SSD Interdisciplinary Hubs: Ideas in action

17 June 2025

Researchers from across the Social Sciences Division have come together to celebrate the achievements of the SSD Interdisciplinary Hubs, five years after the scheme first launched.  

The SSD Interdisciplinary Hubs: Ideas in Action event brought together researchers from across the Social Sciences Division who have been awarded an Interdisciplinary Hub in the past three rounds of the scheme. Funded via the Social Sciences Division’s Fell Fund strategic allocation, the Hubs are designed to foster innovative, cross-disciplinary collaborations addressing pressing societal challenges.  

Kanza Basit stands up in front of and presents to a room of attendees

Kanza Basit introduces the SSD Interdisciplinary Hubs: Ideas in Action event

A total of nine Hubs have so far been awarded (in 2020, 2022, and 2024) across the Departments of Education, Social Policy and Intervention, Politics and International Relations, the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, and the Saïd Business School. During the event, Principal and Co-Investigators shared their Hubs’ achievements, as well as how the funding has enabled them to widen the impact of their research; enhancing collaborations and partnerships beyond disciplinary and geographical borders. 

Kanza Basit, Senior Research Facilitator at SSD, opened the event with a presentation on the progress of Hubs from Rounds one and two. PIs in attendance expanded on this with brief reflections on their achievements, the partnerships they have built, and the real-world applications of their work, which have enabled them to address global and local challenges.

You can discover all the Hubs and highlights of their achievements by exploring the drop-downs below:

Round 1 (2020)

Intended to serve as a platform for an international community of researchers and practitioners – enabling them to connect and collaborate in preventing or mitigating conflict and shaping a more secure future – selected highlights of Oxford Conflict, Peace and Security Hub’s achievements included: 

  • Welcoming major UN Chief Executives to Oxford for meetings and public events, as well as organising major roundtables featuring high-profile scholars and discussants from Oxford, Durham, Sheffield, and Bologna. 
  • Coordinating a synergic initiative with United Nations Academic Impact, producing podcasts and scientific digests circulated through UN channels 
  • Convening the UNAI Principle Hub on Peace and Conflict Resolution, contributing to the University of Oxford’s appointment as Vice Chair for Research for the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 for 2025-2027. 

The International Multimodal Communication Centre brings together scholars working on multimodal analysis across the University of Oxford and beyond. It serves as a hub for interdisciplinary and inter-regional research, facilitates Knowledge Exchange, develops training materials, and supports teaching activities. Selected highlights of its achievements include: 

  • Organising major workshops bringing together Oxford researchers in the field of multimodal analysis and non-academic partners, as well as weekly IMCC research seminars published on the IMCC YouTube Channel for wider dissemination 
  • Securing major research funding from the ESRC-NSTC and AHRC-DFG programmes  
  • Strengthening academic partnerships with Taiwan and across the Humanities and MPLS Divisions at Oxford, as well as with multiple external partners, including Little Red Hen Lab, Meedan, FrameNet Brasil, and Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) 

Launched to address some of the greatest global challenges – from globalisation to democratic decay – the Oxford Constitution Hub aimed to catalyse and communicate Oxford’s global constitutional expertise in Politics, Law, Government, and History. Selected highlights of its achievements include: 

  • Organising conferences and workshops, bringing together policymakers, politicians, government officials, practitioners and academic leaders in the field, as well as producing podcasts and lectures for wider dissemination 
  • Securing major ESRC Responsive mode funding  
  • Contributing to the foundation of the University of Oxford’s Centre for Democratic Resilience 

Round 2 (2022)

The Future Education and Training for Climate Change brings together an expansive network in Oxford and a strategic group of international, interdisciplinary collaborators to generate new research insights into education and training for the climate. Highlight achievements include: 

  • A vibrant web presence, and developing an online network mapping current research at Oxford in ETC 
  • Collaborative workshops and webinars with colleagues in UCL, Stanford and Manchester (Climate Education in schools) 
  • Securing further BA/Leverhulme funding

Since its launch in 2022, highlights of the Oxford Space Commerce and Governance Research Hub's achievements have included:
•    Organising high profile events with speakers and guests from NASA, the Satellite applications catapult, Space Angels, and Seraphim VC, as well as producing digital seminars and new books on space economy, finance and organisation 
•    Contributing to the COP 2023 and COP 2024, underscoring the social sciences’ essential role to study space economy and to provide policy guidance towards responsible, sustainable, and equitable space governance 
•    Submitting evidence to the UK House of Lords Select Committee on Space 
•    Strengthening Oxford’s position as a leading contributor to space policy, governance, and research impact. 
 

The Hub’s aim is to explore how gendered inequalities underpin crises in care, arising from factors including low fertility, migration of middle generations, population ageing, public service retrenchment, insecurities in livelihoods and housing, and war. Highlights of its achievements include: 

  • Convening an international conference including keynote speakers from Princeton University, and University of Texas Austin, as well as organising several workshops, seminar series, and virtual brainstorming cafes
  • Securing additional funding from Leverhulme Trust and British Council 
  • Producing and publishing blogs relating to gender and global care crises, publishing relevant articles and books, and informing policy at government level. 

Round 3 (2024)

Professor Wojnowski presents to a room of attendess to introduce the Oxford Ukraine Hub

Professor Wojnowski introduced the Oxford Ukraine Hub, established last year, which connects Oxford’s broad interdisciplinary expertise with international researchers and practitioners focused on Ukraine-related issues.

In a short time the Hub has already been successful in attracting scholars from across Europe – and across disciplines – to discuss this timely and important topic. Events to date have attracted audiences including academics and students, but also attendees from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development and Office, and the Business and International Trade Office.

Further workshops and a summer school are scheduled for 2025.

A room of seated people listening to Prof Rebecca Williams present the AIEOU Hub

The AI in Education (AIEOU) Hub’s goal is to establish a dynamic community of practice that will challenge and positively shape the future of AI in education, promoting a research-informed, ethical, human-centered approach to AI in Education through collaboration and knowledge exchange.

Professor Rebecca Williams (Co-I in the Faculty of Law) discussed how the Hub is examining how artificial intelligence is reshaping teaching, learning, and educational policy. It has already attracted a community of more than a thousand educators, academics, technologists, government officials, charities, and policymakers, reflecting the pressing need for robust, collaborative research and guidance in this space.

Professor Williams emphasised the need for educators and learners – those at the coal face of AI in education – to have the loudest voice in the conversation, with the ethos of "Nothing about us without us" at the heart of the Hub’s activities. She also stressed the Hub’s focus on global context, and the need to recognise that what works in one part of the world won’t necessarily be true elsewhere. 

Dr Ruta presents a powerpoint to room of attendees

Dr Ruta and Professor Harriet Ward shared insights from their Hub on developmental recovery for infants, which explores how infants who have suffered significant harm as a result of adverse childhood experiences. 

The i-Trauma Hub is building a dynamic network of members by partnering with researchers and stakeholders, and fostering community connection and knowledge exchange through regular online and hybrid meetings. Its focus spans four pillars: creating and sharing trauma research, building global networks across disciplines, amplifying practitioner voices, and co-producing trauma-informed policy. This foundation supports the Hub’s mission to unite diverse voices and perspectives in shaping evidence-based, equitable trauma responses worldwide.

University of Oxford Social Sciences Division Research, Impact & Engagement Team logo

The SSD Interdisciplinary Hubs are funded via the Social Sciences Division’s Fell Fund strategic allocation; just one of the schemes managed by the Research, Impact & Engagement (RIE) team. The RIE Team provides tailored, specialist expertise and advice to researchers across the SSD in research, impact and engagement, innovation and more. Find out more about their support to fixed term researchers and established PIs and academics.