Monday 14 September 2026

Introducing the new Warden, Professor Dame Sarah Whatmore FBA

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Dame Sarah Whatmore FBA as the next Warden of Keble College. Professor Whatmore officially takes up her post on 1st October, becoming the College’s 15th Head of House.

Professor Whatmore writes: 

“I am deeply honoured to have been elected as the next Warden of Keble and proud to be the second woman to take the role in the College’s history, following the distinguished service of Professor Dame Averil Cameron FBA (1994–2010). Unlike my three immediate predecessors, however, I am a Keble insider, having been elected to a Professorial Fellowship at the College in 2012, and serving as Sub-Warden (2015–2018) supporting the development of the College’s H B Allen Centre.

Over that time, I have come to appreciate the distinctive character of Keble: a College where my twin academic passions — the power of research to improve people’s lives and the importance of actively extending educational opportunities — resonate widely, but also a community whose strength comes from the richness and breadth of College life.

I shall strive to repay the confidence the Fellowship has placed in me by working with all parts of the Keble community to build on these strengths and to advance the College’s values and ambitions. This means upholding the highest standards of teaching, learning and research and helping our students to achieve their full academic potential, while also ensuring that they have opportunities to flourish beyond their studies, through music, sport, drama and the many other activities that enrich their experience.

It is a privilege to have the opportunity to help shape the next chapter of Keble’s story. I look forward to working with colleagues, students, alumni and friends of the College to build on our strengths as a community in which people feel supported, valued and able to thrive, and to getting to know more of you individually in the coming months.”

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Sarah Whatmore belongs to the first generation in her family privileged to enjoy a university education. She studied Geography and remains a keen proponent of her discipline’s insistence on the interdependence of human and planetary wellbeing. Her research sits at the interface of the social and natural sciences and seeks to understand and manage environmental conflicts and risks, such as floods and droughts, better. As well as a reputation for leading successful interdisciplinary research teams, her work is known for pioneering collaborative research methods which engage communities living with these conflicts and risks in the research process. Prior to her appointment in Oxford’s School of Geography and the Environment as a Statutory Professor of Environment and Public Policy in 2004, her academic career has included positions at University College London, the University of Bristol and the Open University.

Whilst at Oxford, Sarah has served as the Head of her department and in a variety of senior university roles, including as Head of the Social Sciences Division, Pro Vice Chancellor for Education and Academic Champion for Public Engagement with Research. She has also held a variety of government advisory appointments, including as a member of the Defra Science Advisory Council and Chair of its Social Science Expert Group. In 2014 she was elected a Fellow of the British Academy and in 2020 she was appointed DBE by the late Queen in recognition of her contributions to ‘the study of environment and public policy’. When not in Oxford she spends as much time as she can in Chania, the second city of Crete, where she shares a restored stone house in the old town.