The Pavis Centre for Social and Cultural Research pursues and develops research concerned with the relations between culture and society. It was founded in 1993 with a bequest from former Open University student, the late James Pavis, a keen student of sociology and anthropology who wished to promote their study at the university.

The Pavis Centre's preoccupation with the interfaces between cultural and social life reflects the increased centrality that is now accorded cultural questions across the social and human sciences.