Clinical Medicine (Research)

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2025). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas.

The DPhil in Clinical Medicine is a research-based course at Oxford offering advanced training through a lab-based project in areas such as immunology, genomics, global health, microbiology, and drug discovery.

Doctoral students within the Nuffield Department of Medicine carry out research in a single laboratory and there is no period of rotation between laboratories. All doctoral students develop their skills through a range of research training and skills development in their first year of full- time study or first two years of part-time study, by attending compulsory and optional training in laboratory techniques and generic skills, including scientific writing and statistics, while also working at the bench.

You will have access to, and be encouraged to attend, the lectures and seminars that individual research groups or groups with common areas of interest organise for their own members and others. This will depend on the specific unit/area within which you are housed. Medical Grand Rounds are also held in the graduate centre at the John Radcliffe Hospital. You will have access to the other departmental seminars announced via email.

You will also have access to doctoral training and research methods provision available across the Medical Sciences Division. The aim is to tailor this training to individual needs and bring all students up to satisfactory level in background knowledge. Later training is focused on the skills required for a successful career in independent research.

You may be required to attend fieldwork / laboratory / training sessions on dates to be determined by mutual agreement with your supervisor.

The Nuffield Department of Medicine (NDM) comprises research groups in several institutes and laboratories, including:

Experimental Medicine Division

• Translational Gastroenterology Unit and Liver Unit (TGLU)

• Modernising Medical Microbiology (MMM)

• Respiratory Medicine Unit (RMU)

• Oxford Respiratory Trials Unit (ORTU)

NDM Research Building

• The Target Discovery Institute (TDI)

• Centre for Medicines Discovery (CMD)

Old Road Campus Research Building

• The Jenner Institute

• Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research

• Pandemic Sciences institute (PSI)

• Centre for Immuno-Oncology

Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health

• Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) - Thailand

• Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) - Vietnam

• Centre for Global Health Research (OCGHR) - Oxford

• KEMRI–Wellcome Trust Collaborative Research Programme (KWTRP) – Kenya

Centre for Human Genetics (CHG)

• Division of Structural Biology (STRUBI)

• Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Oxford Institute (CAMS COI)

• Oxford Particle Imaging Centre (OPIC)

• Oxford-GSK Institute of Molecular and Computational Medicine (IMCM)

• Centre for Personalised Medicine

Big Data Institute (BDI)

• The Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research (PMB)

Students housed within the NDM-BDI can describe their DPhil subject as Biomedical Data Science. Those within Tropical Medicine and associated within the Africa and Asia Programmes (MORU, OUCRU and KEMRI) can describe their DPhil subject as Tropical Medicine and Global Health.

In exceptional cases, students may be admitted to study for the MSc by Research degree.