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Uehiro Foundation on Ethics and Education

The Uehiro Foundation on Ethics and Education aims to advance well-being and global harmony by fostering world-leading research on the most important ethical questions, and by research-led assistance in ethical decision-making. It is an example of one of the underlying trusts held within the University’s unitholding of the Oxford Endowment Fund. There is a long-standing partnership between the University and the Uehiro Foundation, and their philanthropic support has enabled ethics research, teaching and international engagement at Oxford over many years. This commitment culminated in a transformational gift that established a new Uehiro Oxford Institute on 1 October 2024, providing a permanent academic home for ethical inquiry.

The Institute supports world-class research and teaching across a wide range of ethical questions, including medical ethics, bioethics, artificial intelligence, global priorities and public policy. The endowment funds the appointment and retention of academic talent, including doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers, and convening interdisciplinary programmes that bring together scholars from across the humanities, social sciences, medicine and beyond. By providing long-term, secure funding, the gift ensures that ethical scholarship at Oxford is intellectually ambitious, globally engaged and responsive to emerging challenges.

Maintaining the real value of the underlying endowment, while generating a steady and growing distribution, is essential to
sustaining the Institute’s activities for future generations. Through the Oxford Endowment Fund, the gift supporting the Uehiro Oxford Institute is invested to balance the needs of today’s scholars and students with those of future beneficiaries, ensuring intergenerational equity and enduring academic impact. In doing so, the gift continues to shape ethical thinking at Oxford and beyond.