The Merton College Graduate Scholarships in Physics
at the University of Oxford
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Merton College offers a number of Graduate Scholarships dedicated to the study of Physics. The Scholarships do not require a separate application: subdepartments of the Department of Physics nominate some of their most outstanding graduate applicants and Scholars are then selected from this shortlist by the Physics Tutors of the College. The only selection criterion is academic and intellectual merit.

The James Buckee Scholarship was founded in 2010 by Dr James Buckee. The Scholarship is in all areas of Physics and has no nationality or other eligibility restrictions. It normally offers full financial support, including all fees (overseas or domestic) and a maintenance grant for up to 4 years. This is currently the most generous Graduate Scholarship in Oxford Physics and the only Merton Scholarship exclusively dedicated to the subject. On two previous occasions, matching support was offered by the Department of Physics, enabling us to appoint two Scholars since 2010. The competition to appoint the next (3rd) James Buckee Scholar will be held in 2012.		Dr James Buckee has held senior executive positions with Shell, Burmah Oil and BP. He was appointed President of Talisman Energy Inc in 1991 and CEO in 1993 and held both posts until retiring from Talisman in October 2007.
The Jackson Scholarship was founded in 2007 by the bequest of James W. Jackson. The Scholarship is in Natural Sciences, viz. Biochemistry, Chemistry, Physics or Zoology. It is restricted to UK nationals by the terms of the bequest and offers full support (domestic fees and maintenance) for up to 4 years. The current Scholar is in Zoology. The next Scholar will be appointed in 2015.		James W. Jackson was born in 1925 and read Engineering Sciences in 1942-1945 at Merton College.  He was a Divisional Surveyor for Kent County Council for 29 Years.  James Jackson died in 2004, leaving his entire estate to the College. His bequest was for the "Jackson Scholarship" in the Natural Sciences to be open to British Graduates.
The Domus Scholarships   Overseas applicants are supported by the Domus A scheme operated via the Clarendon Trust. For EU and UK applicants, the Domus B Scholarships offer full support (fees and maintenance) for up to 4 years, sometimes in conjunction with Research Council funding. Scholars are appointed in all subjects, on a rotating basis. The next Domus B competition in Physics will be held in 2015.		The Donus graduate scholarships were created in 1931, when the College received a bequest for this purpose from the estate of Sir Hildebrand Harmsworth (Merton 1892). In the 80 years since, the numbers of awards were expanded and they are now funded directly from the College income.
Scholars in Residence
		Robert Lasenby The 2nd James Buckee Scholar 2011-2015 (co-sponsored by the Harmsworth Trust and by STFC via Oxford Particle Theory Group) Robert's undergraduate studies were at St John's College, Cambridge, where he took the Mathematics Tripos, specialising in Theoretical Physics for Part III. During the summers, he worked in a variety of areas, including commercial research and software engineering. Immediately after his second year, he participated in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) programme at Caltech, as part of the Cambridge-Caltech exchange scheme, working in the Astronomy department on data analysis and simulations for a new instrument.     He is now starting a DPhil in Theoretical Physics here at Merton, and is interested in topics including quantum field theories --- the class of theories that includes our best-established and most fundamental physical models, such as those currently being tested by the Large Hadron Collider --- and cosmology, the science of the universe on the largest scales and youngest times, especially insofar as it can shed light on fundamental physics.
		Yue Na (Nana) Liu Domus A Clarendon Scholar 2011-2014 (co-sponsored by the Clarendon Trust) "I am a recent MSc graduate in theoretical physics from the University of Melbourne and I majored in pure mathematics in my undergraduate days. I have worked on extra-dimensional brane-world models and before then, I studied various aspects of the modelling of granular materials at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Melbourne. I am fascinated by theoretical particle physics. I would like to learn as much as possible about the frontiers of modern fundamental physics, like quantum field theory, string theory and cosmology. At the moment, I am particularly interested in the AdS/CFT correspondence, which has applications that seem to transcend former boundaries in physics. Apart from physics and mathematics, I have very keen interests in the philosophy of science and aesthetics, evolutionary epistemology, palaeontology, entomology, music and literature. I do not believe in the effectiveness of studying anything in isolation and diverse interests, when conducted well, I think only enhance understanding, problem solving skills and the development of a more open mind. My wish in all that I do is to learn how to be a better thinker and how to make the most out of my imagination in order to see and offer more of the world's existing beauties."
		Lewis Liu The 1st James Buckee Scholar 2010-2013 (co-sponsored by Oxford Atomic and Laser Physics) Lewis is from Short Hills, New Jersey, USA. Before coming to Oxford, he worked for two years as a consultant for McKinsey & Co.'s London office where he focused on energy, corporate finance, and M&A. Highlights included serving the European nuclear energy sector and energy development in Pakistan. During McKinsey, he also worked as a part-time physics researcher at Imperial College London. Prior to McKinsey, he had interned at CERN as a Harvard College Research Fellow in Geneva, Switzerland. He has an Advanced Standing A.M. in Theoretical Physics from Harvard University and was the first joint A.B. graduate in Fine Arts and Physics at Harvard.     He now works in the Atomic & Laser Physics Department with Professor Simon Hooker. Lewis's D.Phil. research is focused on generating nanometer-scale-wavelength X-rays using quasi-phase matching to generate extremely high harmonics of a driving laser pulse. This is particularly exciting given the broad set of applications, such as fundamental microscopy, biophysics, chemistry, etc.     In his spare time, Lewis is the co-chair and co-founder of the inaugural Oxford University UK Nuclear Energy conference, which brings together leaders in the UK nuclear energy sector to discuss the potential of renewed fission energy. He is also an active member of the men's tennis team at Merton.
		Derek Hollman Domus A Clarendon Scholar 2009-2012 (co-sponsored by the Clarendon Trust) ...