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Department of Physics

As a graduate student at Oxford’s Department of Physics, you will work alongside world experts and have access to the department’s world-class facilities.

A view of the Beecroft Building

The Beecroft Building. Credit: OU Images/John Cairns

Overview

Graduate students also get to benefit from the close relations the department fosters with other facilities in the UK and around the world. In the UK, these include the leading science and innovation campus at Harwell home to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and Diamond Light Source synchrotron among others. Internationally, it extends to the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, T2K in Japan, DUNE in the USA and large telescopes around the world.

Each year, the department welcomes approximately 90 graduate research students to study for a 3 to 4-year DPhil research degree – which is equivalent to a PhD. Alongside our DPhil courses, we also offer a one-year taught masters in Quantum Technologies. 

The department’s research students have access to world-class facilities and resources, from the ultra-low vibration and ultra-low temperature labs in the state-of-the-art Beecroft Building, to the in-house specialist research facilities, mechanical and electronic workshops and technicians.

Research students can choose from a range of specialisms across the six sub-departments:

  • Astrophysics
  • Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics
  • Atomic and Laser Physics
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Particle Physics
  • Theoretical Physics

Each of these sub-departments is autonomous, although many of the research projects available are interdisciplinary.

As well as the sub-department DPhil specialisms, we also offer a CDT course – Superconductivity: Enabling Transformative Technologies (EPSRC CDT).

Please note, you must submit a separate application for each Physics DPhil course you wish to be considered for.

Courses offered

The courses shown below are offered at postgraduate level.

Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences (MPLS) Division

MPLS is proud to be home to some of the most creative and innovative scientific thinkers and leaders in academia, whose interdisciplinary research is tackling major societal and technological challenges.

Discover your future in the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences (MPLS) Division at the University of Oxford.

The quality and impact of the division's work have been recognised by successive rounds of the national Research Excellence Framework and Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework exercises, and its departments frequently top the major higher education league tables. Its research is also regularly identified as one of the most significant recipients of grant funding in Europe.

The division’s 9 departments and interdisciplinary doctoral training centre span the full spectrum of the mathematical, computational, physical, engineering and life sciences, and undertake both fundamental research and cutting-edge applied work.

The MPLS Division has a vibrant and exciting research environment, offering frequent opportunities to share your research and engage with scientists working across the research spectrum. It has extensive links with other leading universities, research institutes, public sector bodies, business and industry, in the UK and abroad. Research at the interface between disciplines is strongly encouraged, both within the mathematical, life and physical sciences, and within the medical and environmental sciences.

Teaching is a major part of the division’s activities. It teaches around 7,300 students (including around 3,400 graduate students) and is playing a key part in training the next generation of leading scientists.

The division is striving to create and sustain an inclusive culture where diversity is valued and equity prevails, so that individuals of all backgrounds can fully contribute to its scientific community in a safe and supportive culture. All academic departments in the division hold Athena Swan Awards. Diversity matters and benefits everyone. Scientific and technological innovations change the world and everyone should have access to participate and engage in that change.

Further information