local and international artists and creative organisations; to invite global experts and institutions to collaborate; and to co-create with people from across a diverse range of backgrounds.

Through our teaching and research, the Schwarzman Centre amplifies the essential role the humanities play in advancing the sum of human knowledge, engaging with critical questions, and providing people with the tools to address pressing global challenges. The skills and disciplines developed inside the building will set our graduates up to thrive in a complex and fast-paced workplace. And we will engage new audiences through performance, technology and the arts, fusing culture and research in fresh and innovative ways to help us navigate what it means to be human in an increasingly complex world.

I hope you will come and visit us soon to see the impact – and potential – of the Schwarzman Centre for yourself.

View of the theatre. Credit: Hufton + Crow

Read more about the Schwarzman Centre here: Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities opens in Oxford | Humanities Division