It was established to serve as an Institute of Advanced Studies and has slowly grown and developed into a full constituent college.

[7] The architect Ralph Erskine was appointed to design the buildings for Clare Hall, which were to include common rooms, offices and dining facilities, a house for the President, and twenty apartments for visiting fellows.

A neighbouring house, Elmside in Grange Road, provided rooms for the relatively small number of graduate students.

Joseph Brodsky, a visiting fellow and poet in residence at Clare Hall in 1977, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1987.

This purchase also allowed the Michael Stoker and Brian Pippard Buildings to be built in the college grounds, providing further student rooms.

The interaction between members of Clare Hall is encouraged also by college seminars, lunchtime discussions and formal lecture series.

The latter includes the annual series of lectures relating to human values, given by a distinguished international scholar and sponsored by the Tanner Foundation.

They also include the retired presidents of the College, together with Ralph Erskine, architect of the early buildings, and Richard Eden, one of the founding fellows.

Notable current fellows include Michael Green, former Lucasian Professor of Mathematics; John D. Barrow, a Templeton Prize laureate; and Stephen Toope, Vice-Chancellor of the University from 2017. Notable past fellows include David J. Thouless, winner of a 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics; Ivar Giaever, winner of a 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics; Stephen Adler, permanent faculty at the Institute for Advanced Study; Michael R. Douglas of Stony Brook University; J. David Jackson of the University of California, Berkeley.