We are inviting students across the UK to tackle one of our academics’ ‘big’ questions. These have been specially designed to challenge you beyond your normal school curriculum and get you thinking big about your subject and what it might be like to study it at university. Simply record a video of 5 minutes or less presenting your arguments, research, evidence or opinions.
Our winners will receive:
- £100 1st Prize
- £50 2nd Prize
- £35 Subject Commendations
Winners will also all be invited to Oxford for the day where they will get to discuss their entries with subject tutors, tour round with current students and enjoy lunch in our Wolfson Hall.
Entries are now open until Sunday 1 May 2022, so just find your subject interest from the list below and get thinking!
Law – Should governments be allowed to violate civil liberties when imposing lockdowns in order to save lives?
Languages – Is translating creating?
English – Should the arts ever have a moral or political purpose?
Philosophy – What, if anything, is the fundamental difference between moral imperatives like “Don’t kill innocent people” and manners like “Don’t speak with your mouth full”?
Politics – Should young people’s votes count for more than elderly people’s in elections?
Medical Sciences – Is the brain a supercomputer?
Physics – Shouldn’t we all be using our resources to combat the climate crisis, instead of some of them to put people on Mars?
Earth Sciences – What can Earth’s past tell us about its future?
Engineering – Should machine learning techniques be used in safety critical engineering systems, such as self-driving vehicles?
Maths – Is maths really the language of the universe?