Course summary

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2022). 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 National Institutes of Health Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Programme (NIH OxCam) is a four-year doctoral programme. You undertake a collaborative project in biomedical research involving two supervisors - one at an NIH facility in the US and one at either Oxford or Cambridge. The NIH OxCam doctoral programme was first established in 2001 and is primarily aimed at graduate students from the USA. You must first apply to the NIH by early December, following which interviews for admission in the following Michaelmas term (October) are held in February in Bethesda, MD by NIH, Oxford and Cambridge University staff. The programme is highly competitive and the approximate number of places available this year is shown in the Key Facts section on this page. You can also apply to the NIH MD/PhD programme. The selected students are supported financially by the NIH but are full students of the University of Oxford or Cambridge and normally spend half their time in the UK. At the time of selection to the programme, you will not necessarily have decided on your supervisor or even which UK University you will attend. The information below is applicable to accepted students whose primary UK supervisor is a member of the University of Oxford. The Director of Graduate Studies for the Oxford programme is Professor Michael Dustin, and for administrative purposes all NIH-Oxford students are admitted to the Medical Sciences Doctoral Training Centre of the Division of Medical Sciences. However, NIH OxCam students are not limited to supervisors in the Division of Medical Sciences. For example, many students have supervisions in the Division of Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences. You should explore all departmental websites to discover the full range of opportunities. There are also many students who have supervisions in the Division of Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences. Examples of previous research areas are Neuroscience, Computational Modelling and Immunology. Students may work with any Oxford/NIH supervisor in any research area and department, as long as the supervisor is willing to host the student in their laboratory. You should explore all departmental websites to discover the full range of opportunities. Supervision The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the Medical Sciences Doctoral Training Centre and/or closely-related departments, and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. Under exceptional circumstances a supervisor may be found outside the Medical Sciences Doctoral Training Centre and/or closely-related departments. Each student is expected to have co-supervision, meaning that they should select two Oxford supervisors in addition to the NIH supervisor. One of the co-supervisors will be designated as the primary supervisor. Students should meet with their supervisors at least once a fortnight, on average, across a year.