General Information

Welcome to the pages for postgraduate students at Oxford Physics

Current Students

Information for current students can be found in the sections below. Please note that although most of the information is applicable to members of all sub-departments, there are some instances when the information may be specific to a particular sub-department.

Graduate Liaison Committee

The purpose of the Graduate Liaison Committee (GLC) is to discuss issues that may concern graduate students in the department such as the quality of graduate courses, availability of skills training, accessibility to library and IT services, and general student welfare. The Committee is chaired by the Chairman of Graduate Studies and the department is represented at MPLS divisional meetings by the Physics Departmental Representative. Furthermore, each sub-department has their own representative(s) who ensure the representation of their students' interests and dissemination of important information.

Current members can be found here.

Training and Courses

Transferable skills are an important part of your graduate studies. This section contains links to a number of courses that you may, in agreement with your supervisor, find relevant for your research and career.

Researcher Training Tool

The RTT (formerly the Graduate Academic Programme or GAP) is where you will find listings for many of the lectures and courses held by the department. It also holds information on courses held across the MPLS division which are open to Physics students. To access the RTT (requires you to use your Oxford SSO) please click here.

Teaching and Demonstrating Training

Postgraduate students play an integral role in the demonstrating and teaching of undergraduate courses. The department holds a two day teaching training course at the start of Michaelmas term which is mandatory for all incoming second year graduate students or post-docs interested in teaching or demonstrating. Please keep an eye on your email in September if you are interested in this course.

MPLS Training

The MPLS site provides information about skills training taking place within the MPLS Division, and allows you to register for Divisional training courses, learn more about the skills framework, sign up to the Division's Facebook page, and get news updates on available skills training.

OU ITLP

Oxford University's IT Learning Programme (ITLP) includes over 200 classroom-based and over 1000 online courses to help you in your studies, research, administration and future career.

Welfare and Support

Within the Department, your supervisor, Director of Graduate Studies and Academic Administrator are all available to offer support. The Physics Graduate Liaison Committee provides a channel through which graduate students’ views and concerns can be brought to the attention of the Departmental Graduate Committee. The Department also has harassment advisers who can be found here. There is more information available on the University's equality page.

OUSU’s Student Advice Service also provides a confidential and impartial listening and advice service, and the University has a professionally staffed confidential Student Counselling Service for assistance with personal, emotional, social and academic problems.

There is an extensive framework of support for graduates within each college. Your college will allocate to you a College Advisor from among its Senior Members, usually in a cognate subject, who will arrange to see you from time to time and whom you may contact for additional advice and support on academic and other matters. In college you may also approach the Tutor for Graduates and/or the Senior Tutor for advice. The Tutor for Graduates is a fellow of the college with particular responsibility for the interests and welfare of graduate students. In some colleges, the Senior Tutor will also have the role of Tutor for Graduates. Each college will also have other named individuals who can offer individual advice.

Social and Networking

There are several opportunities available for networking both within the department and across the wider University. There are seminars and colloquia held regularly in term time throughout the Physics department, and many of these are open to all members of the Department. For details on upcoming seminars, keep an eye on your email or check the RTT on Weblearn.

The Department has an active Oxford Women in Physics Society, who aim to promote career development of women in physics while providing a welcoming support network. They hold regular networking and social events and can be found on Twitter and Facebook as well as around the Department.

Designing a Successful DPhil Workshop

A number of graduate students organised a workshop for graduate students this term on "Designing a Successful DPhil". The slides from this workshop contain a lot of useful information and resources for DPhil students, and can be found here.