The John Adams Institute for Accelerator Science is training the next generation of physicists and engineers who design and build the giant machines that smash particles together or generate intense X-rays. These particle accelerators are the backbone of modern fundamental physics, but they also drive practical tools like the Diamond Light Source, a synchrotron that scientists use to determine the structure of proteins, new materials, and viruses. The problem is that the UK needs a steady pipeline of skilled people to keep existing facilities running and to design the next generation of colliders and light sources. Without this, the country would lose its ability to lead major international projects at CERN or upgrade national facilities like ISIS. The Institute brings together faculty and students from Oxford, Royal Holloway, and Imperial College, plus staff from national labs and CERN. It focuses on electron beams for future colliders and light sources, high-energy hadron beams for the LHC and its upgrades, advanced plasma-wakefield acceleration, and particle-beam therapy for cancer treatment. If this training succeeds, the UK will retain the expertise needed to build faster, smaller, and cheaper accelerators—machines that quietly underpin medical diagnostics, materials science, and fundamental discoveries about the universe.
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The John Adams Institute for Accelerator Science (JAI) is a centre of excellence for advanced accelerator science and technology. We perform R&D and training, provide expertise, and promote accelerator applications in science and society. The JAI currently comprises 20 faculty, 23 staff, and 38 PhD students from the Physics Departments of Oxford University (UOXF), Royal Holloway University of London (RHUL), and Imperial College London (ICL). An additional 33 staff from the UK's national laboratories and CERN are affiliated with our research and teaching programmes. We have six guiding principles: a) Develop, support and engagement of accelerator science facilities and R&D programmes of strategic importance for the UK; b) Develop worldwide collaborations that enhance the capabilities available to us; c) Develop novel acceleration and compact light source techniques and their applications; d) Deliver a world leading training programme to develop the next generation of leaders in the field; e) Communicate developments in the field to the public and decision makers; f) Strengthen the links among the partner universities to deliver a programme that is greater than the sum of its parts. For the period 2021-2025, we have focused on research areas that have the greatest benefit to national priorities: - Low-emittance, high-brightness electron beams, including next-generation electron-positron colliders (ILC, CLIC), the Diamond Light Source (DLS) and its upgrade, and a future UK FEL. - High-energy/high-intensity hadron beams, including current and future energy-frontier proton colliders (LHC, HL-LHC, FCC), and ISIS and its upgrade. - Advanced acceleration techniques, including laser- and beam-driven plasma-wakefield acceleration. - Particle-beam therapy applications using electron, proton and ion beams. Through this programme we are supporting the UK's accelerator strategy by taking lead roles in both our national and overseas facilities including: DLS, ISIS and CLF at STFC/RAL, CLARA at STFC/DL, LHC, HL-LHC, CLIC, FCC and AWAKE at CERN, FLASHforward at DESY, and ATF/ATF2 at KEK. These themes position us optimally to support our core goals of supporting major national and international accelerator developments; motivating our researchers and giving them skills in state-of-the-art technologies; and being able to transfer our knowledge to major collaborative developments and to industry.
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