On the 11th and 12th March, ASTeC and the Cockcroft institute hosted the annual Particle Physics Masterclass (PPMC) at Daresbury Laboratory, an event for A-level and GCSE students to give them an introduction to the grand world of particle physics and accelerator science.
The masterclass was organised by Eleni Marshall and Oliver Poynton (ASTeC) and Annabel Reeder (Daresbury Public Engagement) with on-the-day support from volunteers from both ASTeC and the Cockcroft Institute.
The event hosted 85 students in person on the 11th, with 16 additional classes of students signing in to our online event held on the 12th.
Both days began with an opening talk by Alex Bainbridge (ASTeC) on the history and development of particle accelerators at Daresbury, followed by a talk on the science of electromagnetism. Other talks shared by both days included a live link and tour of Boulby Underground Laboratory from Jonahan Gutteridge and colleagues, an amazing and always popular talk by Fred Loebinger (Emeritus professor, University of Manchester) on the discovery of quarks, gluons and the Higgs Boson. Each day was rounded off by a talk by Tom Pacey (ASTeC) on ‘What CLARA will be used for next’.
The in-person day was broken up by a carousel of activities. Tours of VISTA, SURFLab, the CLARA control room and the Hi-Lumi project were alternated with a display of demonstrations including electrostatic generation, the Meissner effect, vacuum science stations and a beam position monitor, and an early careers panel with opportunity to speak to apprentices, graduates, industrial placement year students and PhD students from ASTeC and the Cockcroft institute.
Some of the demos used were then interspersed into the talks given on the online day, and the early careers panel was held online with Q&A ran through a SLIDO set-up.
Additionally, during the online event, the students were given the opportunity to see the Lancaster Particle Physics Package and understand more about the discovery of the Higgs particle.
Feedback from the schools has been extremely positive, with very high response rate. Roughly 60% of students said they were inspired to go into science, with 20% being extremely inspired! Comments from the students included: “The tours were all amazing and so much thought and effort went into it. The speakers were all excellent and really personable” and “I enjoyed the speakers present and the topics we discussed.”
With those comments in mind, it is fair to say that the particle physics masterclass of 2025 was a great success!