Outreach
The Cockcroft Institute is committed to the public understanding of science, and the communication of the scientific work of the Institute to the wider community. We can provide scientific talks and visits to clubs and education establishments by Institute staff, and will organise outreach activities at the Institute throughout the year.
We work closely with the Daresbury Laboratory Science in Society team to support school visits, and to deliver the annual Particle Physics Master Class which is held in March during national science week. We can also arrange tours of the ALICE energy recovery linac prototype accelerator for interested schools and groups.
The Big Bang fair
The Cockcroft Institute will be exhibiting soon at the Big Bang fair in Manchester (http://www.thebigbangfair.co.uk/whats_on.cfm). This is the largest science fair in the UK, and will take place at Manchester Central (formerly known as the GMEX) in March between Thursday 11th and Saturday 13th. The exhibit will feature a virtual reality flythrough of the ALICE 1 and EMMA 2 particle accelerators located at the Daresbury Laboratory, delivered in collaboration Virtalis (http://www.virtalis.com/ ), a world-leading Manchester-based industrial partner specialising in 3D visualisation. We will have a number of accelerator components, plus a host of experts with experience of a vast range of accelerator specialisms, ready to answer questions and talk visitors through the complexities of modern particle accelerators.
We will also have demonstrations of vacuum and its effects on everyday. This is always popular, and gives visitors a chance to see and understand how ‘normal’ everyday things change when air is removed from the environment.
Particle Physics Master Class
Following immediately from the Big Bang fair, the annual Cockcroft Institute Particle Physics Master Class will take place at the Daresbury Laboratory on March 15th and 16th. Groups of students from local schools will attend for a day of talks, practical demonstrations and challenges related to particle accelerators, including a hands-on experiment to measure the electron beam energy in the ALICE particle injection line. Towards the end of the day, there will be a short quiz to see how much students have learned, with prizes awarded to the winner. This is always a popular event, and further information can be obtained by contacting the coordinator, Alan Brown (alan.brown@stfc.ac.uk).
1 Accelerators and Lasers In Combined Experiments: ALICE is a unique particle accelerator because after first accelerating the electron beam, the beam is decelerated and the energy recovered and re-used on the next ‘shot’. ALICE is one of only four machines in the world capable of doing this.
2 Electron Model of Many Application: EMMA is a world-first in terms of accelerator design. Currently under construction, it is the first non-scaling fixed-field alternating gradient accelerator in the world. It has potential applications in cancer therapy, medical imaging and the generation of electricity.
We support the Lab in a Lorry programme run by the Institute of Physics, and the annual Physics Olympics run by the Department of Physics at the University of Liverpool.
Work Experience - Matthew
Work experience - Katherine
Contact
For bookings, contact Alan Brown by email
or telephone on 01925 603488
For further information contact Dr Lee Jones, cioutreach@stfc.ac.uk
Departmental outreach contacts in the Cockcroft Institute
ASTeC: Lee Jones lee.jones@stfc.ac.uk
STFC: Alan Brown alan.brown@stfc.ac.uk
Lancaster Physics: r.lewsey@lancs.ac.uk
Lancaster Engineering: g.neville@lancs.ac.uk
http://www.engineering.lancs.ac.uk/schools/
Liverpool: tara@hep.ph.liv.ac.uk
Manchester: David.Bailey-2@manchester.ac.uk
Other masterclasses in the Cockcroft Institute:
http://www.hep.lancs.ac.uk/Schools/Masterclass.html contacts:
r.lewsey@lancaster.ac.uk H.Fox@lancaster.ac.uk
Tel: + 44(0)1524 593616
http://www.hep.manchester.ac.uk/u/masterclass/masterclass2009/
David.Bailey-2@manchester.ac.uk Tel: + 44 (0)161 2754177
http://www.scitech.ac.uk/PandS/Events/DL/public/pp.aspx
stfctalkingscience@dl.ac.uk + 44 (0)1925 603040
Alan.brown@stfc.ac.uk +44(0)1925 603488
Physics Olympics
http://www.liv.ac.uk/physics/olympics/index.html ajb@ns.ph.liv.ac.uk
Resources for schools
http://www.hep.lancs.ac.uk/Schools/HighSchools.html
http://lppp.lancs.ac.uk/
http://www.liv.ac.uk/physics/resources/schools/index.html
And elsewhere in the UK
http://www.particlephysics.ac.uk/teach/master-classes/2009.html"
http://www.iop.org/activity/outreach/Resources/Physicists_and_
Primary_Schools_Project/page_5784.html
Further afield: Stanford Linear Accelerator Virtual Visitor Centre
http://www2.slac.stanford.edu/vvc/Default.htm
