Physics has long been a male-dominated subject. To fulfil the department's scientific mission, it is vital that we use the full potential of the population and redress that imbalance. Since 2010, the department has been developing a portfolio of new and existing actions to improve the employment conditions and practice for all staff and students. Good practice benefits everyone, but disproportionately benefits women. These actions, and the critical assessment that led to them, are described in our application for an Athena Swan Silver Award.
News
15 May 2012
Dr Andrei Starinets was awarded the 2011 Maxwell Medal of the UK Institute of Physics for his work on the gauge-gravity correspondence which relates quantum gauge theories to gravitational systems.
The medal is awarded for outstanding contributions to theoretical Physics, mathematical or computational Physics. Dr Starinets joins other distinguished past winners from the Rudolf Peierls Centre: Prof Richard Dalitz (1966), Sir Roger Elliott (1968), Prof Anthony Leggett (1975), Prof Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith (1979), Prof James Binney (1986) and Dr John Wheater (1993).
4 May 2012
Professor Julia Yeomans runs a research group in theoretical soft matter physics and has recently been awarded an Advanced Grant of 1.5 million Euros from the European Research Council. This prestigious grant will enable Professor Yeomans group to investigate questions that combine hydrodynamics and statistical physics, such as how bacteria can mix a fluid or the design of super-water-repellent surfaces.
2 May 2012
A new space mission, involving Oxford University scientists, will explore Jupiter and its icy moons to reveal fresh insights into the habitability of the 'waterworlds' orbiting the giant planets in our solar system and beyond.
On 2 May 2012, at a meeting in Paris, ESA's Science Programme Committee voted to go ahead with the project, the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), the first European-led mission to the outer solar system, and the first spacecraft destined to orbit an icy moon. The JUICE spacecraft is scheduled to launch in 2022, arriving in the Jupiter system in 2030.
1 May 2012
David Sherrington, Wykeham Professor of Physics Emeritus has been elected as Chairman of the Academic Council of the European Academy of Sciences (EURASC). He also serves as the Chairman of the Physics Division .
26 April 2012
The prize is awarded annually to the candidate who has displayed excellence in the execution of the scientific method as witnessed by the award of Doctor of Philosophy in Plasma science from a UK or Irish university. The thesis content should exhibit significant new work and originality, clearly driven by the nominee, be well explained and demonstrate a good understanding of the subject. The prize consists of £500 in cash plus an expenses paid trip to the annual IOP plasma physics conference, where the recipient will be asked to give an invited talk.
23 March 2012
The first observation of a cosmic effect could give astronomers a new tool for understanding the forces behind the Universe's formation and growth, including the enigmatic phenomena of dark energy and dark matter.
An international team led by Princeton University, and including Oxford University scientists, has detected the movement of distant galaxy clusters via the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) effect, which has never before been seen.
19 March 2012
Oxford Physics researcher Andrew Steele will be competing in the UK final of FameLab on Wednesday evening. His three-minute talk on a scientific topic will be pitted against those from nine other national finalists, selected at heats around the country.
The final will take place at the Royal Institution in London, for those who can’t make it to the capital, it should also be viewable as a live stream online.
15 March 2012
Dr Kevin O'Keeffe was awarded the Cavendish Medal for the excellence of his research at the "SET for Britain" poster competition held on 12th March in the House of Commons.
9 February 2012
During the course of his 3 year Fellowship, Douwe will address an exciting problem in polymer dynamics – how polymers and biopolymers move through nano-pores. This is an important and topical problem due to its relevance to biomolecular transport across cell membranes, and the rapid development of experimental techniques in this area that could be used in DNA sequencing.
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