Graduate Studies Prospectus - University of Oxford

Sparks 68Greg SmolonskiUniversity of OxfordUniversity Museum of Natural HistoryParks Road, Oxford OX1 3PW+44 (0) 1865 272950Fax +44 (0) 1865 272970info@oum.ox.ac.ukwww.oum.ox.ac.ukOpen every day 10 am to 5 pmThe Oxford University Museum of NaturalHistory houses 4.5 million specimens and isthe largest collection in zoology, entomology,palaeontology, mineralogy and petrology inthe UK outside of the national collections.The building itself is a magnificent exampleof Victorian Gothic architecture (listed GradeOne). The collections began with those of theTradescants (elder and younger) in the 17thcentury, passing to the University throughElias Ashmole, and continue to grow throughthe research of museum and departmentalUniversity staff. Research and study bystudents, as well as visiting scholars, is activelyencouraged.In 1849 the Revd F W Hope presented hisextensive insect collections to the Universityand endowed the Hope Professorship. Otherimportant entomological collections followed(Westwood, Dale, Rothney, Smith, Saunders,Burchell) plus the Pickard-Cambridgecollection of spiders. There are more than25,000 type specimens.The zoological collections are especiallystrong in birds, mammals, reptiles andcrustaceans and include the collectionsof William Burchell and Thomas Bell. Includedare the historically important Christ Churchcollection of anatomical specimens.The palaeontological collections include theTertiary collections of Lyell, Jurassic collectionsof Buckland, Phillips, Philpot, Parker, and Arkell,and the Palaeozoic collection of Grindrod.There are good collections of local Pleistocenematerials.The mineralogical and petrologicalcollections comprise more than 28,000specimens and include representativegemstone and meteorite collections and thecelebrated Corsi collection of decorativestones used in the ancient world.There is an active environmentalarchaeological laboratory specialising inpalaeo-ecological work on a range of sitesfrom Pompeii to prehistoric Oxfordshire.The Museum houses an important archiveof scientific correspondence and papers, suchas those of William Smith. There are four bookcollections related to the fields of study in theMuseum. The Library is open to members ofthe University from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm and2.00 pm to 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday.Pitt Rivers MuseumSouth Parks RoadOxford OX1 3PP+44 (0) 1865 270927Fax +44 (0) 1865 270943www.prm.ox.ac.ukEntered through the University Museum, thePitt Rivers Museum houses one of the world’sfinest collections of anthropology and worldarchaeology with objects from every continentand from throughout human history. It wasfounded in 1884 when General AugustusHenry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers, an influentialfigure in the development of archaeologyand anthropology, gave his collection to theUniversity. The gift was made on conditionthat a lecturer be appointed and to this daythe Museum remains actively involved in theteaching of cultural anthropology.The Victorian architecture, densely packedcases and handwritten labels all contribute tothe special experience the Museum offers.The typological arrangement enables visitorsto discover a variety of practical solutionsto the problems of life and explore manyexamples of human ingenuity and creativity.In addition to objects regarded as beautifulor rare there are many examples of artefactsthat reveal how ordinary people have livedand thought. This gives the Museum a uniquequality, containing as it does things not usuallytreasured or preserved. Since the founding giftof nearly 20,000 items, the collections havenow grown to over half a million artefacts,including photographs, manuscripts and soundrecordings. The collections continue to growtoday through donations, bequests, purchases,and objects acquired by staff and studentsduring fieldwork.The Museum also includes the BalfourLibrary, which has important collections of19th and early 20th-century anthropology,travel and exploration, as well as recentworks of prehistoric archaeology, culturalanthropology and museum studies. It has alarge number of current periodicals.A member of OLIS, the library is open tomembers of the University from 9.00 am to5.00 pm on weekdays during termtime and for more limited hours duringvacation.In early 2007, the Museum opened its newextension, adjacent to and interconnectingwith the existing galleries. The extensionincludes a range of public, teaching, andresearch facilities, as well as a new home forthe Balfour Library.Researchers and interested groups canbook visits to the Museum’s collections nototherwise on public display by telephoning+44 (0) 1865 270927.For further information, see websiteBotanic GardenThe Botanic Garden, a Grade One listed gardenfounded in 1621, is the oldest botanic gardenin Britain and its mission statement, carved inLatin on the stone arch at the entrance to theGarden, is ‘to promote learning and glorify thework of God’. Consequently the Garden boaststhe most diverse yet compact collection ofplants in the world and plays an integral role inthe teaching of plant biology in the University.It is one of the first botanic gardens in theworld to arrange its plants according to thenew plant taxonomy as proposed by theAngiosperm Phylogeny Group.There are three components to the plantcollection, namely: a) the Arboretum, whereingrow woody plants and some of the oldestredwoods in the UK; b) the Glasshousecollection of tender plants from all overthe World; and c) the Hardy collection thatincludes both the botanical family bedsand the horticultural collection that hasbeen extensively redeveloped since 1997.Graduates and undergraduates in the disciplineof Biological Sciences use plants from all threesections in research and formal teaching.The Garden also plays an active role inthe conservation of a number of plants,including Euphorbia stygiana and Pulsatillavulgaris amongst others, and is involved withthe UK’s response to the Global Strategyfor Plant Conservation. The Global Strategyaddresses all aspects of plant conservationincluding the raising of the public’s awarenessof this impending global crisis. For morethan ten years the Garden has been offeringeducation programmes for people of all agesand backgrounds. In 2006/7 more than12,500 school children visited the Gardenor its satellite site, the Harcourt Arboretumand 13,500 adults attended lectures andclasses. This is an important component of theUniversity’s outreach programme.14