Humanitas Programme

The Humanitas Programme is a series of Visiting Professorships at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge in England, intended to bring leading practitioners and scholars to both universities to address major themes in the arts, social sciences, and humanities.
Appointed for a given academic year, each Humanitas Visiting Professor delivers a series of events ranging from lectures to workshops, masterclasses, recitals and symposia. Lectures and symposia are filmed and available online to audiences throughout the world
Created by Lord Weidenfeld in 2010, the Humanitas Programme is funded by a number of donors and managed by the Oxford-based Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust. The Humanitas Programme has also been run in collaboration with TORCH and CRASSH Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities
The Humanitas Programme often draws media attention for its topical and high-profile speakers, such as Eric Schmidt sharing a positive outlook on the impact of new technologies on our world, or Murray Perahia exploring the personal and universal in the work musical genius, or Shirin Neshat discussing the formation of her artistic identity.
Its Visiting Professorships have touched upon topics ranging from the complexity of narrating history to the challenges of sustainable development in the 21st century.

List of Humanitas Visiting Professorships

Visiting Professorship in Architecture University of Oxford, Brasenose College

2010–2011: Lord Foster, How do we sustainably accommodate even larger populations in cities in a way that does not recklessly deplete natural resources?
2011–2012: Lord Foster, Heritage and Lessons

Visiting Professorship in Chamber Music University of Cambridge, Peterhouse

2010–2011: Alfred Brendel, On Character in Music and Light and Shade of Interpretation
2012–2013: Robert Levin, Encountering Mozart
2013–2014: Angela Hewitt, The Art of Fugue
2014–2015: Murray Perahia, On Performing the Classics
2015–2016: Mitsuko Uchida,

Visiting Professorship in Chinese Studies University of Cambridge, St Catharine's College

2011–2012: Wu Hung, Reading Absence in Chinese Art and Material Culture
2012–2013: Chen Yung-fa, The Meaning of the Chinese Communist Revolution
2013–2014: David Wang, What is Chinese about Chinese Literature?
2014–2015: Xu Bing, The Reactivation of Tradition

Visiting Professorship in Classical Music and Musical Education University of Oxford, St John's College
2012–2013: Imogen Cooper, Schubert
2013–2014: Midori, Bach, Brahms, Music Education and Community Engagement
2014–2015: Ian Bostridge Why Winterreise? Schubert's song cycle, then and now
2015–2016:Sérgio and Odair Assad
Visiting Professorship in Comparative European Literature University of Oxford, St Anne's College

2010–2011: James Wood, Everything, Nothing, Something; 'Melville and the New Atheists; Jens Peter Jacobsen and the contradictions of atheism; 'Tolstoy's Third Way Lecture; An answer vouchsafed them: Virginia Woolf's mystic God; Beckett and Nothing,
2011–2012: Ali Smith, On Time, On Form, On Edge, On Offer, and On Reflection
2013–2013: Don Paterson The Domain of the Poem
2014–2015: Javier Cercas The Blind Spot

Visiting Professorship in Contemporary Art University of Oxford, Magdalen College

2010–2011: Thomas Struth, Do pictures contribute to identity and cultural difference?
2011–2012: Shirin Neshat, Images and History
2012–2013: William Kentridge, Thinking On One's Feet
2013–2014: Vik Muniz Class Dismissed... Art, Creativity and Education
2014–2015: Maya Lin Between Art and Architecture

Visiting Professorship in Drama University of Oxford, Brasenose College

2010–2011: Athol Fugard, The Playwriting Process and Theatrical Directing
2011–2012: Vanessa Redgrave, Theatre and Politics Today
2012–2013: Gregory Doran
2014–2015: David Edgar Plays Today

Visiting Professorship in Economic Thought University of Oxford, All Souls College

2011–2012: Sir Partha Dasgupta, Time and the Generations
2012–2013: Stanley Fischer, Lessons of the Crisis
2013–2014: Roger Myerson, Political Economy and Economic Development

Visiting Professorship in Film & Television University of Oxford, St Anne's College

2012–2013: Michael Winterbottom, Genre, Adaptation, and Contemporary Cinema
2013–2014: Kelly Reichardt American Landscapes and Narratives of the Road
2016–2017: Lenny Abrahamson The Uncertain Filmmaker
2017–2018: Sam Mendes

Visiting Professorship in Historiography University of Oxford, Trinity College

2011–2012: Saul Friedländer, Trends in the Historiography of the Holocaust
2012–2013: Christopher Bayly, Worlds of Thought: Empire, India and Islam
2013–2014: Lynn Hunt Dilemmas of History in a Global Age
2014–2015: Barbara Rosenwein The History of Emotions
2015–2016: Simon Schama, the Past and its Publics

Visiting Professorship in the History of Art University of Cambridge, Clare College

2012–2013: Philippe de Montebello, The Multiple Lives of the Work of Art
2013–2014: Pierre Rosenberg, Poussin in England
2015–2016: Wim Pijbes, Old Masters Fit for the Future

Visiting Professorship in the History of Ideas University of Oxford, Merton College

2012–2013: Lorraine Daston, Nature's Revenge: A History of Risk, Responsibility, and Reasonableness
2016–2017: Jared Diamond, The Use of Religion

Visiting Professorship in Intelligence Studies University of Oxford, All Souls College

2013–2014: General Hayden, Terrorism and Islam's Civil War
2014–2015: John McLaughlin, Challenges Facing American Intelligence

Visiting Professorship in Interfaith Studies University of Oxford, Lady Margaret Hall

2010–2012: Jan Assmann, Ancient Egyptian Religion
2011–2012: Lord Sacks, A Jewish Theology of the Other
2012–2013: Abdou Filali-Ansary, Beyond Apologetics: Approaching Religious Traditions Through Modern Disciplines
2013–2014: Rowan Williams, Faith and Power

Visiting Professorship in Media University of Cambridge, St John's College

2010–2011: Mathias Döpfner, ‘The Freedom Trap’, ‘The Internet – a Liberating or Enslaving Machine?’ and ‘Can Journalism be Free in the Digital Age?'
2011–2012: Manuel Castells, Communication Power in the Network Society
2012–2013: Eric Schmidt, Our Connected Age
2013–2014: Alastair Campbell, A Life at the Nexus of Media and Politics
2014–2015: Emily Bell,, The Impact of Social Media and the Internet on Journalism and News Publishing

Visiting Professorship in Museums, Galleries, and Libraries University of Oxford, Balliol College

2010–2011: Glen D. Lowry, The Abodes of the Muses: Theorising the Modern Art Museum
2011–2012: Malcolm Rogers, The Art Museum in the 21st Century
2012–2013: Ivo Mesquita, Contemporary Art and Globalisation
2013–2014: Michael Govan, A Voice from the Pacific: Re-envisioning the Art Museum
2014–2015: Stephen Greenblatt, The Humanities are they important?

Visiting Professorship in Opera Studies University of Oxford, New College

2011–2012: Joseph Volpe, Whither Opera in the 21st Century?
2012–2013: Gerard Mortier
2013–2014: Renee Fleming
2015–2016: Christian Thielemann
2016–2017: William Christie

Visiting Professorship in Rhetoric and the Art of Public Persuasion University of Oxford, St Peter's College

2012–2013: Mark Thompson, The Cloud of Unknowing

Visiting Professorship in Statecraft and Diplomacy University of Cambridge, Pembroke College

2011–2012: Helen Clark, '
2012–2013: Gareth Evans, In Defence of Optimism
2014–2015: Richard Haass World Order: Its Past, Present & Prospects
2015–2016: Martti Ahtisaari Preventing Conflicts and Building Fairer Societies

Visiting Professorship in Sustainability Studies University of Cambridge, Trinity Hall
2013–2014: Gretchen Daily, Nature's Competing Values
2014–2015: Johan Rockstrom, Human Prosperity within Planetary Boundaries
2015–2016 Paul Ferraro, Environmental Problems are Human Problems
2018–2019: Pamela Matson, The Tellus Mater Distinguished Fellowship’
2019–2020: Ruth de Fries, The Tellus Mater Distinguished Fellowship’
Visiting Professorship in Voice and Classical Music University of Oxford, New College
2014–2015: Sir John Tomlinson
2017–2018: Andreas Scholl
2019–2020: James Conlon
2023-2024: Joyce DiDonato
Visiting Professorship in War Studies University of Cambridge, Churchill College
2010–2011: Hew Strachan, Modern War and the Question of History
2011–2012: Jay Winter, Imagining War in the 20th Century and After
2012–2013: Martin van Creveld, The Future of War
Visiting Professorship in Women's Rights' University of Cambridge, King's College

2010–2011: Nancy Fraser, Women's Rights in the 21st Century
2011–2012: Baroness Kennedy QC, The Illusion of Inclusion: Women and the Law
2012–2013: Melanne Verveer, Gender Equality: A Moral and Foreign Policy Imperative
2013–2014: Mona Siddiqui, Women in Islamic Thought and Literature
2014–2015: Natasha Walter, From Sexism to Solidarity''