LIFE AND MIND BUILDING OPENS

The Life and Mind Building, enabled by Legal & General (L&G), is one of the largest building projects in the University’s history and will be home to the Departments of Biology and Experimental Psychology, as well as the Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research (IOI). Designed by internationally-renowned architecture practice NBBJ, it will enable researchers to investigate the most fundamental questions of our age – from what it means to be human, to how we address the global challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, mental health and food security.

The Life and Mind Building was developed and funded by L&G through its annuity portfolio, which deploys capital into UK infrastructure, creating real assets that support its long-term pension commitments while creating productive assets that deliver long-term economic growth. The building has been delivered through the Oxford University Development (OUD) partnership – a £4 billion joint venture between Oxford University and Legal & General delivering academic and research facilities, alongside housing and associated infrastructure.

Opening to coincide with the new academic year, the building offers over 269,000 sq ft of transformative spaces for teaching, research, innovation and public engagement. It will provide a home for more than 1,400 scientists, academics, researchers, support staff and postgraduate students and become the main teaching location for around 1,000 undergraduate students with new lecture halls and teaching spaces.

Researchers will study both ‘life’ – through the natural world – and ‘mind’ – by exploring the workings of the human brain and behaviour. Among the new research facilities are sleep labs, a virtual reality and motor lab, experimental classrooms, multisensory labs, rooftop glasshouses, licensed facilities for advanced plant science and controlled-environment laboratories, as well as a dedicated home for the University’s botanical collections comprising approximately one million specimens.

Professor Irene Tracey, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, characterised the opening as ‘a wonderful milestone for Oxford’.

‘As we welcome a new academic year, I’m delighted to see its doors open to our students, researchers and academics. The Life and Mind Building isn’t just a world-class facility – it’s a place designed to bring people together. By uniting biologists and experimental psychologists under one roof, it will spark fresh ideas, foster collaboration, and help us tackle some of the biggest challenges facing our world.’

Gareth Mee, Chief Investment Officer, Institutional Retirement, L&G, talked about the building as ‘capital with a purpose – driving economic growth, creating jobs and improving local communities, while generating sustainable returns that meet our pension commitments.’ Anna Strongman, CEO of Oxford University Development, notes how the Life and Mind Building ‘is one of the first projects to be completed as part of the OUD portfolio, demonstrating the power of our innovative partnership to support the future of the University and the city.

The new Life and Mind Building will bring together biologists and psychologists to work on bold new interdisciplinary projects that explore areas such as the links between natural and artificial intelligence. By combining expertise in animal behaviour, ecology and evolution with cutting-edge research in brain science, cognition and AI, researchers will study how humans, animals and even plants think, adapt and interact. This collaboration will help us understand how natural intelligence works and how it can inspire better, more adaptable AI systems.

While AI is already powerful in specific tasks, living organisms remain far better at coping with the complexity of the real world. By examining how brains process complex information in natural settings, how individuals interact in groups, and modelling these processes with advanced technology, researchers hope to design AI that is more flexible, robust and useful in everyday situations. These insights could transform areas such as healthcare, environmental conservation, robotics and even new forms of biology – providing innovative solutions to global challenges.

The building will also be home to a pioneering research centre – the Oxford Centre for Emerging Minds Research – aimed at achieving better mental health outcomes for children, young people and families, thanks to a £27 million gift from The Paul Foundation.