The Visiting Fellowship Programme
Keble’s Visiting Fellowship programme is entering its fifth year. Since its launch in 2020, the College has hosted thirteen visitors from academia, business, and the arts, with each individual adding their own wealth of experience to Keble’s intellectual life.
The programme got off to a rocky start, as the Covid-19 pandemic delayed the arrival of our first Fellow, the political scientist Dr Rod Dacombe, but has since integrated well into Keble’s academic calendar. This year, we are hosting five individuals, from the UK, Austria, New Zealand, and Italy. They are working in diverse fields, including women’s poetry in early modern English literature, Fascism in interwar Europe, and the problem of uncertainty in litigation.
The Visiting Fellowship programme was set up thanks to a generous donation from a Keble alumnus. It began with two simple aims. First, it provides an opportunity for individuals who have already demonstrated a high level of achievement in their fields of research or public life, to stay at Keble for periods of between one and three University terms. Fellows have used their time to develop their thinking and their research in the unique multi-disciplinary environment of an Oxford College. They can stay in an apartment in the H B Allen Centre, which brings them into the heart of the College community. There is the added benefit of chance encounters and informal meetings, in SCR meals or the HBAC café for example. In other words, Keble provides the gift of time and place, which can be invaluable to the personal and professional development of the Fellows.
The second aim of the programme is to enable the College to benefit from something different, someone who can add value to the community. Current Fellows can already nominate their colleagues as Senior Research Visitors, but the Visiting Fellowship programme allows us to open up this process and spread the net wider. Applications to the Fellowships, which are considered once a year, are received from all over the world and from new and previously unfamiliar quarters. For example, Keble has hosted three Fellows with a background in Music – most recently Dr Emilie Capulet, a distinguished scholar as well as an accomplished pianist. Emilie has held a recital in the O’Reilly Theatre and is running a masterclass for Keble musicians. Other Fellows have made contributions to students in their subjects. For example, Dr Saima Nasar has been advising undergraduates in History about their dissertation ideas.
The Visiting Fellowship programme has brought something distinctive to the life of the College and in turn we hope that Keble has given something back to individuals at a key stage in their career.
