Oxford SU President for Postgraduates, Wantoe Teah Wantoe, speaks with Professor Daniel Grimley on the Schwarzman Centre, student experience, and the future of the humanities at Oxford.
In this episode of Oxford Student Voice, Wantoe Teah Wantoe sits down with Professor Daniel Grimley, Head of the Humanities Division, for a conversation about where the humanities stand today and where they are headed. It is a conversation rooted not just in institutions, but in people, in lived experience, and in the quiet but powerful idea that education should expand who we believe we can become.
Professor Grimley reflects on his journey from state education to leading one of Oxford’s most influential academic divisions, and what that journey has taught him about leadership, responsibility, and the importance of making space for others to rise. Together, they explore the Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, not simply as a new building, but as an opportunity to rethink how knowledge is created, shared, and experienced.
The discussion moves beyond access to a deeper question of belonging. What does it take for students not only to arrive at Oxford, but to feel that they have a place within it, and a role in shaping its future? It is a conversation about tradition and change, about who gets to participate, and about the responsibility institutions carry in opening doors that have too often been closed.
They also reflect on the growing influence of artificial intelligence and what it means for disciplines rooted in human meaning, creativity, and expression. Through it all, the episode points toward a simple but powerful idea: that the future of the humanities, and of Oxford itself, will be defined not just by what we preserve, but by who we empower.
