The various academic faculties, departments, and institutes of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

are organised into four divisions, each with its own Head and elected board. They are the Humanities Division; the Social Sciences Division; the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division; and the Medical Sciences Division.

Humanities Division

The Humanities Division has received considerable praise for its work at the forefront of digitising the Humanities. The Humanities Division has been physically expanding into the new

Radcliffe Observatory Quarter The Radcliffe Observatory Quarter (ROQ) is a major University of Oxford development project in Oxford, England, in the estate of the old Radcliffe Infirmary hospital. The site, covering 10 acres (3.7 hectares) is in central north Oxford. It is ...

in Oxford. The current Head of the Humanities Division is Professor Daniel Grimley, who was appointed in January 2022. Professor Sally Shuttleworth was Head from 2006 to 2011, Professor

Shearer West Shearer Carroll West is a British-American art-historian and university administrator serving as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds since 2024. She was the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nottingham from 2017 to 2024. Early l ...

served as Head between August 2011 and 2015, and

Chris Wickham Christopher John Wickham (born 18 May 1950) is a British historian and academic. From 2005 to 2016, he was the Chichele Professor of Medieval History at the University of Oxford and Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford; he is now emeritus profe ...

until 2018. The Division contains the following faculties and departments: * Rothermere American Institute * Ruskin School of Art *

Faculty of Classics Faculty or faculties may refer to: Academia * Faculty (academic staff), professors, researchers, and teachers of a given university or college (North American usage) * Faculty (division), a large department of a university by field of study (us ...

* Faculty of English * Faculty of History * History of Art Department * Faculty of Linguistics, Philology & Phonetics * Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages * Faculty of Music *

Faculty of Oriental Studies The Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (formerly the Faculty of Oriental Studies), is a subdivision of the University of Oxford. The faculty is engaged in a broad range of research and teaching on modern and historical Asian and Midd ...

Faculty of Philosophy A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

* Faculty of Theology and Religion * The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH) *

Voltaire Foundation The Voltaire Foundation is a research department of the University of Oxford, founded by Theodore Besterman in the 1970s. It publishes the definitive edition of the ''Complete Works of Voltaire'' (''Œuvres complètes de Voltaire''), as well as ' ...

Medical Sciences Division

Medicine has been taught at the University of Oxford since the 13th century. In 1770, John Radcliffe, an Oxford-educated physician founded the

Radcliffe Infirmary The Radcliffe Infirmary was a hospital in central north Oxford, England, located at the southern end of Woodstock Road on the western side, backing onto Walton Street. Closed in 2007, after refurbishment the building was re-opened in October ...

. The current Head of the Division is Gavin Screaton, the current Divisional Registrar & Chief Operating Officer is Chris Price. Professor Alastair Buchan was head from 2007 to 2017 The Division contains the following Faculties and departments: * Department of Biochemistry *Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine *Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences *Nuffield Department of Medicine *Department of Experimental Psychology *Radcliffe Department of Medicine *Department of Oncology *Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences *Department of Paediatrics *

Sir William Dunn School of Pathology The Sir William Dunn School of Pathology is a department within the University of Oxford. Its research programme includes the cellular and molecular biology of pathogens, the immune response, cancer and cardiovascular disease. It teaches undergr ...

* Department of Pharmacology *Department of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics *

Nuffield Department of Population Health The Nuffield Department of Population Health (NDPH) of Oxford University is located at the Old Road Campus in Headington, Oxford, England. It is one of the largest departments within Oxford University's Medical Sciences Division. The head of ...

*Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences *Department of Psychiatry *Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences *Nuffield Department of Women's & Reproductive Health The

Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine The MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford is a research institute located at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. Founded in 1989 by Sir David Weatherall, the institute focuses on furthering our understan ...

is a research institute of the Radcliffe Department of Medicine The

Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics The Centre for Human Genetics (CHG) is a human genetics research centre of the Nuffield Department of Medicine in the Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, funded by the Wellcome Trust among others. Facilities & resources The cent ...

is a research institute of the Nuffield Department of Medicine. The

Collaborating Centre for Oxford University and CUHK for Disaster and Medical Humanitarian Response Collaborating Centre for Oxford University and CUHK for Disaster and Medical Humanitarian Response was established jointly by the University of Oxford and The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) as a non-profit research centre to carry out res ...

is a partnership between the Nuffield Department of Medicine and

CUHK Faculty of Medicine The Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, branded as CU Medicine, is the medical school of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, a public research university. Established in 1981 as Hong Kong's second medical school, the fa ...

. The

Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology John Radcliffe Hospital (informally known as the JR or the John Radcliffe) is a large tertiary teaching hospital in Oxford, England. It forms part of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is named after John Radcliffe, an 18th-c ...

is a division of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences. The CRUK/MRC Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology is a research institute of the Department of Oncology. The

Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM), based in the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford, is an academic-led centre dedicated to the practice, teaching, and dissemination of high quality evidenc ...

is a research centre of the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences.

Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division

The current head of the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division (MPLS) is Professor

James Naismith James Naismith (; November 6, 1861November 28, 1939) was a Scottish-Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, and sports coach, best known as the inventor of the game of basketball. After moving to the United State ...

, appointed in 2023 and taking office in October 2023. From 2007 to 2015, the head was Professor Alex Halliday. Professor Sam Howison led the division from 2019 to 2023. The Division contains the following departments: *

Begbroke Science Park Begbroke Science Park is a science park located five miles north of Oxford, England. It is owned by Oxford University and managed as part of the university's Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division It lies within the parish of Be ...

* Department of Biology (formed from the merger of the Department of Plant Sciences and Department of Zoology) * Department of Chemistry * Department of Computer Science * Doctoral Training Centre * Department of Earth Sciences * Department of Engineering Science * Department of Materials * Mathematical Institute *

Department of Physics Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

* Department of Statistics

Social Sciences Division

The Social Sciences Division represents the largest grouping of

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

of any

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. As a major provider of

social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

, it is accredited by the

Economic and Social Research Council The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), formerly the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). UKRI is a non-departmental public body (NDPB) funded by the UK government. ESRC provides fundi ...

as a

Doctoral Training Centre Doctoral Training Centres (DTCs; also called Centres for Doctoral TrainingCentr ...

of excellence in

training. From 2021 the division's head is Professor Timothy Power. From 2008 to 2017 the head was Professor Roger Goodman. The Division contains the following faculties and departments: *School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography *

School of Archaeology The School of Archaeology is an academic department of the University of Oxford comprising the Institute of Archaeology and the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art (RLAHA), and is part of Oxford's Social Sciences Division ...

Saïd Business School Saïd Business School (Oxford Saïd or SBS) is the business school of the University of Oxford. The school is a provider of management education. Business and management classes started at Oxford in 1965 when the Centre of Management Studies, ...

* Department of Economics *Department of Education * School of Geography and the Environment *Oxford School of Global and Area Studies *

Blavatnik School of Government The Blavatnik School of Government is the school of public policy of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. The School was founded in 2010 following a £75 million donation from business magnate Len Blavatnik, supported by £26 million fro ...

* Department of International Development *

Oxford Internet Institute The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) serves as a hub for interdisciplinary research, combining social and computer science to explore information, communication, and technology. It is an integral part of the University of Oxford's Social Science ...

Faculty of Law A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

Oxford Martin School The Oxford Martin School is a research and policy unit based in the Social Sciences Division of the University of Oxford. It was founded in June 2005 as the James Martin 21st Century School and is located in the original building of the Indian ...

* Department of Politics and International Relations * Department of Social Policy and Intervention *Department of Sociology

Gardens, Libraries and Museums

In 2016 Academic Services and University Collections (ASUC) changed its name to Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM), and now operates as an effective fifth division of the university. Responsible for four museums (the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street in Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University ...

, the History of Science Museum, the

Oxford University Museum of Natural History The Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH) is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on Parks Road in Oxford, England. It also contains a lecture theatre which is used by the univers ...

, and the

Pitt Rivers Museum Pitt Rivers Museum is a museum displaying the archaeological and anthropological collections of the University of Oxford in England. The museum is located to the east of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and can only be accessed ...

), the

Bodleian Libraries The Bodleian Libraries are a collection of 28 libraries that serve the University of Oxford in England, including the Bodleian Library itself, as well as many other (but not all) central and faculty libraries. As of the 2021–2022 report year, ...

, and the

University of Oxford Botanic Garden The University of Oxford Botanic Garden is the oldest Botanical garden, botanic garden in Great Britain and one of the oldest scientific gardens in the world. The garden was founded in 1621 as a physic garden growing plants for medicinal resear ...

, GLAM is overseen by the directors of the six GLAM departments chaired by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (People & GLAM),

Richard Ovenden Richard Ovenden FRHistS (; born 25 March 1964) is a British librarian and author. He currently serves as the 25th Bodley's Librarian in the University of Oxford, having been appointed in 2014. He is also the current head of the University of Ox ...

Department for Continuing Education

The Department for Continuing Education works with the divisions to promote continuing education.

References

External links

Divisions and Departments

Humanities Division

Medical Sciences Division

MPLS Division

Social Sciences Division
{{University of Oxford *