Materials

专业详情

As a student on the Oxford MSc by Research in Materials you will be part of one of the top-ranked materials departments in the world (QS World University Rankings 2022). This vibrant research school consists of around 30 academic staff, 12 Senior Research Fellows, and around 240 research students and 80 postdoctoral researchers. Research students are of many nationalities and come to the department from diverse scientific backgrounds. They are graduates in the traditional subjects of materials science, physics, chemistry and engineering and also mathematics, earth sciences and biology.

The MSc by Research in Materials is normally carried out in two years of full-time study under the supervision of an experienced member of staff. 

Only a very small number of places are offered on the MSc by Research in Materials programme each year as the majority of the department’s research students are enrolled on the doctoral programme, the DPhil in Materials. The MSc students work, train and study alongside the DPhil students, together forming a cohort of research students in materials.

Details of research degree programmes, including training opportunities (academic courses, research-specific skills and generic transferable career skills) and progression requirements, can be found in the current version of the Materials graduate course handbook, which is available on the department’s website.

Research interests of the department extend over most branches of materials science, as well as some aspects of solid state physics and chemistry: they include the study of a wide range of materials of relevance in advanced technological applications, including metals and alloys, composites, semi- and super-conductors, polymers, biomaterials, ceramics and materials for quantum information processing.

Much of the research is carried out in close collaboration with industry. World-leading research takes place on:  

• characterisation of materials, where there is emphasis on electron microscopy and related techniques
• processing and manufacturing of materials
• modelling of materials, where there is attention to both structures and processes
• properties of materials
• energy materials, including those for batteries, nuclear fusion and photovoltaics
• quantum computing and quantum devices, which includes groups working on experimental studies, theory and modelling.

Each of the department’s research groups works within one or more of the following broad themes and research projects available to applicants for the MSc by Research in Materials are listed under these themes:

• energy materials
• structural and nuclear materials
• device materials, including semiconductors, superconductors, quantum computing and quantum devices and NEMS
• polymers and biomaterials
• nanomaterials
• processing and manufacturing, including metals, alloys, ceramics, superconductors and polymers
• characterisation of materials
• computational materials modelling.

Further information on current research and individual members of staff is available via the Materials Science website.

An overview of the provision for research students in the Department of Materials can be found at the Outline of Provision for Materials Research Students webpage. Also available is Guidance on Supervision Arrangements.