The Oxford Social Sciences Division represents one of the largest groupings of social scientists in the world, with over 1,000 researchers and 5,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students exploring major challenges facing humanity, such as climate change, migration, global governance, justice, poverty and international development.
In 2025 the University of Oxford ranked second in both the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for Social Sciences and QS World University Rankings for Social Sciences & Management. Our results from the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) exercise demonstrate world-leading significance, originality, and rigour across the breadth of the Division's research. The fifteen outstanding departments, faculties and schools within the Social Sciences Division create an intellectually fertile environment for social scientists to thrive. Their outputs inform decision-making of current policy and business leaders, and their teaching nurtures the next generation.
The Divisional Office supports the administrative functions in departments, as well as academics and researchers directly, by undertaking much of the day-to-day work relating to planning and resource allocation, the administration of academic appointments, on-course graduate administration, detailed supervision of education and research, and fundraising for professorships, scholarships and capital projects. Our responsibilities cover strategic leadership, finance planning and budgeting, educational provision, and academic policy across the Division, with a particular role in monitoring and quality assurance.
Powered by our divisional Education and Research Strategies we support policy and practice in departments, facilitating research and impact initiatives and supporting the delivery of intellectually stimulating and academically rigorous teaching programmes.
We also deliver shared services that enable economies of scale and expert-led professional services support to parts of the Division on an opt-in basis. The Divisional office is also responsible for developing the division-wide research and skills training programme for doctoral students and for managing the funding and strategic development of the ESRC Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership.
