Public Affairs Directorate
Public Affairs Directorate enquiries number: 01865 (2)80529
Fax: 01865 (2)80535
Website: www.ox.ac.uk/publicaffairs
Postal address: Public Affairs Directorate, University Offices, Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JD
Director of Public Affairs: Mr Jeremy Harris
Executive Assistant to the Director of Public Affairs: Ms Roberta O'Neill
The role of the Public Affairs Directorate is to increase understanding of the aims and activities of the University, including its constituent departments and colleges. The Directorate has responsibility for media relations and University news; it produces a wide range of University publications, including the prospectuses, the Gazette, Blueprint, and Oxford Today; manages the content of the top levels of the University website; provides general information about the University to the general public; organises major University events; advises on and implements internal and external communications activity; and advises on community and government relations.
The Director of Public Affairs, Jeremy Harris, reports to the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Development and External Affairs), and works closely with the Vice-Chancellor, the functional Pro-Vice-Chancellors, the Registrar, and other senior officers in UAS, as well as colleagues across the wider collegiate University.
Profile of the Director of Public Affairs
Jeremy Harris studied English at Clare College, Cambridge, before completing a PGCE in English and Drama at the University of Nottingham. He joined the BBC as a graduate trainee in 1974, holding key roles in the BBC’s Madrid, Moscow and Washington bureaus before becoming a presenter and foreign affairs specialist for BBC Radio programmes including Today and The World Tonight.
In 1998 he was appointed Deputy Head of Staff and Secretary for Public Affairs to the Archbishop of Canterbury, where he worked closely with two Archbishops, and acted as senior parliamentary adviser to all bishops in the House of Lords. He was responsible for developing and managing relationships between Lambeth Palace and the monarchy, government, parliament, the media, foreign embassies, charities, the education sector and the business community. He was appointed to his current post at the University in 2005.
He is a Fellow of New College.
