Chemistry at Balliol College
Balliol College has a distinguished tradition in Chemistry that goes back more than 150 years. In 1853 the College opened its own chemistry laboratory, in what is now the JCR bar. Two Balliol Chemistry alumni have won Nobel prizes: Cyril Hinshelwood (who was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1956) and Oliver Smithies (who was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2007). Another Balliol Chemistry alumnus, Christopher Longuet-Higgins, became a distinguished theoretical chemist, while the American Nobel laureate Linus Pauling deduced the structure of the alpha-helix when he was a Visiting Research Fellow in Balliol.
Balliol typically admits around 7 students per year for the MChem course, and we warmly welcome applicants from all backgrounds: students are selected on the basis of their potential and enthusiasm for the subject. Chemistry in Oxford is taught by a mixture of lectures, laboratory work, classes and small group tutorials. The tutorials take place in College, and are given by one of the College’s tutors or lecturers (who are listed below). In addition to the College-based tutorials, classes in Mathematics and Physics are arranged in the first year.
Many of the College’s chemistry students proceed to carry out post-graduate research in Oxford or elsewhere. Together with graduates from other colleges and universities, there are typically over 20 graduate Chemistry researchers in the College. Our students go on to work in a wide range of careers. Several are now professors (including Professor Hagan Bayley, Professor of Chemical Biology at Oxford) or have pursued research careers in industry. Others have followed careers in medicine, teaching, finance, green energy, law and computing.
The College’s Chemistry Fellows have wide-ranging research interests. Professor Dermot O’Hare’s is in organometallic and materials chemistry. Professor William Barford’s are in theoretical chemistry, focusing on quantum processes in macromolecular systems, while Professor Matthew Langton’s are in synthetic supramolecular and coordination chemistry, particularly at the interface of biological chemistry and nanotechnology.
The Balliol Chemistry Society (BACCHUS) organises regular social and academic activities, drawing together Balliol’s large community of Chemistry undergraduate and graduate students and the Chemistry Fellows, ensuring that Balliol College is a vibrant and rewarding place to study Chemistry.
Number of places at Balliol: 7.
Tutors
Professor William Barford
Professor of Theoretical Chemistry, Fellow and Tutor in Physical ChemistryChemistry
Dr Theodosios Famprikis
Malcolm Green Early Career Fellow in Inorganic ChemistryChemistry
Professor Matthew Langton
Professor of Chemistry and Royal Society University Research Fellow, Fellow and Tutor in Inorganic ChemistryChemistry
Professor Dermot O’Hare
Professor of Chemistry, Senior Research Fellow in Chemistry and SCG FellowChemistry
Dr Lydia Gilday
Lecturer in ChemistryChemistry
Dr Max Marcus
Lecturer in ChemistryChemistry
Dr Rachel Quarrell
Lecturer in ChemistryChemistry
Dr Jamie Wilmore
Lecturer in ChemistryChemistry
About the course
Please see the Department of Chemistry website.
Course requirements and selection criteria
- Please see the Department of Chemistry’s selection criteria.