The Values & Society theme aims to address fundamental questions about our social and cultural world: How should we live? How can we foster just and equal societies? How do values shape the kinds of knowledge we produce?
In our theme, we use tools from a range of disciplines across the arts, humanities and social sciences to investigate questions like these to gain a richer understanding of the world we inhabit. We aim to explore the values that have shaped our societies across time and place, and examine the societal consequences of new ideas, technologies, and cultural shifts.
We celebrate the value of this sort of scholarship for its own sake. At the same time, we also believe that arts, humanities and social science perspectives can play a crucial role in contributing alongside other disciplines to the development of solutions to the most challenging questions of our time.
Whether looking at how to mitigate climate change, or assessing how to use AI fairly and safely, complex issues require both technical expertise and a deep understanding of human values, cultural contexts, and social dynamics.
More broadly, we believe we should use insights from the arts, humanities and social sciences to encourage and facilitate critical thinking about the research we conduct, how we conduct it, and its goals.
Among some of the academic enrichment opportunities we offer to Reuben College are:
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Joint seminars and events on the cultural ethics of museums, art and design (delivered through our strong links with GLAM)
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Oxford-style public debates on challenging issues
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Public engagement events (e.g. film screenings) on cutting edge ethical and societal issues to generate and provoke joint reflection and discussion
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Skills workshops on ethical reasoning and argumentation, and on what to consider when applying for research ethics approvals
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Joint seminars with Reuben Fellows in fields such as climate change, artificial intelligence (AI), and biomedicine
Dr Jonathan Pugh, our Theme Lead for Values & Society, took part in an online Q&A to discuss his ethics work. Please click here to read more.
