Lectures and Seminars
Degree-course lecture lists are published termly under Teaching section of this website.
Materials Colloquia
Research seminar series organised by the Department of Materials
Thursdays 4pm Hume-Rothery Lecture Theatre
During the pandemic, these will all be delivered online using MS Teams. The details for each seminar will be advertised in the internal Newsletter, but the Joining Link and abstract are also available on application to communications@materials.ox.ac.uk.
The dates of the colloquia for 2021/2022 are:
Michaelmas Term 2021:
Week 1 (14 October 2021) Professor Michael Dickey (NC State University): 'Liquid Metals: Beyond the Terminator'
Week 3 (28 October 2021) Dr Sofia Diaz-Moreno (Diamond): 'X-ray Absorption (and Emission) Spectroscopy at Diamond Light Source'
Week 4 (4 November 2021) Dr Tanvir Hussain (University of Nottingham): 'How to build metallic coatings without melting and ceramic coatings from liquid: innovations in Cold Spray and Suspensions Thermal Spray'
Week 8 (2 December 2021) Dr Rebecca Boston (University of Sheffield): 'Development of sustainable synthesis and sintering in functional oxides'.
Hilary Term 2022
Week 1 (20 January 2022) Dr Ravi Vaidyanathan (Imperial College London): 'Neuromechanics: Insects to In-vivo Mechatronics'
Week 3 (3 February 2022) Prof Dr Lutz Maedler (University of Bremen)
Week 5 (17 February 2022) Assoc Prof Brett Hallam (University of New South Wales): 'Material challenges for sustainable multi-terawatt scale deployment of photovoltaics towards net-zero by 2050 and opportunities for innovation'
Trinity Term 2022
Week 1 (28 April 2022) Prof Mark Miodownik (University College London): 'Towards sustainable materials - a systems approach'
Week 4 (19 May 2022) Prof Julie Grollier (CNR-Thales Group, France) : 'Dynamical Neuromorphic Systems'.
In addition there are numerous seminars by visiting researchers advertised via email.
Biennial Hirsch Lecture 2022
This lecture, by Professor Saiful Islam (Oxford University Chair in Materials Modelling), took place on 14 January 2022. You are welcome to view a recording by using the following link: https://ox.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=c93a81b8-bda8-4d74-8919-ae1500d17ed6.
'From Batteries to Solar Cells: Exploring Energy Materials on the Atomic Scale' by Professor Saiful Islam FRSC FIMMM
Abstract: Breakthroughs in clean energy technologies require advances in new materials and underpinning science. A greater fundamental understanding of energy materials depends upon characterisation of their structural, transport and nano-scale behaviour.
This talk will highlight the use of advanced modelling methods in synergy with experimental techniques to gain atomic-scale insights into novel materials for lithium-ion batteries and perovskite solar cells.

Professor Saiful Islam FRSC FIMMM
Archive of the most recent public lectures hosted by the department
Biennial Hume-Rothery Lecture 2021
'Microscopy and Magnetic Materials: Exploring Energy Landscapes at the Nanoscale' by Professor Amanda Petford-Long FREng
Professor Amanda Petford-Long FREng
Argonne National Laboratory and Northwestern University
Friday 15 January 2021 at 6:30pm
Microsoft Teams Live
Biennial Hirsch Lecture 2019
Triboreacted materials as functional interfaces in internal combustion engines and medical implants
Professor Anne Neville OBE, FREng, FRS, FRSE
RAEng Chair in Emerging Technologies, and Professor of Tribology and Surface Engineering, University of Leeds
Friday 8 February 2019 at 4:30pm
Lecture Room 1, Thom Building
Department of Engineering Science
Parks Road, Oxford
All are welcome.
Biennial Hume-Rothery Lecture 2018
Damage-tolerance in engineering and biological materials
Professor Robert O. Richie FREng, ForMemRS
Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Departments of Materials Science & Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, University of California Berkeley
Wednesday 24th January 2018 at 6pm
Lecture Room 1, Thom Building
Department of Engineering Science
Parks Road, Oxford
All are welcome.
Other Seminar Series in Oxford
Additional seminar series of interest organised elsewhere in the university include: