New Interdisciplinary Hubs receive funding to boost collaborations across borders
Three new Interdisciplinary Hubs led by academics in the Social Sciences Division are to launch this month, with the aim of catalysing interdisciplinary communities in their respective subject areas to strengthen their readiness to secure significant future research funding.
The Hubs, led by Dr Sara Ratner (Department of Education), Professor Jane Barlow (Department of Social Policy and Intervention) and Dr Zbigniew Wojnowski (Oxford School of Global and Area Studies) and each awarded funding of £40,000 from the Social Sciences Division, will bring together researchers from across the University of Oxford with external collaborators: forging new connections across disciplinary boundaries, facilitating interdisciplinary activities, and developing links with key, non-academic stakeholders.
We’re very excited to be supporting these new Interdisciplinary Hubs, which will foster diverse and dynamic collaborations between researchers and key external partners in addressing some of society’s most pressing challenges.
Professor Louise Slater, Associate Head (Research & Impact) Social Sciences Division
The 2024 SSD Interdisciplinary Hubs:
AI in Education at Oxford University
PI: Dr Sara Ratner (Department of Education), Co-I: Professor Elizabeth Wonnacott (Department of Education) Professor Rebecca Williams (Faculty of Law)
The AI in Education at Oxford University (AIEOU) Hub will promote a research-informed, ethical, human-centred approach to AI in Education that supports the diverse needs of the global educational landscape through collaboration and knowledge exchange. Working across the four pillars of design, regulation, implementation and impact, researchers at the University of Oxford will collaborate and convene with expert partners and key stakeholders from around the world to establish a shared research agenda and co-create a use case for AI in Education that represents best practice in quality teaching and learning. The AIEOU Hub has already established an initial network of members including academics from across the University alongside academic peers, educators, learners, foundations, governments and industry partners who are all committed to safely and responsibly leveraging the potential of AI in Education.
Reflecting on the award, Dr Ratner said, ‘I am incredibly grateful to the Social Sciences Division for supporting the establishment of AIEOU with this award. The Hub, based at the Department of Education, offers an exciting opportunity to collaborate with diverse stakeholders across the University and around the world. Our aim is to establish a dynamic community of practice to help shape the design, regulation, implementation and impact of AI in Education.’
Interdisciplinary hub to promote developmental recovery for infants who have suffered significant harm as a result of adverse childhood experiences
PI: Professor Jane Barlow (Department of Social Policy and Intervention), Co-I: Dr Ruta Buivydaite (Department of Experimental Psychology), Professor Harriet Ward (Department of Education)
Promoting optimal life outcomes for infants whose development has been compromised by adverse early life experiences is essential, whether they remain with their birth parents or are placed with kinship carers, foster carers or adoptive parents. There is a pressing need to support all adults involved in these children’s lives, to improve practice across health and social care and to ensure that decisions made by the family courts are informed by research evidence.
This new interdisciplinary hub will provide the vital infrastructure to bring together an international community of academics, policymakers and practitioners, alongside experts by experience, across the UK and Europe, to deliver a programme of applied research using an interdisciplinary, co-design and multiple levels of analysis perspective. Its purpose will be to create a community of experts who can share knowledge and collaborate on applications for small- and large-scale funding to design, evaluate, and implement initiatives intended to improve outcomes for this very vulnerable group of children.
Professor Barlow said, ‘This is a really very exciting opportunity to work with a group of international experts including experts by experience, to improve the long-term life chances of babies who have experienced significant early adversity in their lives, and whose development is typically compromised as a result. We hope to be able to develop some innovative ways of working across a range of sectors including health and social care’.
Oxford Ukraine Hub
Professor Polly Jones (Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages), Dr Marnie Howlett (Department of Politics and International Relations), Dr Ievgenia Kopytsia (Faculty of Law), Dr Jonathon Turnbull (School of Geography and the Environment), Dr Zbigniew Wojnowski (PI) (Oxford School of Global and Area Studies), Dr Pany Xenophontos (Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages), and Yevhen Yashchuk
The Oxford Ukraine Hub (OUH) serves as an interdisciplinary network to connect the exceptional breadth and depth of expertise across multiple disciplines at Oxford with international researchers and practitioners working on, and interested in, issues related to Ukraine. By placing Ukraine at the centre of scholarly enquiry and bringing together scholars from the social sciences and humanities, the OUH disrupts long-established epistemological hierarchies within Slavic and East European studies by fostering new collaborations across disciplines, departments, and institutions, including scholars in Ukraine. Key outputs will include a workshop series, a podcast, and the development of an international and open access ‘Global Ukraine’ website. The OUH also creates capacity for new interdisciplinary research opportunities, securing additional grants, leveraging policy impact, and broadening public engagement within the UK and beyond, which is critical given Ukraine’s ongoing struggle for independence.
Reacting to the award, PI Dr Wojnowski said, 'We are excited to bring a leading array of scholars from Oxford and beyond into dialogue at this critical moment both for Ukraine and Ukrainian studies. The Hub will help us to integrate the study of Ukraine into university curricula across disciplinary divides. We are very grateful to Oxford for supporting this vital initiative'.
