Director, Uehiro Oxford Institute

The University of Oxford is seeking a new Director to lead the Uehiro Oxford Institute (UOI).

The Uehiro Oxford Institute (UOI) is built around the fundamental question: “How should we live?”. Through research, teaching and public engagement, it aims to address the most significant issues facing humanity in a well-informed, helpful, and ethically grounded manner.

Beginning as a research centre within the Faculty of Philosophy, UOI was established as an institute within the University’s Humanities Division in October 2024 thanks to generous support from the Uehiro Foundation on Ethics and Education. Though working closely with Philosophy and taking a philosophical approach to enquiry, the Institute is interdisciplinary by nature and engages both theoretically and practically across subject areas as diverse as law, psychology, medicine, technology and AI, history, theology, business, and the arts. In collaboration with Oxford Lifelong Learning (formerly the Department for Continuing Education), UOI runs one of the University’s most successful programmes: the MSt in Practical Ethics. The MSt is part-time, and attracts an unusually wide range of excellent students.

The new Director will have significant scope to shape UOI’s institutional strategy. Building on a strong foundation of existing resources, activities, and academic excellence, they will bring focus to the Institute’s mission and strategic direction. They will also play a key role in enhancing the Institute’s reputation with external stakeholders and the wider public, fostering a vibrant intellectual environment, and developing relationships across and beyond the University.

The ideal candidate will have experience in interdisciplinary working, and a commitment to philosophical methodology. They will be an excellent scholar with a strong and relevant personal research profile. They will showcase strong strategic and people leadership skills as well as vision, with the ability to translate these to an exciting new Institute with enormous potential.