Nuffield College

On Monday, we welcomed artist and writer Edmund de Waal for a celebratory lunch to mark the installation of his new works, and to recognise former Art Fellow Richard Mayou’s generous donation towards the acquisition of this new art for the College.

Guests heard reflections from Edmund de Waal on themes of 'pausing', space, and contemplation within the works, and why they felt especially resonant for Nuffield.

The Warden, Julia Black, pictured, and current Art Fellow, Andy Thompson, also spoke during the event.

Thank you to Edmund de Waal and Richard Mayou - pictured below, taking a moment to 'pause' on the marble bench also donated by the artist for the Fellows’ Garden - for an inspiring afternoon of conversation, art, and generosity.

What makes us feel connected to the places and people around us?

Researchers at the University of Oxford and Nuffield College are launching The National Conversation, a major new UK-wide initiative that will explore social cohesion, trust, belonging, and identity across Britain.

Led by researchers at Oxford Population Health’s Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science and Nuffield College, the project will invite people across the country to share their experiences of community life and their hopes for the future.

Launching publicly on 18 May 2026, the initiative aims to build one of the most detailed long-term pictures of how people across the UK feel about community and cohesion today.

Read more: https://buff.ly/HTZEDFU

📺 Watch Professorial Fellow Jane Green commenting on the King's Speech yesterday for ITV News' special programme at https://bit.ly/4dnfBEG

DPIR's Professor of Political Science and British Politics, Jane Green joins ITV News to discuss the King's Speech and the Prime Minister's future in a special programme broadcast today: https://www.itv.com/watch/the-kings-speech/10a6156a0001B/10a6156a0001

Last month, Ian Jewitt, Senior Research Fellow, and Andy Thompson, Professorial Fellow, brought together a group of economists from Oxford and beyond, with several members of the Global Commission of Modern Slavery, for a one-day workshop in Nuffield College.

Former Prime minister, Baroness Theresa May, opened the workshop, and papers were then presented on a range of topics including labour markets, international migration, criminality, satellite technology, artificial intelligence, and the history and contemporary state of anti-trafficking legislation.

This workshop aimed to connect a community of economists who are interested in working on what is arguably the world’s biggest human rights violation — approximately 50 million people in a state of modern slavery — and what might be done to better target the responses of national governments and international organisations to reducing vulnerabilities to this crime and rescuing those who fall prey to it.

Nuffield College joins forces with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to study the impact of donor cuts.

On 18 March 2026, Nuffield Professorial Fellow Andrew Thompson met with UNHCR’s UK Representative, Vicky Tennant, to sign an agreement launching a joint project examining how donor funding cuts may affect refugees’ vulnerability to human trafficking, exploitation, and modern slavery.

Working closely with UNHCR colleagues, Nuffield researchers Cesare Vagge and Marly Tiburcio-Carneiro will produce case studies focused on refugee camps in Bangladesh and Ethiopia, mapping how reductions in key protection services could increase risks for displaced communities.

The collaboration builds on the Framework of Analysis on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking developed for the Global Commission on Modern Slavery, and marks an important step towards future partnership opportunities in the 75th anniversary year of the 1951 Refugee Convention.

Read more about the project: https://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/news-events/news/new-partnership-with-the-uns-high-commission-for-refugees/

Many congrats to Nuffield DPhil students Chenchuan Shi and Max Marczinek for their nominations for European Central Bank's 2026 Young Economist Prize

More info about the nominated papers at the following links:
✍️ Max: https://economics.web.ox.ac.uk/article/max-marczinek-nominated-for-ecb-young-economist-prize
📑 Chenchuan: https://economics.web.ox.ac.uk/article/chenchuan-shi-nominated-for-ecb-young-economist-prize

Max Marczinek nominated for ECB Young Economist Prize The Department of Economics is delighted to congratulate Max Marczinek, who has been nominated for the European Central Bank’s 2026 Young Economist Prize for his paper, Labour Scarcity and Productivity: Insights from the Last Nordic Plague.

Four cities, five days, countless conversations. This year, it was all about AI.

Our Warden and Development Director recently completed a whirlwind visit across the East Coast—Boston, Washington DC, Princeton, and New York and connected with alumni, fellows and friends of Nuffield College. Each stop offered a chance to spark new ideas and be reminded just how global the Nuffield community truly is.

A small snapshot from each city below—thank you to everyone who welcomed us so warmly along the way - especially to our hosts & donors!

Lauren Sukin, Professorial Fellow at Nuffield College, has a new op‑ed in Foreign Policy exploring how United States domestic politics shape international trust.

Building on recent research published in International Studies Quarterly, the piece argues that persistent public polarization, not just individual leaders, undermines US credibility abroad. The findings suggest that concerns about reliability may endure even as party control changes.

Read more: https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/23/trump-democrats-republicans-credibility-prestige-partisanship/

Also from Lauren this week, an article about how states use implausible deniability to limit their accountability for aggression, co-written with Kathryn Hedgecock, has been published in Security Studies. ‘Implausible deniability and escalation in the gray zone’ can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/09636412.2026.2616810

After Trump, Partisanship Will Still Undermine U.S. Credibility For foreign audiences, the dysfunctional nature of U.S. politics matters more than the country’s leader.

Enjoy some spring colour, captured by our colleague Dale last weekend at the College’s annual Bluebell Day outing to

Every year, staff, students and Fellows visit Lord Nuffield's former home to see their annual display of bluebells, which never disappoints

Photos of Nuffield MPhil-DPhil student Sarah Marshall and her crewmates, who won the 2026 Women's Boat Race at the beginning of the month.

Congratulations again to Sarah and the whole crew!

Our news story at https://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/news-events/news/nuffield-student-part-of-oxford-women-s-boat-race-victory/
Photos courtesy of The Boat Race / AllMarkOne.