Reports

Report of the General Board on the establishment of a Faculty of Government (Rokos School of Government)

The General Board begs leave to report to the University as follows:

1. In this Report, the General Board proposes the establishment of a new Faculty of Government in the School of the Physical Sciences, to be known as the Rokos School of Government. The new Faculty will provide a base within the University for research and teaching that explores the interconnected systems shaping societal affairs across the disciplinary spectrum, with the ambition for it to be a world-leading centre of excellence that will provide rigorous, integrative insights in government and its leadership.

2. The new Faculty will:

(a)position Cambridge at the forefront of systemic thinking, by applying analytical, computational, and scientific approaches to international relations, economics, business, society, and culture;

(b)influence policy and public debate, by providing data-informed insights, assisting governments, organisations, businesses and corporations;

(c)through its Ph.D. programme, develop systems-focused graduates who are fluent in integrating STEM-style analysis with the breadth of humanities and social sciences, ensuring they are alert to complex interactions, and foresighted on risks and unintended consequences; and

(d)draw on the University’s strengths in research collaborations across disciplinary boundaries, in particular through close connections with all other Schools within the University, to bring together leaders to discuss interdisciplinary ideas.

3. As a result of a substantial benefaction of £130m from Mr Christopher Rokos, there will be funding to support the establishment of academic positions, Ph.D. studentships (with an additional £10m in match funding from the University) and the running costs of the Faculty (with an additional £16m in match funding from the University). In addition, there is ongoing discussion about a further benefaction of £60m in match funding available to the University, should the University successfully raise £60m of funding from other sources, to cover the funding for a new building to house the institution, which will be the subject of a separate Report in due course. This generous funding will secure the future of the new Faculty.

The donation includes funding to establish a Rokos Professorship of Government in perpetuity, with the person elected expected to oversee the development of the Faculty in its first few years. The Board is proposing that the Council of the School of the Physical Sciences would determine the exact title of the office to be held following an election, to reflect the specialism of the person elected within the general field of the Professorship. A Grace will be submitted for the approval of the establishment of the Professorship after the Discussion of this Report.

4. The benefaction has been donated to a new charitable trust, subject to Regent House approval of this Report’s recommendations and to registration with the Charity Commission. Under the terms governing the trust, the trustees are obliged to invest the donated funds in the University Endowment Fund and to provide the new institution with an annual grant to cover its costs.

5. If this Report’s recommendations are approved, the General Board has agreed to make the changes to General Board Regulations as set out in Annex A to this Report. They include the initial membership of a Faculty Board; once the new institution has started to take shape, the General Board will revisit the Faculty Board’s composition.

6. The General Board recommends, subject to registration of the charitable trust with the Charity Commission:

I.That a Faculty of Government be established in the School of the Physical Sciences, entitled the Rokos School of Government, and accordingly added to Section 3 of Special Ordinance A (vi) (Statutes and Ordinances, 2024, p. 71).

II.That in Regulation 1(b) of the Ordinance for the School of the Physical Sciences (Statutes and Ordinances, 2024, p. 598), a reference to the Faculty Board of Government be inserted.

31 March 2026

Annex A: General Board Regulations

The General Board has agreed to make the following changes to General Board Regulations if the recommendations of this Report are approved:

(a)by adding the Faculty of Government to the Schedule appended to the General Regulations for Faculties (Statutes and Ordinances, 2024, p. 600);

(b)by inserting the following entry in Schedule I of the General Board Regulations for Classes of Faculty Board Membership, Elections, and Periods of Office (Statutes and Ordinances, 2024, p. 605):

Faculty Board	Classes						Total
	(a)(i)	(a)(ii)	(b)	(c)	(d)	(e)
Government	1	0	2	0	0	2	5

(c)by inserting the following entry in Schedule III of the General Board Regulations for Classes of Faculty Board Membership, Elections, and Periods of Office (Statutes and Ordinances, 2024, p. 605):

Faculty Board	Representatives of cognate studies and method of appointment	Holders of specified offices
Government	Two Heads of School appointed by the General Board

(d)by inserting the following new Regulation in the Special Regulations for Faculties and Departments in Chapter IX of Ordinances:

Faculty of Government

The Faculty of Government shall have the title ‘The Rokos School of Government’.