The University of Liverpool’s Department of Physics hosted its Annual Work Experience Week for A-Level students from 29 June – 3 July. This event, designed for students from Widening Participation partnered schools and the local city region, welcomed 36 students. The students engaged in introductory talks, team challenges and gained work experience in various laboratories for condensed matter, nuclear, and particle physics.
On 3 July 2026, Dr Narender Kumar, CI member and Research Coordinator within the QUASAR Group, organized a successful tour of the Daresbury Laboratory Campus. The tour provided A-Level students the opportunity to visit various laboratories dedicated to particle accelerators and related technologies, along with talks on “History of Accelerators at Daresbury Campus” by Eleni Marshall, ASTeC and “Particle Accelerators” by Dr Andrea Santamaria Garcia, University of Liverpool. The students were accompanied by Dr Ellis Rintoul and Dr Charlie Devlin from the University of Liverpool’s Department of Physics.
The tour included visits to several state-of-the-art laboratories, such as the Diagnostics laboratories at Cockcroft Institute (CI), the Superconducting Radio Frequency Lab (SuRFLab), the Vacuum and Photocathode Development Lab (VISTA), and the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) at Daresbury Campus. The tour was guided by CI colleagues and STFC ASTeC Staff. The students gained insights into the complexities and unique aspects of each laboratory, highlighting the advanced science and engineering underpinning particle accelerators and their associated technologies.
The tour was also clubbed with three demonstrations developed within the EuPRAXIA training week. The students then participated in a quiz organised on the basis of the knowledge gained during the tour and also, evaluated the three demonstrations, above mentioned.
We would like to thank all the guides, Ravi Gupta and Saransh Malhotra (PhD Students within the QUASAR Group) for escorting the group, and the participants whose enthusiasm made the journey memorable. A special thanks to all the laboratory in-charges for their cooperation in planning and executing this tour.