An appeal to ensure the continuation of the chair successfully raised £3.25 million by the end of 2018,[1] and in 2020 the post was taken up by its current incumbent David Willis.
[4] The commissioners appointed in 1852 to consider reforms of the university were known to favour abolishing local restrictions on fellowships and scholarships, such as those requiring the holder to be from a particular school or area.
The college therefore proposed to the commissioners in 1854 that the divisions between north and south Wales fellowships and scholarships should be removed, and that the number of fellows should be reduced by two in order to endow a Professorship of Welsh.
[6] The college's proposal was later adopted, with the first Jesus Professor of Celtic, the distinguished Welsh scholar Sir John Rhys, being elected in 1876.
[7] The professor also controls access to the Celtic Library at Jesus College, a specialist collection for researchers.