Aberration correction leads to a substantial improvement in the directly interpretable resolution of transmission electron microscopes. Direct electron optical correction based on a hexapole corrector and indirect computational analysis of a focal or tilt series of images offer complementary approaches and a combination of the two provides additional advantages. This paper describes aberration corrected instrumentation installed in Oxford which is equipped with correctors for both the image-forming and probe-forming lenses. Examples of the use of these instruments in the characterisation of nanocrystalline catalysts are given together with initial results combining direct and indirect methods. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.