Student news

If you are staying in Oxford over the summer, there is lots to do in and around the city. We've picked out a selection of activities and events that you might enjoy:

Hannah Rana was formerly a DPhil candidate and Amelia Earhart Fellow in cryogenics at the University's Department of Engineering Science. Hannah’s PhD research in astronautical engineering focused on developing cryocoolers for space science instrumentation and detectors for the next generation of space missions. As a Schmidt Science Fellow, Hannah will have the opportunity to employ her engineering skills to advance the development of artificial retina, with the ultimate aim of restoring vision to the blind.

It was my third year of my undergraduate English degree when I was diagnosed with dyspraxia and dysgraphia. Seven years later, I am in the fourth year of my DPhil on British silent cinema and my life and study have been transformed by the diagnosis. I now understand how I work and think. I understand that I need more time to process, to formulate ideas and to structure written work. I have an answer, now, when my handwriting is described as ‘bizarre’ as it was in my first year of study!

The Journey So Far

Picture this. Tower Hamlets, one of London’s most deprived boroughs. My dad, an immigrant, and my mum, a refugee. My dad, a carpenter in a country which didn’t welcome him. He wanted to be an economist. My mum, whose fine art studies at the University of Pristina were cut short by genocide and war. Well, they fell in love. We lived in a tiny flat, in an estate where people worried more about what was next on their child’s plate rather than what will be next in their educational journey.

"I am privileged to have had the opportunity to represent students in the nomination of a person, who is this crucial to our University. That too, for the first time in its very long history. It was a wonderful and enlightening experience to understand the sheer hard work, insights and knowledge that goes into the process. 

The committee and the candidates were very encouraging of the student opinion, which was promising for us and for all the future student representatives who will have the privilege to sit on this committee eventually. 

Adapting to remote research
I'm a qualitative researcher, which means that face-to-face contact is really important. You can pick up on body language in your analysis. You get to know if the participant is more distressed or if something is more important to them.

Embracing the Oxford experience 

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“I started at Oxford in October 2020, in technically what was still the pandemic. Even though I’m in my second year now I still feel as though I’m a fresher; in terms of not really knowing where the faculty building was until Michaelmas of my second year or knowing which libraries to get books from. That learning experience you usually have as a fresher, I’m having now and having to juggle that as a second year with a second year’s workload.