Fees and frequently asked questions

When does the Spring School 2025 run?

• The date of the 2025 Spring School, has yet to be confirmed. In 2024 the Oxford Spring School was offered both in-person and online again, and we hope to offer this in 2025. 
   

In-person

• All in-person teaching sessions took place at the Department of Politics and International Relations, Manor Road Building, Manor Road, Oxford, OX1 3UQ. View details of how to locate the Department. 
   

Online participants

How did the online sessions run?  

• All morning and afternoon sessions were on Zoom.
• We also ran separate networking sessions for online participants, providing opportunities to meet online participants from other courses as well as people on your core course.  
   

What did I need to access the course?

• A good, reliable internet connection from wherever you are joining the Oxford Spring School. 
• The ability to access Zoom to attend your course and access your course materials. 
• A camera and microphone/speaker either built into your laptop, headphones or similar. 

• We provided accommodation at Brasenose College. Founded in 1509 and located in the centre of Oxford, students were a 13-minute walk from Manor Road Building, where the Oxford Spring School was held.

Are there entry requirements for Oxford Spring School?  

• The Oxford Spring School focuses on a variety of research skills; therefore, we welcome students from any social science background to apply. 
• Please note we offer a non-advanced course - ‘Data Analysis for the Social Sciences’ - for those with little or no experience in quantitative methods.  
   

When will applications open for the 2025 Spring School? 

Applications will open for the 2025 edition of Spring School later this year. To keep up to date with the latest Spring School news and find out when applications will open, please sign up for email updates[DB1] .

• Every year, a set number of bursary places are set aside for DPIR DPhil students. Details of the 2025 bursary scheme will be announced later this year. 

How can I pay for the course? 

• We only accept payment by credit or debit card for places on the Oxford Spring School. Payment deadlines will be announced later this year.  

All quantitative methods courses will be taught using RStudio (all courses apart from Qualitative Methods). All participants on these courses (Causal Inference, Text Analysis, Machine Learning, and Data Analysis for the Social Sciences) should have downloaded and installed the software before the course starts.

When will I receive my course material?

All accepted course participants (who have paid their course fee) will be supplied with access to the online course material three weeks before the start of the course.

I need a certificate to prove that I attended the course – will I receive one automatically?

• Yes, at the end of the course you will be given a certificate of attendance at the Oxford Spring School. This will be emailed to you at the end of the week. 

My course has been cancelled? 

• Unfortunately, there is a small chance we may cancel courses if they do not meet the minimum number of participants required for the course to be feasible to run. 
• We require a minimum number of participants per course (this will also ensure the opportunity to network amongst participants).
• In the rare event that your core course is cancelled and you have already paid: 
  • We will offer you a place on a different core course (if they are relevant to you and your skill set) 
  • Or we will offer you a full refund free of charge 

I need to withdraw my application or cancel my place – how can I do this?

• If you have already confirmed your place and we have received payment for your course fee, unfortunately we cannot cancel your place or issue a refund. However, please email the Spring School team so that we know not to expect you.