The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism was founded in the Department of Politics and International Relations at University of Oxford in 2006 to conduct scholarly and professional research on news media and operate the Thomson Reuters Fellowship Programme and host academic research fellows. It is headed by Dr David Levy.

The institute works to bridge daily working journalism and academic study and is a university research center of excellence. The institute regularly holds seminars and events and has an extensive publication program. Recent publications have included The Politics of Plurality: Choice, Diversity, and Broadcasting Institutions in the Digital Age, The Power of the Commentariat, and What's Happening to Our News: An Investigation into the Likely Impact of the Digital Revolution on the Economics of News Publishing in the U.K.

The Thomson Reuters Fellowship recently celebrated its 25th anniversary and is jointly based in The University of Oxford's Department of Politics and International Relations and Green Templeton College. The fellowship is open to selected mid-career journalists from all over the world, who are funded to produce an academic paper on topics of their choice at Oxford.

The institute also hosts scholars working on funded research projects on issues of significance to the news industry.