It is with great affection and sadness that Somerville College marks the passing of Dame Esther Rantzen (1959, English), honorary fellow of Somerville College, whose life and work embodied our College...

Help Somerville Student Body raise money to support The British Red Cross Society

Famous guests pick someone they love or admire... or both

How one of the greatest environmental disasters in history was unleashed by the unintentional actions of one man - Thomas Austin.

Air con is increasingly seen as a lifeline not a luxury. What about its climate impact?

New BBC drama The Rapture has come out at the perfect time, with its themes of extreme heat and a looming climate apocalypse. Somervillian Liz Jensen (1978, English) wrote the novel which the show is ...

On Earth Day 2026, we launched a special online series called Green Fridays at Somerville. At its heart was a simple question: what forms of sustainability-related work, care and curiosity are already...

We are delighted to share that our Fellow & Tutor in International Relations, Professor Patricia Owens has today been confirmed as a fellow of the British Academy. Election to its Fellowship is the hi...

Dr Michelle Kwok is an allergist based in Montréal, Canada, currently completing an MSc in Global Health Leadership at Somerville College. Her clinical outreach work takes her regularly to Cree and In...

Ella Road (2010, English) is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter whose credits include Black Mirror and Doctor Who. Her new play, Robota, is the first full-scale theatrical production to be s...

On what would have been the Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann’s 100th birthday, we are delighted to announce the forthcoming publication of an English translation of her fragments, translated and comp...

We were immensely fortunate to have the opportunity of welcoming Dame Karen Pierce, former British ambassador to Washington, as our speaker for the return of the James Bryce Memorial Lecture on Friday...

Somerville College is very proud to announce the winners of this year’s Pat Harris Spirit of Somerville Award: Reuben Smith (2023, Chemistry)...

For many, the night lodge exists as a background certainty, noticed chiefly in moments of crisis, vulnerability, or inconvenience.

Somerville College is delighted to announce that the celebrated composer and conductor Eric Whitacre will be Musician in Residence at College next academic year. Eric Whitacre is one of today’s most w...

Moonrise is the first album recording from young composer Christopher Churcher with works written between the ages of 17 and 21 while studying at Oxford.

Catherine Royle explains how a career in the Foreign Office and NATO is shaping her approach as Somerville College's principal.

Curious about what’s inside? The Schwarzman Centre doors are wide open and you are invited. This free-entry Saturday festival brings the building to life, celebrating the launch of our cultural progra...

Astrophysicist who studied the outer atmospheres of cool stars including the corona of the sun, visible during eclipses

Podcast · History Extra · Travel writer and history buff Paul Bloomfield will be joining expert guides with rich local and historical knowledge. Venturing to the great cities of Europe, Africa, Asia…

The Last Princesses of Punjab opens on Thursday at Kensington Palace

Somerville alumni and friends were treated to talks on a dazzling array of topics at History Day 2026. On Saturday 21st March, all History alumni were invited back to College to find out about Somervi...

A jawbone found in a Somerset cave rewrites the story of when and how dogs became our best friends.

Dr Lachie Scarsbrook, our Fulford Junior Research Fellow, has published a groundbreaking new study today in Nature, which pushes the earliest evidence for dogs back by more than 5,000 years. The study...

Podcast Episode · Behind The Lines with Arthur Snell · 24 March · 1h 6m

Behind The Lines with Arthur Snell · Episode

We were delighted to welcome so many alumni back to College last weekend. On Saturday 14th March, Somerville hosted two special events: the annual Spring...

We are pleased to invite all History alumni back to College to find out more about Somerville’s current research and to celebrate...

An ornamental birdbath, tucked away by the Business School, bears witness to an enduring love between two of the University’s early feminist pioneers.

Shakespeare's powerful exploration of power and succession with Hotspur, Hal and Falstaff.

News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines

Listen to the latest episodes of Constable's Year by Susan Owens on BBC Sounds.

YouTube video by Continuity Chronicles