Reflections
How has the Schwarzman Centre changed your sense of what is possible?
We asked the question…
“There is a distinct shared energy…”
“While studying this past year as a master’s student in Victorian literature, most of my time was spent learning and studying in the Schwarzman Centre. Sitting in the building’s common spaces, I’ve encountered musicians, philosophers, historians, English students, and theologians. There is a distinct shared energy brought by these individuals, informed by their fervent intellects and hunger for a humanities education.
Anna Terry
Oxford MSt Student in English
“What has struck me most is the sense that ideas do not need to remain within traditional academic boundaries.”
"Since joining the Institute for Ethics in AI in February 2026, I realise the Schwarzman Centre is much more than a workplace; it is a living demonstration of what can happen when disciplines, ideas and communities are brought together with ambition and purpose.
“For the Institute for Ethics in AI, the proximity of different disciplines, combined with the Centre’s public-facing spaces and cultural programme, makes it easier to imagine new partnerships, broader conversations and greater real-world impact. Ideas do not need to remain within traditional academic boundaries.
“As someone relatively new to Oxford, it has encouraged me to think bigger about the role the Institute can play,
not only in advancing world-leading research on AI ethics, but also in shaping public understanding and influencing the conversations that will define our collective future.”
Emily Morris
Institute Manager (Institute for Ethics in AI)
“I wake up an English fanatic and leave the library thinking about Nietzsche.”
“At the end of my first year the English Faculty Library (EFL) closed – that strange-shaped building where every book and everyone I saw was completely, entirely, an English Language and Literature student. It was supposed to make me feel part of something, a faculty, and yet I don’t think I ever ventured to speak to anyone new.
“Then came the large Schwarzman Centre, somehow encompassing seven faculties. Not to mention the public using it as intended: an arts centre. Am I a student, a member of public, an English fanatic, or someone who cares about humanities as a factor in policy development? All of them, at once and also at very different times. I wake up an English fanatic and leave the library thinking about Nietzsche.
“It is easy to repel this merging. To see it as a sweeping comment on how humanities faculties all really are just about the same things, nothing special by themselves. But we have the STEM acronym, so why not this centre for its humanities equivalent? If we must integrate the faculties to prove the humanities’ worth, then so be it. A mish-mash crowd is better than factions.
“I now embrace this contradiction of being an English student and a humanities student. And I’m realising it is becoming less of a contradiction. Cross-disciplinary thinking has always existed and I am excited to see what research and connections come out of this centre."
Madison Howarth
Second year English student
“Yes, the Schwarzman is a centre for humanities. But it’s also a centre for humanity.”
“The Schwarzman Centre for Humanities opened in September 2025. There’s something reassuring about being as new as your lecture hall. We were both freshers, for all intents and purposes.
“I am, admittedly, someone who doesn’t tend to gravitate towards libraries but this has not prevented me from enjoying the Schwarzman Centre. The cafe, atrium, and canteen have shaped my learning as much as any other part of the building.
“Yes, the Schwarzman is a centre for humanities. But it’s also a centre for humanity. Over lunch I’ve learned from friends how our subjects intersect. After lectures, I’ve compared notes with classmates. I’ve visited exhibits on biology and artificial intelligence, expanding my understanding in disciplines I haven’t studied since secondary school. This is the Schwarzman Centre I know; a place for learning not only through seminars and lectures, but also through community and conversation.
“As my first year draws to a close, I’ve enjoyed growing beside the Schwarzman Centre. I look forward to seeing how I develop within and alongside this polyvalent space.”
Daphne Harries
First year English student
