New Chair in Global Security named after Vice Chancellor Louise Richardson

28 November 2022

Oxford University is honouring Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Louise Richardson’s tenure at Oxford with a newly endowed Chair focused on Global Security.

The Dame Louise Richardson Chair in Global Security, based at the Blavatnik School of Government, will build on the School’s expertise in international law, economics, philosophy and government, and its wide-ranging engagement with leading scholars and practitioners on issues from cyber security to reducing state fragility.

Focused on critical priorities in global security such as the proliferation of nuclear weapons, terrorism, ethics of warfare and international law, the Chair will lead global collaborative research and build on the School’s growing outreach to current public leaders through short courses and global workshops.

The Dame Louise Richardson Chair in Global Security will enable the University more powerfully to bring together research across departments to contribute to global security policy.

Professor Dame Louise Richardson said:

"I’m deeply touched that a number of generous donors came forward to create this chair in recognition of my time as Vice-Chancellor. I could not hope for a more fitting gift than to ensure that the critically important issue of global security is researched and taught by talented academics at Oxford for generations to come."
Chris Patten Blavatnik event

The Chancellor of the University of Oxford, The Rt Hon the Lord Patten of Barnes, CH. speaks at the Blavatnik School of Government event. Photo by John Cairns.

The Chair was launched during an event at the Blavatnik School of Government on 25th November opened by The Chancellor of the University of Oxford, The Rt Hon the Lord Patten of Barnes, CH., and followed by a panel discussion entitled ‘A dangerous world – The future of global security’.

In the opening remarks, the Chancellor, Lord Patten, said of Professor Dame Louise Richardson:

"Before she was a distinguished Vice Chancellor, she was a great teacher and a great scholar”; through her work and her scholarship around terrorism and global security, she provided “an extraordinary contribution to public policy."

Professor Ngaire Woods, Dean of the Blavatnik School, said:

"We want to thank Professor Richardson for her leadership of the University but also for her contributions as a scholar and for what we know about security and how we think about global security. I hope she will continue to help inspire us in this domain as we begin building this Chair and a programme in global security."

The recording of the opening remarks and the panel discussion is available on the Blavatnik School YouTube channel: The Dame Louise Richardson Chair in Global Security: Panel discussion – A dangerous world.