The Oxford Institute of Charity(OIC)represents acollaboration between the College and Charity Futures,the Third Sector think tank,and is the culmination of almost three years of discussion and planning.It is anticipated that the Institute will open its doors in the summer of 2022 in apurpose-built home on anewly developed part of the college site.OIC’s objectives will be to:deliver high calibre academic research to be used by the global charity community promote the importance of research and study of charity,both at post-graduate and undergraduate level,in universities more generally develop networks and foster links internationally digitise charity records to assist with wider research and study organise conferences and summer schools for UK and global academics,philanthropists,corporate donors and leaders of civil society 查看详细>>

Oxford University is to launch anew Centre for Demographic Science with£10 million funding from the Leverhulme Trust.The Trust today made the announcement as part of their annual Leverhulme Research Centre awards.The centre,led by Professor Melinda Mills,Professoral Fellow in the Department of Sociology at Nuffield College,will take an unconventional approach,uniting researchers not only from demography but also from sociology,criminology,economics,statistics,molecular genetics,biology,history,marketing and business,to bring‘science’into demography.Professor Mills said:‘We are delighted to receive this award.We have never had aLeverhulme Centre at Oxford,nor has there ever been aLeverhulme Centre in the social sciences,so this is abig feather in our cap.‘Demographic research aids society,government and industry to prepare for demands related to population growth and shrinkage,climate change,migration,longevity and ageing,fertility and household change.Our aim is to build an internationally-recognised centre of research excellence that will disrupt,realign and raise the value of demography.‘The Leverhulme Trust awarded£30 million in total to three research centres to encourage original research that will establish or reshape asignificant field of study and transform our understanding of an important topic in contemporary societies.Professor Gordon Marshall,the Director of the Trust,commented,‘Leverhulme Trust Research Centres are amajor investment in discovery-led inquiry at atime when funding for fundamental scholarship is under great pressure.They are our vote-of-confidence in the quality of the UK’s outstanding researchers.‘Each Centre will embrace multi-disciplinary and international collaborations designed to bring the highest calibre of expertise to bear on these exciting areas of inquiry.The Trust Board is delighted to add these new awards to its portfolio of long-term research investments.‘Nuffield College will be contributing£750k in matched funding across the 10-year lifetime of the new Centre.The College has also committed to provide space for the Centre in the refurbished premises at 42 Park End Street,into which the Department of Sociology will move as awhole in April 2019.Other recipients of the Leverhulme Research Centre award 2018 are Imperial College London and the University of York. 查看详细>>

Professor Floridi‘s appointment was announced today by Rt Hon Jeremy Wright,Secretary of State for Digital Culture,in his speech at the open Data Institute Summit.He will join anumber of expert advisors including Robert Winston and Krita Sharma,who will work to shape the UK’s position as leaders in the field of artificial intelligence.The Centre is the first of its kind,and was established to support work towards maximising the potential of artificial intelligence in the UK.In particular,shaping policy on how data-driven technologies are used,and crucially,to ensure that these technologies and data in general are used responsibly for the maximum benefit of society.It aims to analyse and anticipate gaps in the governance landscape,determine and set out best practice to guide ethical and innovative uses of data,and advise government on the need for specific policy or regulatory action.First proposed in the government’s Industrial Strategy and highlighted further in the£1 billion AI Sector Deal,the Centre is afurther step forward in realising the full potential of artificial intelligence in the UK.Estimates suggest it could be worth as much as£232bn to the UK economy by 2030. 查看详细>>

The donation,which includes a£6 million up-front commitment,with further funds earmarked for the recruitment of staff,is the largest in the history of the Faculty of Philosophy at Oxford.It will support the FHI in its mission of ensuring along and flourishing future for humanity.The multidisciplinary nature of the research conducted at the FHI brings the tools of mathematics,philosophy,social sciences and science to bear on big-picture questions about humanity and its prospects for along and flourishing future.The FHI has,and continues to,shed light on crucial considerations that might shape our future.Founding Director of the FHI,Professor Nick Bostrom,said:‘There is along-distance race between humanity’s technological capability,which is like astallion galloping across the fields,and humanity’s wisdom,which is more like afoal on unsteady legs.This is anice apple specifically for the foal.’Researchers at the FHI have originated or played apioneering role in developing many of the concepts that shape current thinking about humanity’s deep future.These include existential risk,astronomical waste,the simulation argument,nanotechnology,the great filter,infinitarian paralysis,prediction markets,and analysis of superintelligence,brain emulation scenarios,human enhancement,transhumanism,and anthropics.This funding will help the FHI to scale up its research efforts and make advances in these and other crucial research areas,especially research towards AI and its alignment,governance and coordination,and towards biosecurity.This stream of funding will foster new research and future research leaders in the fields of technical AI safety,governance of AI,biosecurity,and other challenges facing humanity with the advent of advanced technologies.It will also help the FHI launch the Research Scholars Programme,providing opportunities to early career researchers to help encourage critical thinking on these important issues.This funding will cover costs associated with the programme until 2021.In addition,up to eight graduate students will benefit from full funding for their studies through FHI scholarships. 查看详细>>