What we do

The Skoll Centre equips entrepreneurial leaders for impact within and beyond business.

Based at the University of Oxford, we research how social change happens. We bring our community of academics, students, and practitioners together to share expertise, creating space for conversations that spark change. Leveraging our research and community insights, the Skoll Centre’s educational programmes cultivate impactful leaders at Oxford and worldwide. 

What makes the Skoll Centre really special is that it sits at the nexus of theory and practice.

Peter Drobac

Senior Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship

The Skoll Scholarship

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Fully-funded scholarship for a one year Oxford MBA.

The Skoll Scholarship provides full funding plus a living stipend to complete an MBA at the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School for social entrepreneurs worldwide. Skoll Scholars have the chance to grow their impact by expanding their networks and skills at the University of Oxford. All Scholars become part of a life-long community of change leaders across the globe.

Educational programmes

Blending insights from research and practice, we equip students at Oxford and worldwide with the knowledge, skills, and mindsets needed to create systemic change.

Research and insights

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We catalyse research on how individuals, organisations and movements create systemic change. We work with faculty and early career researchers at Oxford Saïd and beyond to enable high-quality research that generates insights to address pressing environmental and social challenges, globally. We aim to connect researchers with social impact practitioners, catalyse new ideas and communicate findings to generate real impact.

Current research initiatives:

Previous research initiatives:

Recent research insights

Awards and opportunities

We offer opportunities for funding and support through fellowships, awards and grants.

Systems week

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Convening a global community of systems thinkers.

A global conversation on how to teach, learn, support and measure systems change. Convening a variety of systems leaders, Systems week explored the relationships between systems actors, systemic problems and solutions; resistance to incumbent systems and inequitable power dynamics; and the resources needed to support systemic change. This was a collaboration between the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and the Centre for Knowledge Equity. 

We bring together a diverse global community of academics, practitioners and students to share knowledge and forge new collaborations that spark systemic change. Each term we will host several seminars, workshops, brown bag lunches and conferences, all designed to engage our community of students, academics and practitioners on the topics of systems change, social entrepreneurship and knowledge equity.

Alumni impact report

This Impact Report is based on a study designed and undertaken by Openwell. It explored how the Skoll Scholarship programme and Impact Lab, including engagement with their respective alumni networks, affect alumni careers and contribute to wider societal impact.

View the report

Reimagine podcast

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Social entrepreneurs are in the business of building better futures. While most of us see only symptoms, they look at the whole system. And by reframing a problem – seeing things differently – we can begin to reimagine what’s possible. Unlocking this process of discovery is what Reimagine is all about.

Blog

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Discover fresh thinking from the Skoll Centre's dynamic collection of bloggers on social entrepreneurship.

Here, you can find the latest stories, insights, and thought provoking ideas from the people behind the Skoll Centre and our global community of entrepreneurs. 

People

Skoll Centre leadership and close network of experts.

Find all people

All the latest stories from the Skoll Centre; celebrating and recognising the work of our community.

Stay up to date

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Find out more about our work in the Skoll Spires newsletter.

We share articles, updates on programmatic opportunities, upcoming event details, and information on the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship.