Course summary

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2024). 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 Information, Communication and the Social Sciences provides an opportunity for highly-qualified students to undertake innovative internet-related research. The Oxford Internet Institute's (OII) students work on multidisciplinary research across the social sciences. Many projects fit within the following broad themes: digital knowledge and culture digital politics and government education, wellbeing and digital life ethics and philosophy of information information geography and inequality digital policy and online security economics of information and the internet online platforms and social networks. Over the course of the DPhil you will produce an important and original piece of scholarship that will make a significant contribution to the dynamic area of internet research. OII DPhil graduates have the qualities and transferable skills necessary to excel in teaching, research, policymaking or business. Our doctoral students research questions from across a spectrum of disciplines. As a DPhil student at the OII, your research will be anchored in disciplinary questions (in, for instance, politics or sociology), while also being situated in broader social science theories and methods. OII faculty are international leaders in their research fields, and their teaching and supervision reflect their innovative research. The diverse cohorts of doctoral students complement the strength of the course by providing a multidisciplinary peer network for students to engage in ideas, discussion and debate. In addition to the formal requirements of the DPhil thesis, you will have access to regular training in the key professional skills necessary to support your research and future employment. These range from classes on advanced research methods as part of the OII’s option course offerings to professional development training (provided both by the department and the University) such as presentation skills, academic writing and navigating the process of peer review. You will attend a weekly seminar in which you will present your own work for critique, and critique the work of your peers. The OII also provides opportunities for DPhil students to gain teaching experience through mentored assistantship roles in some of its core MSc courses. The department's busy calendar of seminars and events brings many of the most important people in internet research, innovation and policy to the OII, allowing students to engage with cutting-edge scholarship and debates around the internet and digital technologies.