Postgraduate Certificate in Nanotechnology

Karen worked as a designer and computational modeller for a global company, and pursued our postgraduate courses in nanotechnology to explore nanomaterials from fundamental characterisation to commercialisation, which allowed her to create new concepts in design.

‘I was looking for a multidisciplinary course that covered the full range of activities in nanomaterials from fundamental characterisation to commercialisation. After exploring other courses and briefly working in Oxford, I found the Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) in Nanotechnology. Although I had an undergraduate degree in physics, I needed to understand the basics of materials and go deeper into areas that could help with my product development goals.

'Later, after the pandemic, I wanted to look deeper into the potential opportunities that nanotechnology could provide in health care. I decided to apply for the MSc in Nanotechnology for Medicine and Health Care, and I was specifically interested in how nanomaterials could enhance the performance of biomedical devices, which were critical during the pandemic.'

Full spotlight available at:

https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/profiles/dr-karen-lawson

Farasat progressed to the MSc in Nanotechnology for Medicine and Health Care in order to further his knowledge and research in nanomedicine.

'Having completed my medical degree at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, I pursued a career in neurosurgery in Singapore. During my training, I became interested in translational research to further my knowledge so I enrolled on the Postgraduate Certificate in Nanotechnology. I found the course to be extremely helpful as it provided me with all the relevant information required to understand the basic principles of nanotechnology. Additionally, the course structure enabled me to balance both my work and academic commitments as it was directed towards working professionals with weekly online tutorials and module based assignments.

'I was fascinated by gamma knife; a stereotactic radiosurgery modality used to target and kill brain tumours. However, radiotherapy dose to the tumour is generally limited by the radiation tolerance of surrounding healthy tissue so there is a serious need for radiosensitizers to effectively improve the therapeutic ratio. In order to further my research in radiosensitizers I decided to apply for the MSc in Nanotechnology for Medicine and Health Care. The course requires a dissertation on a topic of your choice which I felt made it even more appealing as I was interested in investigating the radiosensitization effects of gold nanoparticles with U87 glioblastoma cell line using a clinical linear accelerator.'

Full spotlight available at:
https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/profiles/student-spotlight-farasat-kazmi

Rob progressed on from an engineering background to study and find a new career path in nanotechnology.

‘I originally obtained an undergraduate degree in electrical and computer systems engineering in Australia. After several years in the workforce I felt a change was needed, and that I would like to try to move away from a ‘traditional’ engineering role and towards an area of rapidly evolving science.

'I chose to move away from a traditional engineering vocation, and towards interdisciplinary science but was unsure of the exact field I wanted to pursue. After doing some preliminary reading about nanotechnology, I had more questions than answers. I was hooked.

'Although I was extremely interested in the course syllabus, I initially did not think I was ‘worthy’ of applying to Oxford. However, after mentioning to my peers that I may have found the course I had been looking for, they strongly encouraged me to apply. I was subsequently offered a place and have never looked back.

'Having completed the Postgraduate Certificate in Nanotechnology, I knew I had finally found the career path I had been looking for. I subsequently completed the MSc in Nanotechnology for Medicine and Health Care, which also was an amazing experience.

Full spotlight available at:
https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/profiles/student-spotlight-robert-duca