Master of Public Policy – Student Life Q&A 2025 @BlavatnikSchool

Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

Are you applying for the Master of Public Policy? Do you want to find out more about what it's really like being a student at the Blavatnik School and Oxford?

The deadline for admissions to our graduate programmes is fast approaching on Tuesday 2 December, and we know you might still have questions about what it's like to study here.

Hear from our fantastic current MPP students about their classes and academic work, life at the School, and the exciting opportunities available to you as a student at Oxford University. Don’t forget to submit your questions in advance!

Blavatnik School of Government,
University of Oxford
bsg.ox.ac.uk

Master of Public Policy – Student Life Q&A 2025

The Public Philospher: Panel 4: Equality

Blavatnik Book Talk: Politics Without Politicians

Christian Schuster joins the Blavatnik School of Government

Wednesday December 11, Session 1 – Afrocentric Philosophy of Disability

$Kyoto Prize at Oxford 2025: Sir John Pendry In the last few years, a new area of research has emerged as a result of our ability to produce materials with entirely novel electromagnetic properties. Known as metamaterials because they take us beyond the properties of conventional materials, they display remarkable effects not found in nature, such as negative refraction. Spurred on by these new opportunities, theorists have produced exotic concepts that exploit the new materials: we can now specify how to make a lens whose resolution is limited not by the laws of nature but only by our ability to build to the stated specifications; we can guide radiation along a trajectory, avoiding objects and causing them to appear invisible; we can design and manufacture materials that are active magnetically in the optical range. Sir John Pendry concludes his lecture discussing the latest developments which aim to structure materials in time as well as space - space/time crystals. These materials violate time reversal symmetry and offer possibilities for new devices. Theorists find them intriguing as they offer possibilities for creating Hawking radiation in the laboratory. There has been a truly amazing amount of innovation but more is yet to come. The field of metamaterials is developing into a highly disruptive technology for a plethora of applications where control over light (or more generally electromagnetic radiation) is crucial, amongst them 5G/6G technology, satellite communications, solar energy harvesting, stealth, biological imaging and sensing, and enhanced MRI scanners. Sir John Pendrys lecture will be followed by a moderated Q&A session. BOOK NOW – https://www.kyotoprize.ox.ac.uk/event... Kyoto Prize at Oxford events – https://kyotoprize.ox.ac.uk/events Kyoto Prize at Oxford – https://kyotoprize.ox.ac.uk Hosted by the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford – http://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/$

Satirical strategies: exposing corruption with humour

International Perspectives on Conservatism: Dr Asanga Welikala in conversation with Dr Tom Simpson

Philippa Webb joins the Blavatnik School of Government

Policy Unpacked: What is driving nationalism today?

Kyoto Prize at Oxford: Laureates’ Panel 2026