Today, UKRI announced the launch of the Quantum Technologies for Fundamental Physics (QTFP) programme that will support scientists using quantum technology to study the universe in new ways in order to determine the nature of dark matter, detect gravitational waves and study the physics of black holes. Professor Ian Shipsey is Head of the Department of Physics at Oxford and has championed the programme since its inception:

Oxford’s Department of Physics is playing a key role in three of the seven quantum projects supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) including AION: a UK atom interferometer observatory and network.

Some 52 researchers from the University of Oxford have been named on this year’s Highly Cited Researchers list – eight of which are from the Department of Physics. The annual list identifies researchers who demonstrated significant influence in their chosen field or fields through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade.

The following academics from the Department of Physics appeared in this year’s list: Michele Cappellari, Yulin Chen, Laura Herz, Geert Jan Oldenborgh, Michael Johnston, Henry Snaith, Stephen J Tucker and Wei Zhang.

The Department of Physics was recognised in the Vice-Chancellor's Innovation Awards this year coming highly commended in both the ‘team work’ and ‘building capacity’ categories.

Particle physicist Professor Brian Foster OBE, FRS from Oxford’s Department of Physics has been made an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Physics, the highest honour that the Institute of Physics can bestow.

The John Adams Institute at Oxford’s Department of Physics is co-leading a new project that aims to design and develop new radiotherapy technologies to give more cancer patients in Sub-Saharan Africa access to treatment and to save lives.