Projects Available

 

We provide here information on all projects currently on offer for research towards a DPhil degree at the Department of Materials, University of Oxford

The present webpage lists available projects for the DPhil in Materials programme in two categories, 'Funded Projects & Potentially-funded Projects' and 'All Projects'. Candidates who are offered places for projects without secured earmarked funding will be considered for various competitive sources of funding such as the Department's non-earmarked EPSRC DTP studentships and the Department's allocation of Clarendon Scholarships.
Some projects listed in the 'All Projects' section may be suitable also for the MSc (by Research) in Materials programme. Before submitting their application MSc(by Research) applicants are requested to contact the supervisor(s) for clarification.
You may also wish to consider the new 'IMAT' Inorganic Materials for Advanced Manufacturing (DPhil) programme: This is a four-year doctoral course focusing on the design, synthesis and characterization of new inorganic materials and featuring integrated academic/industrial courses. The course is jointly hosted by the Departments of Chemistry and Materials and has been designed in collaboration with 19 industrial partners, to provide a holistic understanding of all aspects of advanced materials manufacturing processes. To see project adverts and further information for the IMAT programme please consult the IMAT Project List . If you have any questions about the IMAT programme please contact imat-admin@chem.ox.ac.uk 
Inorganic Materials for Advanced Manufacturing (IMAT)

If you have applied, or intend to apply, in the current gathered field (application deadline 1st March 2024), for a place on the DPhil in Materials programme and you also wish to be considered for a place on the IMAT DPhil programme you must submit a separate application for the IMAT programme, following the 'how to apply guidance' for that programme.

If you applied in the previous gathered field (application deadline 19th January 2024) for a place on the DPhil in Materials programme and you also wish to be considered for a place on the IMAT DPhil programme you must submit a separate application for the IMAT programme, following the 'how to apply guidance' for that programme.

In either of the above two cases you may submit your IMAT application without paying an additional application fee; for details see Applying for Related Courses

 

Project Adverts for the DPhil in Materials programme are provided below

Admissions for entry in the academic year 2024/25:
Gathered Field Three: Deadline for receipt of complete applications is noon on Friday 1st March 2024

 

 

Important information for Materials applicants

SELECTION OF PROJECTS

When completing the Oxford application form, in the 'Supporting Documents' section entitled 'Statement of purpose/research proposal/personal statement', Materials DPhil applicants must list in order of preference up to four preferred research topics/supervisors selected from those advertised on the present webpages, while Materials MSc(Research) applicants must list in order of preference up to two preferred research topics/supervisors selected from those advertised on the present webpages. Normally, up to these limits, each lead supervisor you identify will consider your application and we guarantee that at least one of these will do so. In addition you must include a short statement (up to 400 words) to outline your research interests and indicate the rationale behind your choice of projects. We do not require a research proposal.

For further information see the "How to Apply" section of the prospectus entry for the relevant Materials research degree programme.

If you wish to learn more about a specific project you may e-mail the relevant supervisor.

In the present Materials 'Projects Available' webpages we describe available projects in two categories, 'Funded Projects & Potentially-funded Projects' and 'All Projects'. The former includes only projects with either secured earmarked funding or the possibility that funding currently under discussion with a sponsor might be secured during the next few months. Generally the projects do not have specific deadlines as we intend to consider applicants within the University of Oxford's Graduate Admissions standard application fields.

Some of the descriptions on this website are of projects that carry secured earmarked funding and in these cases the eligibility of UK / Republic of Ireland and International applicants is indicated. EU applicants are included in the International category. These categories and the associated fee status classifications of ‘Home’ or ‘Overseas’ are set by the University.

Normally International students will require a visa and, for Materials Science, an ATAS certificate. Information is provided via the the University's Visa and Immigration webpages. Further information is given in our guide for International applicants (see below).

CLOSING DATES

Until early March applications will be considered in three gathered fields, as advertised in the Oxford University Graduate Studies Prospectus. Deadlines for the receipt of fully completed applications and references are 12.00 noon (UK time) on: 10 November 2023, 19 January 2024 and 1 March 2024. Applications received after 1st March will be considered on an individual basis soon after receipt.

International applicants, applicants for scholarships and applicants for our funded projects are advised to apply in the November field, although they still will be considered for scholarships and any unfilled funded projects if they apply in the January Field. 

Home applicants who are not applying for scholarships or projects with earmarked funding are advised to apply in the January field.

In addition, project studentships with specific closing dates may be advertised on our website.

HOW TO APPLY

Details of how to apply are found in the Application Guide

Before submitting an application you are strongly encouraged to contact the Department of Materials' Graduate Admissions Office (graduate.admissions@materials.ox.ac.uk) for advice and assistance.

FUNDING and PLACES

Please note that funding and places may be exhausted after the first two application fields: applications received after 19 January 2024 will be considered only if places and/or funded projects remain unfilled. We expect to make a small number of offers, to outstanding candidates, following evaluation of the November applications. The remaining good candidates from November will be considered automatically in January, along with the new applicants for that deadline, and we normally expect to offer the majority of available places following evaluation of the January applications.

Funded projects will remain advertised until we have received a firm acceptance from a candidate to whom the project has been offered.

EPSRC DTP STUDENTSHIPS

Some of our annual quota of EPSRC DTP studentships may be assigned to specific projects; these 'earmarked' DTP studentships are advertised in our 'Funded Projects & Potentially-funded Projects' list. Normally any offers for these earmarked studentships will be made to suitable applicants, as judged by our Graduate Admissions Selection Criteria, from either the November or the January gathered fields. If a suitable good candidate for a project with an earmarked DTP studentship is identified in the November gathered field the studentship may be offered to that candidate without considering applicants in the January gathered field. For each earmarked DTP studentship, prior to final ranking, interviews will be held for all eligible applicants shortlisted for that project in the relevant gathered field. Normally we do not assign DTP studentships to specific projects unless this is advertised in advance on our website.

EPSRC studentships that are not either advertised or offered under our 'earmarked' scheme normally will be offered to suitable good applicants for projects advertised in our 'All Projects' list. One or two of these studentships may be offered to world-class applicants (those of similar quality to successful Clarendon Scholarship applicants) following evaluation of the November applications, but normally we expect to award the majority following evaluation of the January applications. Overall there are many more projects advertised in the 'All Projects' category than the number of DTP studentships we have available. Hence, in a given year, some of the projects may be designated as ineligible for DTP funding (this will be indicated within the project advert). Prior to final ranking  interviews will be held for all shortlisted applicants eligible for our non-earmarked EPSRC DTP studentships.

Normally the most able and suitable eligible applicants, as judged against our Materials Graduate Admissions Selection Criteria (see 'Entry Requirements'), are offered the awards; depending on availability, normally subject to a limitation of no more than one EPSRC DTP studentship per lead supervisor per year. In addition, normally the lead supervisor for an applicant who holds an offer of  a Clarendon Scholarship will not be able also to recruit an applicant who is offered one of our annual quota of EPSRC DTP studentships*.        *This restriction excludes advertised earmarked EPSRC DTP studentships.

 

DETAILED GUIDANCE AND HOW TO APPLY

 

UK and Republic of Ireland Applicants 

 

International Applicants (Includes EU applicants) 

 

Further details may be obtained from our Graduate Admissions Office:
Tel: +44 1865 283 226; email: graduate.admissions@materials.ox.ac.uk .

Funded Projects & Potentially-funded Projects

Projects in this section either have secured earmarked funding or potentially may obtain such funding in the next few months - the individual adverts will be explicit in cases where the funding is not yet secured and therefore cannot at this stage be guaranteed to be available. Projects advertised in this section may require the successful applicant to sign a contract with the sponsor. In the case of projects with secured funding, finance in the form of a stipend and payment of Course Fees is available to the successful candidate. Please note that eligibility for funding provided by an external sponsor is in some cases restricted by the applicant's country of legal residence or nationality - where applicable this will be indicated in the advert.

Information is available on fee classifications for UK / Republic of Ireland and International students.  EU students are included in the International students category.

New projects are added from time-to-time, so please review the list regularly.