Get your online postgraduate certificate in nanotechnology from Oxford University

Oxford University (UK) is offering a number of nanotechnology programmes through its Continuing Education division. Excitingly, they are offering an online postgraduate certificate in nanotechnology. From the Feb. 29, 2012 notice,

Oxford University’s Department for Continuing Education offers a number of technology and health-related courses and workshops. Please find below information about our Postgraduate Certificate in Nanotechnology.

Postgraduate Certificate in Nanotechnology

Developed by the University of Oxford’s Begbroke Science Park and the Department for Continuing Education, the Postgraduate Certificate in Nanotechnology is a quality online course aimed at professionals from a diverse range of backgrounds who wish to learn more about the foundations of nanotechnology, technological advances and the applications enabled by nanotechnology.

This part-time course is designed to be completed over nine months, using a blend of individual study of online learning materials, together with group work during online tutorials, discussions and research. The group sessions with tutors are particularly valuable because they offer highly authentic learning and assessment opportunities.

  • The Wider Context of Nanotechnology
  • The Fundamental Science of Nanotechnology
  • Fundamental Characterisation for Nanotechnology (featuring Nano-scale Materials Characterisation Residential Weekend)

Each of these modules may also be studied individually as a short course.

We are accepting applications for the new academic year. The deadline is 9 March 2012.

We are also accepting applications for the Fundamental Characterisation for Nanotechnology short course and Residential Weekend.

For further details, please visit our website (www.conted.ox.ac.uk/nano), or contact us on nano@conted.ox.ac.uk.

Given the deadline to apply for the postgraduate certificate studies in nanotechnology is March 9, 2012, you may want to rush here to apply.

Not mentioned is Oxford’s summer school programme in nanotechnology (from the Nanotechnology Summer School 2012 webpage),

Each year the Nanotechnology Summer School focuses on applications of nanotechnologies in a different field. Comprising presentations from leading researchers and practitioners from the University of Oxford and beyond, the Summer School is essential for anyone with an interest in these topics.

The theme of the fourth annual Nanotechnology Summer School in 2012 will be ‘Introduction to Bionanotechnology’.

It’s a one-week programme being held Monday July 2 – 6, 2012 at Oxford University. They are still taking applications but they have yet to decide on the programme fees. You can contact www.conted.ox.ac.uk/nano. for more information.

This course, The Wider Context of Nanotechnology, doesn’t start till October 2012 but you might want to start thinking about it now. A module that’s part of the online postgraduate certificate, it seems to have a residential component (two weeks). Here’s more from course description webpage,

Nanotechnology has received much attention from scientists and journalists in the last few years raising hopes of revolutionary developments in a wide range of technologies on an increasingly small scale, dramatic improvements to standards of living, and solutions to a variety of environmental, medical and communications problems. These have gone hand in hand with fears that a new technology will disrupt the markets of existing business sectors and that machines are running out of control.

The result has been a high degree of confusion at all levels of society as to the ethics, safety and business implications of this emerging series of technologies. The course addresses these issues and others in emphasising the interdisciplinary nature of nanotechnology. This is important because students who specialise in nanotechnology must be trained to appreciate a range of issues beyond the confines of pure science. Nanotechnology has applications in a broad range of fields and sectors of society. A student trained in electrical engineering, for example, who goes on to specialise in nanotechnology, may undertake a research project developing nanosensors that will be implanted in human subjects. He or she will therefore need to develop new skills to appreciate the broader ethical, societal and environmental implications of such research.

The development of interdisciplinary skills involves not only learning methods of reasoning and critical thinking, but also gaining experience with the dynamics and development of effective multi-disciplinary function. Technologists must become comfortable addressing various issues as an integral part of doing advanced research in a team that might draw upon the expertise of not only engineers, but also biologists, doctors, lawyers and business people. As the project evolves, knowledge of the place of nanotechnology in business, becomes increasingly important. The module teaches an understanding of the basic workings of how nanotechnology innovation is exploited, together with an understanding of the dynamics of entrepreneurship.

I highlighted a few bits I found particularly interesting. Perhaps not so oddly, there’s no mention of anyone from the arts such as writers, artists, dancers, etc. or anyone from the social sciences such as psychologists, sociologists, etc.  in these multidisciplinary teams.

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