The Cockcroft Institute will design and build the next generation of particle accelerators—machines that smash atoms together to reveal the fundamental structure of matter. These accelerators are the workhorses of modern physics, but current designs are reaching their practical limits. The Institute aims to push beyond those limits by developing new technologies—superconducting cavities, plasma wakefields, and advanced metamaterials—that can generate higher energies and brighter beams in smaller, more efficient machines. Without this work, future discoveries in particle, nuclear, and photon science would stall. If successful, the research will enable new facilities such as a TeV-scale electron-positron collider and a neutrino factory, allowing scientists to probe deeper into the nature of matter. It will also deliver practical spin-offs: accelerators for cancer therapy, systems to transmute nuclear waste, and designs for accelerator-driven subcritical reactors that could generate energy with reduced long-lived radioactive waste. The Institute will train the next generation of accelerator scientists and engineers for the UK, maintaining a national skill base that underpins both fundamental science and industrial applications.
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The Cockcroft Institute proposes to : (i) perform generic and blue-sky research and development (R&D), spearheading the next bold steps in the conception of particle accelerators in the service of particle, nuclear, photon and neutron sciences; (ii) perform project specific R&D in Accelerator Science and Technology on large scale scientific facilities in UK or abroad approved nationally and internationally such as the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, TeV scale Electron-Positron Linear Collider, Neutrino Factories and Muon Colliders, High Luminosity Meson Factories, Superconducting Heavy Ion Linear Accelerators for Nuclear Physics such as HIE-ISOLDE at CERN, facilities for Anti-matter research such as FAIR; next generation photon sources such as the NLS and next generation neutron sources such as the ESS and ISIS upgrades; (iii) lead and manage national deliverables to international projects such as the luminosity upgrades of the Large Hadron Collider, Damping Rings and Positron Sources for the TeV scale electron-positron collider, the International Design Study of a Neutrino factory; potential accelerator systems for the FAIR project; (iv) spearhead novel collider and accelerator concepts to probe deeper into the nature of matter such as the Large Hadron-electron Collider (LHeC) at CERN; (v) explore the fundamental limits of particle acceleration gradient, coldest charged particle beams and the brightest beams achievable in the laboratory; (vi) advance the frontier of technology in meta-materials, lasers, plasmas and photonics for the next generation of particle accelerators; (vii) develop internationally acknowledged and competitive expertise, core competencies and complementary skills base in UK; (viii) implement Knowledge Exchange with industry and society, serving as a National Accelerator Development Centre addressing current issues in Energy (alternative energy sources such as Accelerator Driven Subcritical Reactors), Environment (Artificial Transmutation of Waste) and Health (accelerators for particle beam cancer therapy); (ix) integrate seamlessly academia, national research facilities and industry via incubation; (x) educate and train the next generation of enabling scientists and engineers for UK.
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