Diamond Science and Technology

The course begins with a pre-sessional week at Warwick during which social and networking sessions are organised for the cohort. The formal focus will also be to help chemists, physicists, material scientists, engineers and scientists from related disciplines, speak the same scientific language. This will be organised through workshops and small group interactions deliberately mixing different disciplines to discuss different basic concepts taught at undergraduate level.

• your reasons for applying
• evidence of motivation for and understanding of the proposed area of study
• the ability to present a reasoned case in English
• commitment to the subject, beyond the requirements of the degree course
• preliminary knowledge of research techniques
• capacity for sustained and intense work
• reasoning ability
• ability to absorb new ideas, often presented abstractly, at a rapid pace.

During the two ten-week teaching terms (from the end of October to early December and then from mid-January to mid-March) the course is based around 11 two-week modules, nine of which are compulsory and two optional. Each module comprises a range of taught lectures, seminars, problems classes, workshops and laboratories. Teaching and assessment styles will be varied from module to module to best deliver and examine the training content. Lectures, seminars and workshops will be reinforced with a substantial practical or laboratory component. This will make use of the instrumentation and computational resources at Warwick, for example, state-of-the-art suites in magnetic resonance, electrochemical analysis, spectroscopy, electron microscopy, dedicated clean-rooms for the growth, characterisation and processing of new materials and next generation power electronics etc. The facilities will also be supplemented by the loan of specialised equipment from collaborators. The practical aspects of the modules will enable you to gain essential hands-on experience of a wide variety of techniques/instrumentation, eg CVD growth, laser processing, device fabrication, characterisation and instrumentation such as Raman, microscopy, XPS, data analysis and modelling.

Examination of the taught elements of the MSc will be by a mixture of continuous assessment of practical and class work, and written examinations which will take place in mid-April. From late April to early July and from mid-July to mid-September you will undertake two ten-week mini-projects at two different universities or industrial partners, which link to the theme of your chosen DPhil (PhD). The first mini-project will be examined by a poster presentation at the annual Diamond Conference, and the second by a written report. The chosen PhD programme will then commence in early October, subject to passing the MSc.

During the Oxford DPhil part of the CDT programme in years 2 to 4 there will be regular activities aimed at building the DST community, including seminars, away days and attendance at the annual Diamond Conference.