Blackfriars Hall

Blackfriars Hall is a Roman Catholic permanent private hall of the University of Oxford. Unlike a college, a hall is owned and governed by an outside institution (in this case, the resident community of the Priory of the Holy Spirit and the English Province of the Order of Preachers) and not by its fellows. Although historically a centre for the study of theology and philosophy informed by the intellectual tradition of St Thomas Aquinas, it now admits men and women of any faith to a wide range of postgraduate degree programmes in the humanities and social sciences. The current Regent of Blackfriars is Fr. John O'Connor, O.P.

Blackfriars Hall is the home of a number of other institutes including, the Las Casas Institute on ethics, governance and social justice. Launched in November 2008, the institute contributes to the hall's founding vision to be a centre of the social as well as the sacred sciences. Its founding director (from October 2008 to January 2011) was Francis Davis; As of 2022^[update] the director is Richard Finn.

The Aquinas Institute was established in 2004 under the directorship of Fergus Kerr. It aims to foster study of St Thomas at Oxford through seminars, conferences, summer schools and programmes. Patrons of the institute include John Haldane, Alasdair MacIntyre and Eleonore Stump.

Blackfriars Hall describes itself as "small, friendly and welcoming environment for intellectual encounter". Blackfriars is unique in the Oxford environment for its smallness and specialist focus. The Hall is growing smaller as enrolment has fallen from 55 in 2022 to 20 in 2024. This allows the friars to provide a personal service where "students are known by name, not only by other students, but also by the staff."

In response to a 2022 Freedom of Information Request the Hall reported that it has no full-time employees.

The relationship between the Dominican friars and the Hall is very close. Friars always make up the majority of the Hall governing body (known as Moderators). Blackfriars Hall occupies the buildings owned and inhabited by Dominican friars. The friars financially subsidise the working of the Hall. Blackfriars Formal Halls are "substantially subsidised by the community of Friars [...] catering team services for the formals are offered directly by the Friars as a service to the community, at no additional cost to Blackfriars Hall."

In 2018 Blackfriars invested £1.5 million converting a disused Bank into additional facilities, including four student bedrooms, offices for various academic departments and seminar rooms. The project was necessary due to "lack of space and logistical constraints" in the Priory building. It was intended to enable the student and religious "communities can live alongside each other within the limited space". In particular "pressure on space has been felt" "especially by friars who live here and need space of their own for prayer, study and relaxation." The first students moved into purpose built accessible accommodation in 2019.

Like many similar colleges Blackfriars was very severely impacted by the Covid pandemic. Reporting financial "harm being suffered at the current time by Blackfriars Hall" a 'Fighting Fund' was launched raising £25k from alumni and others. A further £62.5k was raised in 2021 placing the Hall back on secure financial footings.