Teaching & Research
Thanks to donor contributions, we raised £1,368,148 this year for teaching and research, ensuring that Keble students continue to benefit from this world-class education for generations to come.
At Keble, nothing is more important than securing the future of our tutorial system, the hallmark of an Oxford education. By endowing academic posts, donors help sustain this uniquely personal form of teaching, where one-to-one engagement between students and tutors inspires intellectual curiosity, confidence and lifelong achievement. Alumni consistently describe tutorials as one of the most valuable aspects of their Keble experience.
Tarassenko Tutorial Fellowship in Information Engineering
A major fundraising achievement this year has been the successful completion of the campaign to raise £1 million to endow a new Tutorial Fellowship in Information Engineering. The Fellowship has been named in honour of Keble alumnus Professor Lionel Tarassenko (1975), and we are pleased to report that the appeal was completed in less than twelve months, making it one of the fastest fundraising initiatives of its scale.
Rob Shaddock
1976 Materials, Economics and Management
“I’ve always had a fascination with turning real world data into insights and decisions, and in my early career, built image and signal processing systems. Supporting the Information Engineering Fellowship felt like a natural opportunity to help students engage with this increasingly important subject and give back to a new generation of engineers. Keble has always had a strong position in engineering and I feel privileged to be able to help in some part to continue and strengthen that position.”
Information Engineering is among the newest sub-disciplines of engineering, formally established only in the early 21st century. It addresses the generation, distribution, analysis, and use of information, data, and knowledge in systems. Its applications are wide-ranging and impactful, from planet discovery to cancer diagnosis, lip reading and autonomous vehicles. The Department of Engineering Science has identified Digital Twinning as a strategically important area of research, and this Fellowship enables Keble to contribute directly to that endeavour.
The creation of the Tarassenko Tutorial Fellowship significantly enhances the College’s capacity in engineering. With the appointment of Dr Daniele de Martini as the first Tarassenko Fellow, Keble is now able to offer high-quality tuition and support in Information Engineering, strengthening both teaching and research in this area.
Dr Daniele de Martini
Tarassenko Tutorial Fellow
in Information Engineering
“The Fellowship is allowing me to take a longer-term view in both research and students’ learning pathways at Keble, opening up greater opportunities for long lasting impact in both areas.”
The endowment of the College element of the post ensures its sustainability in perpetuity. The generosity of alumni and friends has made this possible, safeguarding tutorial teaching in a strategically vital field and ensuring future generations of Keble engineers are equipped with the skills and knowledge to excel.
Career Development Fellowship in Law
Keble has a proud tradition of excellence in Law and continues to provide world-class teaching and to nurture the next generation of legal scholars and practitioners. Thanks to the generosity of our community, we have already raised £555,075 towards the endowment of a new Career Development Fellowship in Law (target £1.5m).
Career Development Fellowships (CDFs) are central to the University’s academic ecosystem. They provide outstanding early-career researchers with the opportunity to advance whilst also contributing directly to undergraduate teaching in their field. For Keble, this means we can attract and support some of the brightest academic talent at the beginning of their careers, while enhancing our teaching provision in areas of need.
Currently, Keble faces important gaps in its teaching provision for Contract Law, Trusts and Land Law. Addressing these gaps is critical if we are to maintain the strength and breadth of Law at Keble. Along with four other colleges, Keble's 1:4 tutor-to-student ratio is the lowest across Oxford. In order to retain its position as a major subject at Keble, substantial teaching is required.
Endowing a permanent CDF in Law will secure this provision for generations to come. It represents not only a significant saving for the College, but also a strategic investment in a subject that is core to both the University and to Keble.
With the generous support of our alumni and friends, we have made strong progress towards this goal, but there is still more to do.
If you would like to find out more about the CDF in Law please contact Camilla Matterson.