About

The Maison Française is governed by three major French institutions:

The Université de Paris: The MFO is an academic institution that facilitates communication between French universities and the University of Oxford.

The CNRS: The MFO is a research centre in humanities, social sciences and natural sciences.

Le Ministère des Affaires étrangères: The MFO is part of the French research institutes abroad (IFRE), ruled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and it promotes French culture and language.

Scientific and cultural events, a library, and much more...

Each week, the Maison Française hosts conferences, symposiums and lectures, organised by various institutions, including some permanent seminars of the University of Oxford. For more information check our events page.

The Maison Française is not only for members of the University of Oxford! It is a landmark for the French, French-speaking, and francophile community of Oxford, with free French film screenings (See the catalogue).

The library, with workspaces, a large selection of French works, a youth space, as well as DVDs, is accessible to everybody.

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The Maison Française d’Oxford (MFO) was founded at the end of the Second World War on the joint initiative of the Universities of Paris and Oxford. With the support of the Chancery of the Universities of Paris, it maintains close links with French universities and the other French institutes of higher education. Associated with the University of Oxford, it is a hub of Franco-British academic collaborations.

As a member of the network of research institutes established abroad by the French Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs (www.ifre.fr) and the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the MFO has become a research centre of the Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (INSHS) of the CNRS. It develops research programmes with academic institutions of the University of Oxford and other British universities.

The MFO hosts a team of senior researchers from the INSHS who conduct their own research at the University of Oxford but, more importantly, organise interdisciplinary programmes, conferences, seminars and other events in collaboration with members of the University. The MFO organises and/or hosts events ranging from single-speaker

lectures or seminars, day workshops on specialist topics, through to two or three-day conferences.

The MFO is also home to a group of junior researchers (post-docs or research fellows) and research students, reading for Master’s degrees or doctorates. The research students are affiliated to institutes and colleges of the University, and they take part in the activities of the MFO. To that end, the MFO collaborates with several French research institutions and universities whose students spend between three months and a whole academic year there.

The MFO is a hub for research collaborations between French and British universities, first and foremost with the University of Oxford. It helps French scholars of all levels to access the wealth of resources provided by Oxford, and it also helps Oxford academics to start joint projects with French researchers. Acknowledged by the surrounding academic community, the MFO works towards a better integration of French research into international networks, especially in the English-speaking world. Acting as a true Institute for Advanced Studies, the MFO plays a central role in developing the internationalisation and prestige of French research.