Following in the footsteps of Neil Tanner
5 August 2025
Hertford Physics tutor Dr Sam Henry and DPhil student Nathan Baudis joined the Oxplore festival in Bradford and Warrington in July to showcase Oxford to students from communities currently under-represented within the University. In doing so, they were continuing Hertford access work pioneered by Professor Neil Tanner, who revolutionised Oxford admissions sixty years ago, visiting state schools in the North of England to seek out able applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds.
To engage students of all backgrounds, particularly those who are historically under-represented at Oxford, both College and University run activities beyond the campus: visiting schools and communities and starting conversations early, before misconceptions take hold. Involving researchers from both sciences and humanities, the Oxplore festival ran fun-filled activity days in Bradford and Warrington, inviting secondary school students from Year 7 upwards. Over a thousand students from local state schools came along.
Sam and Nathan ran a stall showcasing particle physics research, which was Professor Tanner’s field – the study of neutrinos, the so-called ghost particles, which, despite existing in enormous numbers in the universe, are hardly ever detected due to their tiny interaction with other matter. One demo, also used at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition, illustrated research into neutrino oscillations, showing how these mysterious particles can switch identity – changing between the three flavours of electron, muon, and tau neutrinos – as they pass through the Earth. Towards the end of his career, Neil Tanner had a key role on the SNO experiment, which played a crucial role in the discovery of neutrino oscillations, leading to the award of the 2015 Nobel Prize, as reported by Robin Devenish. Nathan’s DPhil work is on experiments further studying this phenomenon by sending neutrino beams from particle accelerator laboratories to underground detectors hundreds of kilometres away.
Sam Henry reflects, ‘The festivals were great fun, and we hope to have inspired some young students to consider studying at university. Maybe, in years to come, they will apply to Hertford College.’