Close up of a plant in front of the Bridge of Sighs
The Bridge of Sighs, part of Hertford College
(Image Credit: Alyssa Ovadis / Graduate Photography Competition)

Materials 4.0 (EPSRC CDT)

About the course

The Materials 4.0 cohort-based training programme offers a four-year doctoral course (eight-years if studying part-time) focusing on the digitalisation of materials research and innovation to link the digital and physical via cyber-physical systems for prediction, classification, and control of material performance.

This programme aims to train the new generation of doctoral scientists able to work across interfaces between machine learning, informatics, physical and cyber systems and modelling.

The set of skills you will acquire during the programme will enable you to exploit new developments in high-throughput approaches for making, characterising and testing new materials to tackle a broad range of materials science challenges in areas including: 2D materials, advanced metal processing, atoms to devices, biomedical materials, chemical materials design, material systems for demanding environment, electrochemical systems and nuclear materials.

The Materials 4.0 CDT programme has been developed by a consortium led by the Henry Royce Institute together with seven Universities (Strathclyde, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Cambridge, Oxford and Imperial College) and two national institutes (National Physical Laboratory and the Alan Turing Institute).

The programme has a large industrial base collaboration and most of the projects are with industrial partners. The training programme is structured to allow you to engage with your research projects immediately following a residential induction, during which you will begin to build intra- and inter-cohort cohesion. Early commencement of research gives you the opportunity to establish relationships with your supervisors, host research groups and industrial sponsors from the outset.

The training programme interleaves activities with ongoing research, building from basic learning to leadership over four years and is delivered using traditional (face-to-face) and modern (remote online) learning formats.

Part-time pathways (up to 8 years) both University- or industry-based are also offered alongside the traditional full-time engagement programme.

In the first two years as a full-time student (four years if studying part-time), you will learn core skills such as basic programming, data analysis and visualisation, machine learning, research data management, experimental design, and communication and coaching. These core-skill courses will provide you with the personal toolkit required to conduct your research.

In the last two years, (four years if studying part-time) you will take the lead in developing and delivering training materials for the younger students and become an advocate for the digitalisation of materials discovery and manufacturing in industry and academia. 

Attendance

The course can be studied full-time or part-time with both modes requiring attendance in Oxford. Full-time students are subject to the University's Residence requirements. Part-time students are required to attend course-related activities in Oxford for a minimum of 30 days each year.

The full-time course is usually studied over four years. The part-time course is usually studied over eight years.

Provision exists for students on some courses to undertake their research in a ‘well-founded laboratory’ outside of the University. This may require travel to and attendance at a site that is not located in Oxford. Where known, existing collaborations will be outlined on this page. Please read the course information carefully, including the additional information about course fees and costs.

Resources to support your study

As a graduate student, you will have access to the University's wide range of world-class resources including libraries, museums, galleries, digital resources and IT services.

The Bodleian Libraries is the largest library system in the UK. It includes the main Bodleian Library and libraries across Oxford, including major research libraries and faculty, department and institute libraries. Together, the Libraries hold more than 13 million printed items, provide access to e-journals, and contain outstanding special collections including rare books and manuscripts, classical papyri, maps, music, art and printed ephemera.

The University's IT Services is available to all students to support with core university IT systems and tools, as well as many other services and facilities. IT Services also offers a range of IT learning courses for students, to support with learning and research.

The department has excellent and wide-ranging research resources including:

  • a world-class suite of electron microscopy facilities including a JEOL ARM analytical STEM, a JEOL 3000F FEG STEM, and two Zeiss Merlin ultrahigh resolution SEMs optimised for EBSD and EDX analysis, together with a number of supporting and training instruments. Much of this equipment is installed in the David Cockayne Centre for Electron Microscopy;
  • additional electron microscopy facilities are available at the national electron Physical Science Imaging Centre;
  • extensive further facilities for characterising materials including, for example, AFM, XPS, and Raman microscopy;
  • advanced sample preparation and micromachining facilities including a Zeiss NVision 40 FIB/SEM and three other FIB instruments;
  • microhardness measurement facilities (at high temperatures and at the nm scale);
  • special processing or manufacturing facilities for ceramics, composites, carbon nanomaterials, rapidly solidified materials and devices such as novel batteries
  • superb facilities for 3-D atom probe analysis (including LEAP 5000XS and LEAP 5000XR);
  • an alloy processing and mechanical properties laboratory, for aerospace and nuclear materials; and
  • wide range of specialist modelling software including some operated by the Materials Modelling Laboratory, and access to Oxford's High Performance Computing resources.

The department’s Institute for Industrial Materials and Manufacturing, located at the University's Begbroke Science Park, offers world-class facilities for advanced materials processing. The Begbroke site also houses a number of materials-related spinout companies.

The Oxford Materials Characterisation Service provides a major suite of equipment for the characterisation of materials used in microtechnology and nanotechnology.

In addition to the excellent central and college library provision, there is a specialist Materials Science Library housed within the department.

Supervision

The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the Department of Materials and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. Under exceptional circumstances a supervisor may be found from outside the Department of Materials.

Typically, you should expect to have meetings with your supervisor or a member of the supervisory team with a frequency of at least once every two weeks averaged across the year. The regularity of these meetings may be subject to variations according to the time of the year, and the stage that you are at in your research programme.

Assessment

The first 18 months are a probationary period, soon after which, subject to satisfactory progress, you will normally transfer from Probationer Research Student (PRS) to full DPhil status.  The probationary period for part-time students will be normally be two years in duration. A second formal assessment of progress, Confirmation of Status, takes place later in the programme, normally at the start of the fourth year for full-time students. The Transfer of Status and Confirmation of Status assessments are conducted by two members of staff other than the student’s supervisor(s) or advisors.

Examination for the DPhil takes place at the end of the programme by means of a written thesis and an oral examination.

Graduate destinations

Graduates of the DPhil and MSc by Research in Materials are highly regarded by a wide range of employers, including universities, high-tech start-up companies, engineering consultancies, industry (including aerospace, electronics, automotive, steel manufacture, medical and household products sectors), world-famous technology companies, schools and colleges, and the financial and business sectors.

Changes to this course and your supervision

The University will seek to deliver this course in accordance with the description set out in this course page. However, there may be situations in which it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, either before or after registration. The safety of students, staff and visitors is paramount and major changes to delivery or services may have to be made if a pandemic, epidemic or local health emergency occurs. In addition, in certain circumstances, for example due to visa difficulties or because the health needs of students cannot be met, it may be necessary to make adjustments to course requirements for international study.

Where possible your academic supervisor will not change for the duration of your course. However, it may be necessary to assign a new academic supervisor during the course of study or before registration for reasons which might include illness, sabbatical leave, parental leave or change in employment.

For further information please see our page on changes to courses and the provisions of the student contract regarding changes to courses.

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