Questions about Studying / Researching /
Teaching in Oxford
QUESTIONS
I receive many questions about studying, researching
and teaching in Oxford. Answering these takes up a huge amount of time. I am therefore
very grateful to those who have already answered most of their questions
themselves and only ask me to help with questions not answered by the many
easily available web sites connected with Oxford University, and the various
Colleges and Faculties. Please read the following information on this page and
then try such other web pages first. If you still have questions after doing
that though, do please ask!
Please note that whilst I endeavour to answer all my email immediately I am now retired, I do not have a secretary and often
do not have enough time to answer all my email as promptly as I would like. If
your email does not elicit a response from me immediately, please accept my
apologies and send a reminder copy of your email after an appropriate delay.
1. I want to study at Oxford :
1.1 I want to study for a degree at Oxford :
1.2 I want to study at Oxford but not for a degree
:
1.3 I just want to carry out Research at Oxford
:
1.4 Scholarships / Grants etc.
2. I want to study a particular topic:
2.1 I'm interested in Intellectual Property Law
:
2.2 I'm interested in Business / Management :
3. I want to study / be based at a particular college /
research centre :
3.1 St. Peter’s College :
3.2 Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre
:
3.3 Said Business School :
4. I want to teach at Oxford
5. More general questions.
1. I want to study at Oxford
The academic year in Oxford usually begins on 1st October and you should be
planning any visit at least 9-12 months ahead. There are many ways of studying
or carrying out research at Oxford the following are just a few. In general
studying or researching at Oxford involves being involved with three
institutions : A College, The University as a whole and one or more Faculties in particular. You may therefore find it useful to also look
at Faculty and College web sites as well. Links to these are provided from the
main University Web Site which provides a good starting point:
1.1 I want to study for a degree at Oxford
If you are interested in studying or researching anything at all in Oxford
University by pursuing a taught course or a research based
course leading to an examined degree you should look at the Admissions pages of
the main Oxford University web site above. The admissions pages for
undergraduates or graduates will explain the overall procedures for applying.
1.2 I want to be a visiting student at Oxford
but not take a degree at Oxford
Some colleges have visiting student schemes. Such schemes are generally
intended for students currently pursuing a course at another University outside
the UK and who are prepared to pay the necessary University and College fees to
visit and study in Oxford during a break in their studies in their home
country. Details can be found via the Oxford University Admissions web page
above and at http://www.admissions.ox.ac.uk/int/visiting/
. For visiting students to St.Peter's college the
only management options which might be available are likely to be those taught
by the current tutor for management for the Economics
and Management undergraduate course.
You could also be a visiting student if you are pursuing a doctorate at another
University and want to visit Oxford to pursue your research but again you would
still need to find a college prepared to accept you which in general means
finding a faculty member interested in your research. This is not disimilar to the requirement for finding a supervisor for
doctoral research based at Oxford.
1.3 I just want to carry out Research at Oxford
If you are an academic researcher at another University or someone based in
Industry or Government wishing to pursue academic research at Oxford during a
sabbatical or other study leave sponsored by your home institution, then you
may not fall under either of the above categories and will wish to visit as an
Academic Visiting Researcher. You should contact the head of the Faculty or
Research Centre whose interests are most closely aligned with the area you wish
to carry out research or study in. If you are interested in being based at the
Said Business School or the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre please
see below. Please note that even if you area able to
provide funding for your visit to Oxford sufficient to pay all your expenses
there are still limitations on the availability of desk space and it is the
appropriate head of the Faculty or Research Centre who will have to make such
decisions not myself.
1.4 Scholarships / Grants etc.
You will need to provide your own funding or obtain funding from more general
University scholarship schemes. Details may be available on the main Oxford
University Web site or through your own home institution. Details of the
various costs of studying in Oxford can be found on the main Oxford University
Web site. Please note that ability to fund research or visits is no guarantee
of there being space available.
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2. I want to study a particular topic
The two main subject areas/faculties I have links with are those concerned with
Intellectual Property Law and Management. My teaching in the past covered both
Intellectual Property Management and Strategic Management more generally. My
research interests bridged the fields of Intellectual Property Law and
Strategic Management and can be best characterised as Intellectual Property
Management. If you are interested in other fields then please have a look at
the appropriate Faculty web page listed on the main Oxford University web site
at :
2.1 I'm interested in Intellectual Property Law
Though I have qualified as a Patent Attorney in the past, having retired I am
no longer on the list of patent attorneys, and do not teach on any law courses.
Two taught courses directly concerned with Intellectual Property at Oxford are
the Intellectual Property related BCL and MJur
courses. There is also now an Oxford Postgraduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law and Practice
for lawyers and a new MSc in Intellectual Property. You
should be able to find details of these and the entrance requirements on the Law Faculty web pages which are accessible
via the main Oxford University web site. You can look at the more general
Graduate Studies prospectus at : http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/gao/
on the main University web site.
If you are interested in Research in Intellectual Property Law whether as a
Doctoral Student or Visiting Researcher you should try to contact the law
faculty member whose research interests most closely match your own, as well as
contacting the OU Graduate Admissions office if you are interested in doctoral
research. I do not supervise any students studying within the Law faculty.
2.2 I'm interested in Business / Management
As an Undergraduate
The Oxford University Faculty of Management is based in and virtually
synonymous with the Said Business School. If you are interested in
Undergraduate degrees including Management such as the degree in Economics and
Management you should look at both the SBS web site http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk, the OU Admissions
web pages accessible via the main OU Web page at http://www.ox.ac.uk
and also the various College web sites.
St.Peter’s College is very keen to accept
excellent candidates for the undergraduate courses involving Management E&M
based at the Said Business School. You can find out more details about St.Peter’s by looking at the College web site : http://www.spc.ox.ac.uk .
As a Graduate / Potential MBA / MSc student
The main Graduate degree in Management at Oxford is the MBA course but there
are also some MSc courses. Details of all these including prospectuses,
entrance requirements and application forms can be found on the SBS web site at
http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk.
As a Graduate / Potential DPhil (Doctoral) Student
Details of the Doctoral program in Management Studies can also be found on the
SBS web site http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk.
NB: Having retired I am NOT able to supervise any doctoral students.
If you can find a suitable supervisor for your research from amongst SBS
faculty members you will also need to check that you can fulfil all the other
criteria for acceptance by the Said Business School. I would also advise any
would be doctoral students before contacting any potential supervisor to
already have a written research proposal indicating the field of research they
hope to pursue, an outline of the existing state of knowledge in that field
including references, the contribution to that knowledge they hope that their
research will produce, the research questions they hope to answer, and some
indication of how they propose to organise their research to make that
contribution – including details of timing and funding. This is likely to
be a substantial document and not just a one page summary.
(Those applying for the doctoral program might
also like to consider whether their English language ability is sufficient, to
read and understand large quantities of relevant academic material written in
English in a short time period (as might be necessary in the course of a
literature search) and also sufficient to write precise English which will not
require any substantial correction for its intended meaning to be correctly
understood by a supervisor (such as during the formulation of research
hypotheses). If either of these academic reading or writing skills is
problematic, completing a DPhil in Oxford is likely to be hindered
linguistically and it might be better to base the research degree in an
institution which would allow the research to be conducted in another language
and then just apply to visit Oxford as a visiting student to conduct any UK
based fieldwork. This would still require substantial English language skills
but would be less linguistically onerous and yet still allow research to be
conducted in the UK).
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3. I want to study / be based at a particular
college / research centre
I was until I retired a Fellow and Tutor in Management at St.Peter’s
College and a member of the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre. You should
therefore address questions about any other colleges or research centres to
them rather than me. Please use the main OU website http://www.ox.ac.uk to locate their web sites if
you wish to find contact details for them. I may be able to answer questions
about the OIPRC and St.Peter’s or at least direct
you to those who can - but you should first see whether your
questions can be answered by looking at the respective web sites which will
almost certainly be quicker than asking me first!
3.1 St. Peter’s College
St.Peter’s College is very keen to accept excellent
candidates for the undergraduate E&M course as well as the MBA course based
at the Said Business School. You can find out more details about the college in
general by looking at the College web site : http://www.spc.ox.ac.uk
.
A distinct advantage of St. Peter’s is that it is one of the closest
colleges to the Said Business School building in West Central Oxford.
3.2 Oxford Intellectual Property Research
Centre
You can find out more details about the work of the OIPRC by looking at their
web site at https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/oiprc
.
If you are based in Oxford be sure to check details of the Seminar series which
runs during most term times.
If you are an academic researcher at another University or someone based in
Industry or Government wishing to pursue academic research at Oxford during a
sabbatical or other study leave sponsored by your home institution, then the
OIPRC does accept some visiting Researchers each year either as visiting
research students or visiting academic researchers. In the first instance you
should contact the director (see the https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/oiprc
) .
3.3 Said Business School
You can find out more details about the Said Business School through the very
comprehensive SBS web site at http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk
. Again if you are an academic researcher at another University or someone
based in Industry or Government wishing to pursue academic research at Oxford
during a sabbatical or other study leave sponsored by your home institution,
then the SBS does accept some visiting Researchers each year either as visiting
research students or visiting academic researchers. In the first instance you
should contact the Director of Research at SBS details of whom can be found via
http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk. Please note that
even if you area able to provide funding for your visit to Oxford sufficient to
pay all your expenses there are still limitations on the availability of desk
space for visitors.
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4. I want to teach at Oxford
If you are interested in a full time or visiting faculty position at the Said
Business School I do not deal with such enquiries. Vacant full time faculty and
other positions are listed in the vacancies section of the Said Business School website http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk. For
visiting faculty positions and other enquiries please consult the Director of
the Said Business School or the MBA Course Director. If you are interested in
positions in the Law faculty please consult the OU Law faculty
Website.
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5. More general questions.
If you have pursued all the above sources of information and still cannot find
the answer to your question and your question is one that I might reasonably be
expected to be able to answer or at least direct you to someone who can answer
- then please do not hesitate to ask me directly preferably by e-mailing me via
: 
I will endeavour to answer your question as quickly as possible but please be
aware that having retired any answer may be delayed!
If your question relates to commercial advice on IP issues please read the
following page : RHPADVICE.html
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