Oxford Martin School

Oxford Martin School From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to search Oxford Martin School Oxford Martin School logo Oxford Martin School logo Formation 2005 Purpose Higher Education and Research Headquarters Broad Street, Oxford, England Location Oxford, England Director Professor Sir Charles Godfray Parent organization University of Oxford Website www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk The Oxford Martin School is a research and policy unit based in the Social Sciences Division of the University of Oxford. It was founded in June 2005 as the James Martin 21st Century School.[1] It is named after its benefactor, James Martin, author of the books The Wired Society and The Meaning of the 21st Century.[2] Its Director is Charles Godfray, who took up the post in February 2018.[3] Founding director of the School was Ian Goldin who held the post from September 2006 to September 2016.[4] 'Finding solutions to the world's most urgent problems' is the stated mission of the Oxford Martin School.[5] Research The School invests in research tackling "the most pressing global challenges and opportunities of the 21st century".[6] It takes a multi-disciplinary approach to issues such as climate change, migration, and the future of humanity.[7] The School and the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Oxford founded the Future of Humanity Institute in 2005. In 2010, the School announced the successful outcome of a $100 million matched funding scheme[8] that saw the number of research programmes in the School more than double. In September 2012, the School launched the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations, an interdisciplinary group looking at global issues such as cybersecurity, climate change, and political transparency. The Commission, chaired by Pascal Lamy, reported in 2013, making fifteen proposals on how to respond to these trends. These included some expansions of existing projects and some new proposals.[9][10] A report published in 2013 looked at the effect of new technologies on the structure of the labour market, with repetitive jobs being replaced by automation. It predicted that over two decades, 45 percent of all jobs in the United States were at risk of replacement.[11][12] A report published in early 2016, "Industrial Renewal in the 21st Century: Evidence from US cities", looked at how technology companies such as Facebook and Uber affect the wider economy of the United States. It showed that their effect on job creation is small and that they increase disparities in wealth.[13][14] Two Oxford Martin School research directors were listed among Prospect Magazine's World's Top Thinkers: philosopher Nick Bostrom was listed 15th in 2014 and global development researcher Max Roser was listed 2nd in 2019.[15][16] The School is home to the 'Oxford Martin Programme on the Illegal Wildlife Trade' which aims to change demand for illegal wildlife products.[17][18] The flagship publication for the School's research is Our World in Data, which is published jointly with the Global Change Data Lab.[19][20] The publication's mission – 'Research and data to make progress against the world's largest problems'[20] – is closely aligned with the School's mission. The publication's research team is based at the School.[21] Our World in Data is the largest scientific open-access publication based at a university worldwide and widely used in policy institutions.[22][23]