Knowledge Exchange Fellow Oliver Cox (@OliverJWCox) from The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH) asked members of the public, students and academics in Oxford whether humanities subjects are worth investing in.
This question will be asked again at the opening event of TORCH's Humanities and the Public Good Series on Monday 27 January at the Mathematical Institute, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter from 5pm. Introduced by the Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew Hamilton and chaired by the Head of the Humanities Division Professor Shearer West, the event brings together leading scholars in the humanities and sciences, and influential figures beyond academia, to consider the role of the humanities in addressing contemporary challenges.
Professor Earl Lewis, President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will give an opening presentation entitled In Everyone's Interests: What it Means to Invest in the Humanities. This will be followed by a roundtable discussion including David Willetts (Universities Minister), Hermione Lee (President of Wolfson College and Biographer), Marcus du Sautoy (Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science) and Charlotte Higgins (Chief Arts Writer, The Guardian).
Visit http://www.torch.ox.ac.uk for more information and find TORCH on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TORCHOxford.