During the national emergency the Cockcroft Institute is trying to continue its business as efficiently and effectively as possible. After the 3 month lockdown in the spring, staff and students have returned to working at the Daresbury Laboratory site in increasingly larger numbers. Whilst experimental operations were disrupted for a few months, the majority of these activities have now resumed whilst many other types of work are continuing online. These include our world renowned education and training programme; software, modelling and simulation; data analysis from recent experiments, dissemination of knowledge through publications, online conferences and workshops; collaborative projects with businesses; applications of accelerators for security, healthcare and the environment; and our highly praised public engagement programmes.

We understand that this is a worrying time for everyone in the country. Science will play a major role in helping to mitigate this crisis, although it will take some time for that to roll out and have the necessary impact. We are proud to be associated with accelerator staff at Diamond Light Source who are enabling X-ray crystallography studies of coronavirus and potential drugs and vaccines for its treatment, and we are seeking further ways in which we might assist the global effort to defeat this dreadful threat.