16 December 2025
\n \n \n \nProfessor Ian Walmsley, Director of the Oxford Quantum Institute (OQI), reflects on Oxford\u2019s strengths in quantum, the role that the OQI will play to accelerate impact, and how the UK as a whole can remain competitive in the quantum arena.
\n \n\n \n \n16 December 2025
\n \n \n \nA new study involving researchers from Oxford University\u2019s Department of Biology has found that the exaggerated feather ornaments on the heads of male Chrysolophus pheasants restricts their field of view.
\n \n\n \n \n12 December 2025
\n \n \n \nResearchers in the Department of Physics have led a breakthrough study which has recorded the first observation of carbon-neutrino interactions. The findings, published in Physical Review Letters, open new frontiers in nuclear and particle physics.
\n \n\n \n \n11 December 2025
\n \n \n \nThis week marks the 80th anniversary of penicillin's Nobel Prize, and Dr Farley from the Ineos Oxford Institute calls for renewed collaboration to tackle today's antimicrobial resistance crisis, echoing the teamwork that led to penicillin's discovery.
\n \n\n \n \n9 December 2025
\n \n \n \nSeven academics from the MPLS Division are to lead new research projects supported by European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grants. These grants support highly promising mid-career scientists of any nationality and any field with building a research team at an eligible host organisation.
\n \n\n \n \n9 December 2025
\n \n \n \nThe University of Oxford, in partnership with the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), plans to launch the Generative Biology Doctoral Training Programme (DTP) \u2014 a four-year DPhil designed to allow the next generation of researchers to explore how to synthesize the DNA sequences of organisms to program and engineer biology.
\n \n\n \n \n9 December 2025
\n \n \n \nThe University of Oxford and UBS are proud to announce the launch of the Oxford-UBS Centre for Applied Artificial Intelligence (AI).
\n \n\n \n \n5 December 2025
\n \n \n \nAn international team co-led by the Department of Physics has identified one of the largest rotating structures ever reported: a \u2018razor-thin\u2019 string of galaxies embedded in a giant spinning cosmic filament, 140 million light-years away. The findings could offer valuable new insights into how galaxies formed in the early Universe.
\n \n\n \n \n2 December 2025
\n \n \n \nResearchers from Oxford Earth discuss why the UK\u2019s new plan to secure 34 critical minerals will require new approaches, from cleaner extraction methods to stronger and more equitable supply chains.
\n \n\n \n \n1 December 2025
\n \n \n \nAlgorithmic trading firm XTX Markets has made a substantial gift to the University of Oxford to support early career researchers working in the field of pure mathematics.
\n \n\n \n \n28 November 2025
\n \n \n \nNew research involving Oxford University researchers has found that drones can be a valuable, non-invasive tool for observing elephant families and aiding long-term conservation efforts.
\n \n\n \n \n21 November 2025
\n \n \n \nThe Department of Chemistry will lead a new, ambitious collaborative project backed by a major \u00a36 million grant from the BBSRC to better understand how animals sense Earth\u2019s magnetic field and apply this knowledge to engineer novel tools with potential biomedical uses.
\n \n\n \n \n19 November 2025
\n \n \n \nA new study led by the Department of Biology has found evidence that kissing evolved in the common ancestor of humans and other large apes around 21 million years ago, and that Neanderthals likely kissed as well.
\n \n\n \n \n14 November 2025
\n \n \n \nA research team led by the Department of Engineering Science has developed a new class of soft robots that operate without electronics, motors, or computers \u2013 by using air pressure.
\n \n\n \n \n12 November 2025
\n \n \n \nThe University of Oxford has announced that Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt, Principal of Jesus College and Professorial Research Fellow in Computer Science, has been appointed Chair of AI@Oxford Research, a new role to champion and coordinate Oxford\u2019s world-class research in artificial intelligence (AI).
\n \n\n \n \n10 November 2025
\n \n \n \nNew findings from NASA\u2019s Cassini mission show that Enceladus, one of Saturn\u2019s moons and a top contender for extra-terrestrial life, is losing heat from both poles \u2013 indicating that it has the long-term stability required for life to develop. The findings have been published in Science Advances.
\n \n\n \n \n6 November 2025
\n \n \n \nA new study led by the Department of Biology reveals that reptiles confined to islands are facing a double jeopardy. Despite being more likely to go extinct than mainland species, they remain largely ignored by researchers compared to their mainland counterparts.
\n \n\n \n \n6 November 2025
\n \n \n \nProfessor Philip Torr and Dr Christian Schroeder de Witt, both from Oxford University\u2019s Department of Engineering Science, have been awarded a prestigious AI2050 Research Fellowship by Schmidt Sciences.
\n \n\n \n \n3 November 2025
\n \n \n \nWe are delighted to welcome our latest cohort of Optiver Foundation Scholars to Oxford. The programme, now in its third year, has to date awarded 18 scholarships to students from 11 countries and across five continents.
\n \n\n \n \n29 October 2025
\n \n \n \nProfessor Dame E.J. Milner-Gulland, Department of Biology, explains why conservationists and researchers are concerned about the proposed Planning & Infrastructure Bill, and what needs to change for UK growth to not come at nature\u2019s expense.
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