A practical session at the British Physics Olympiad hosted in the Denys Wilkinson Building. Students were given an experiment to complete on their own while supervised by a team of volunteers.
The Department of Physics at the University of Oxford hosted the British Physics Olympiad (BPhO) training camp this month, bringing together 28 A-level students from across the UK to compete for places on the British team for the International Physics Olympiad. The five-day residential camp featured 12 hours of intensive physics instruction, spanning lectures, tutorials, theoretical and practical workshops. The students were split into two groups: one competing for places on the UK team for the International Physics Olympiad, and one for the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics. Each group competed for only five team spots, with organisers selecting which stream each student entered.
The training programme covered material well beyond standard A-level syllabuses, including advanced thermodynamics, special relativity, rotational dynamics, and fluid mechanics – content broadly equivalent to first-year undergraduate physics at Oxford. Students also developed practical laboratory skills, including working with unfamiliar equipment and estimating experimental uncertainties. Those in the astrophysics stream received additional training in observational astronomy, learning to navigate the night sky alongside the theoretical underpinnings of the objects they observed. Students were assessed through a two-hour data analysis exam and a three-hour theory paper, the results of which determined the final team selections.
The camp was led by a team of volunteers, several of whom are current Oxford undergraduates and postgraduates who were themselves members of previous British Physics Olympiad teams. Sophie Glencross, a first-year undergraduate in the Department of Physics who was on the UK team in 2024, was among those helping to lead this year's programme.
'Being able to support other people who are potentially going to make the team feels meaningful,' said Glencross. 'The camp was a really significant experience for me — I got to meet so many people and learn content that has genuinely helped me through my first year here.'
Ojas Tiwari, another Oxford undergraduate and former BPhO team member, also volunteered on the camp. 'I owe so much to everyone who runs the Physics Olympiad,' said Tiwari. 'I don't know if I'd be at Oxford if it weren't for it, so it's nice to give back in that way.'
Also volunteering were Nola Guy, a third-year Oxford undergraduate who previously represented the UK in the astrophysics stream and now helps organise the programme, and Ollie Breech, a third-year DPhil student in the Department of Physics who was on the UK team in 2019.
The BPhO, which is run entirely by volunteers, coordinates physics competitions for students from Year 7 upwards, with around 80,000 students participating across all its programmes each year.
Lena Shams is the Outreach Project Officer with the Department of Physics and she is also the Administrative Secretary for the BPhO. She led this years' training camp alongside Dr Sian Tedaldi who manages the Department of Physics’ outreach work and is also trustee for the British Physics Olympiad.
'We are proud to support the BPhO. It is fantastic that the competitions, events and resources reach so many young people from across the UK,' commented Lena Shams. 'It is also such a pleasure to see some of the top students coming to study at Oxford, and then to work with them at the camp to train the next generation.'