Research

Oxford University is world-famous for research excellence. Our core commitment is to maintain originality, significance and rigour in research within a framework of the highest standards of infrastructure, training, and integrity.

Search below for a range of research stories by department or topic. These stories include impact case studies, videos, news and the research in conversation series. For more information please see individual department websites.

Running club in a city

Different ethnic groups 'not likely to join the same local clubs'

News

The research, published in the American Sociological Review, focuses on how Turkish and Moroccan immigrants have integrated in the Netherlands in the last decade by looking at joining and leaving rates for sports, leisure and neighbourhood associations of different ethnic composition.

Researching the Reef: fish and coral of the Caribbean

Researching the Reef: fish and coral of the Caribbean

Video

Dominic and Vanessa are DPhil candidates investigating the impact of human activity on the soft corals and fish populations off the coast of Honduras. Their work is supported by the Fisheries Society of the British Isles (FSBI) and Operation Wallacea.

Researchers sampled online conversations around time of Ethiopian elections.

Mapping online hate speech

News

Researchers from the University of Oxford and Addis Ababa University examined thousands of comments made by Ethiopians on Facebook during four months around the time of  Ethiopia's general election in 2015.

Dancing children

Dancing to the same beat connects groups of children

News

Around 100 children who took part in the Oxford University study were divided into groups and performed their moves facing one another, wearing headphones for their rhythmic cues.

Tackling Adolescent to Parent Violence

Tackling Adolescent to Parent Violence

Video

Adolescent to parent violence has remained under-explored and largely unarticulated within the fields of youth justice, domestic violence, policing, and criminology, particularly in the UK. The project aims to map the contours of the problem, exploring how it is defined, experienced and negotiated by parents and adolescents and how violent assaults committed by adolescents within the home are currently processed and managed within the criminal justice system.

Reading of online news.

Half of online users get news from Facebook and other social platforms

News

Its fifth Digital News Report says the combined effects of the rise of social platforms, an accelerating move to mobile devices and a growing rejection by consumers of online advertising has undermined many of the business models that support quality news.

Dame Carol Robinson

Oxford spinout OMass Technologies provides native mass spectrometry to pharma and biotech

News

OMass Technologies, a spinout from the University of Oxford's Department of Chemistry, is the first company to conquer the challenge of deciphering the interactions of membrane proteins by using...
Cornmarket Street

Leading female scientists get on their soapboxes

Oxford Science Blog

Some of the UK's top female scientists will be taking to their soapboxes in Oxford this weekend to share their passion for their subjects with the public.

Cells

No boundaries: ending a century of intrigue around 'membraneless' cell compartments

Oxford Science Blog

We've been able to see them for over a hundred years, but only now are scientists beginning to get to the bottom of what's happening inside membraneless organelles – compartments within cells that really do have no boundaries.

Escitalopram molecule

Anti-depressant drugs enhance feelings of control in depression

Oxford Science Blog

It can take some time before anti-depressant drugs have an effect on people. Yet, the chemical changes that they cause in the brain happen quite rapidly. Understanding this paradox could enable us to create more effective treatments for depression.

Google FHI

How Oxford and Google DeepMind are making artificial intelligence safer

Oxford Arts Blog

Oxford academics are teaming up with Google DeepMind to make artificial intelligence safer.

Macaque uses stone tool.

Generations of macaques used 'tools' to open their oysters and nuts

News

While there have been several studies observing living non-human primates, this is the first report into the archaeological evidence of tool use by Old World monkeys. The research, led by the Primate Archaeology Research Group at the University of Oxford, opens up novel research possibilities.

Road cracks

Hot topic: the pioneering material that could change the face of engineering

Oxford Science Blog

This is a guest post by Mary Cruse, science writer at Diamond Light Source.

All over the world, engineers are beset by a niggling problem: when materials get hot, they expand.

Footprint in the sand.

'Pristine' landscapes haven’t existed for thousands of years

News

An exhaustive review of archaeological data from the last 30 years details how the world’s landscapes have been shaped by repeated human activity over many thousands of years.

Bittercress

Exploding myths about seed dispersal

Oxford Science Blog

This blog post is adapted from an article published by the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research.

Rugby tackle

Former England players to help major brain study

News

Former England international rugby players are set to be recruited for the next phase of a major-scientific study examining the possible long-term effects of the game on brain health. 
Pupils at science lesson

'More girls than boys think it is important to go to university'

News

Higher aspirations and self-belief both influence A-level entry as disadvantaged students with higher aspirations are more likely to go on and take A-levels, even after taking into account their GCSE performance, says the report.

Dogs are man's oldest pet.

Dogs were domesticated not once, but twice… in different parts of the world

News

Supported by funding from the European Research Council and the Natural Environment Research Council, a large international team of scientists compared genetic data with existing archaeological evidence and show that man’s best friend may have emerged independently from two separate (possibly now

Mesophotic coral reef

Entering the 'twilight zone': could distant coral reefs provide a refuge for threatened aquatic species?

Oxford Science Blog

Most of us will be at least vaguely aware that our planet's coral reefs are in jeopardy. But why are they in danger, and what can we do about these threats?

Sunken Cities

In pictures: diving discoveries

Oxford Arts Blog

These spectacular images show divers recovering treasures from two ancient Egyptian cities.

The artefacts from Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus had been submerged at the mouth of the River Nile for over a thousand years.

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