Fusion Power (EPSRC CDT) (Taught)

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 Fusion Power (EPSRC CDT) is a research-based course combining training and research in fusion-relevant fields like plasma physics, materials science, and computational modelling, with initial taught modules followed by a major research project.

The Fusion Power Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) is provided by a collaboration between six UK universities (Durham, Liverpool, Manchester, Oxford, Sheffield, and York), other research organisations including Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, and industry such as Tokamak Energy, First Light Fusion and OxfordSigma.

You will be trained to doctoral-level (a PhD is known as a DPhil at Oxford) in disciplines related to fusion power. A significant number of fully-funded four-year full-time and eight-year part-time doctoral studentships are expected to be available each year. The CDT expects to train at least 80 students over five intakes from 2024 to 2028.

You will train and study alongside students undertaking the DPhil in Materials, together forming an Oxford cohort of research students in materials. The majority of projects are expected to collaborate with the wider fusion industry. In Oxford, students will focus on materials for fusion power.

The plasma-facing components, magnets and breeding blanket of any future fusion tokamak will be subjected to some of the most extreme engineering environments possible, with high temperatures, stresses and extreme levels of radiation damage. For fusion to be feasible as an economic power source, the materials used must be able to survive these conditions, retaining usable thermal and mechanical properties, for five years or more. Fusion CDT projects in Oxford will work on solving these challenges and making fusion a reality.

You will have access to a range of fusion materials facilities within Oxford and across the UK, and international links provide access to many other fusion devices around the world.

The combination of world-leading experts and world-class facilities creates an outstanding training environment for the next generation of fusion scientists - the generation who may exploit STEP, ITER, NIF and other international experiments to make fusion energy a reality.