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The Cockcroft Institute

Information for Students

Students will get a chance to work on an accelerator science and technology project at one of the partner universities or with the accelerator science and technology centre.

Applications are NOW OPEN for the 2026 Cockcroft Institute Summer Student Programme

We are seeking high-achieving physics or engineering students looking for an exciting summer opportunity.

INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS

About

Are you an undergraduate student in a physics or engineering degree and would like a chance to work on a particle accelerator science and technology project? By joining the Cockcroft Institute summer internship programme, you will get involved with unique, world-leading research and development of particle accelerators. The experience you’ll gain will lay a strong foundation for progressing your studies with a Ph.D. programme or accessing the career of your choice in physics or engineering.

What will you do?

Projects will run for 7 weeks (29th June – 14th August 2026) and can involve mathematical physics, computer simulation or hands-on experience through experimental studies at one of our partner universities or with the accelerator science and technology centre. The CI summer internship programme also includes industrially sponsored opportunities.

The internship will include days at the beginning and end where the full cohort will be based at Daresbury Laboratory to learn about particle accelerator technology and see our amazing facilities.

You will be paid a minimum of the national living wage.

Requirements

You need to be in your final 2 years at university and on track for a first- or upper second-class undergraduate degree classification in physics or engineering. You must have the right to work in the UK.

Application process

To apply, simply do both of the following:

We aim to have all projects allocated by the end of April, when all students will be notified of the outcome of their application.

Projects available for 2026

Monte Carlo is a key technique for used to model systems that produce or interact with ionising radiation. Examples include particle accelerators, nuclear reactors, patients receiving particle-beam therapy, and a satellite orbiting in space. Monte Carlo is used to statistically predict the passage of particles through the material of the system being simulated.

The summer project will focus on either the fundamentals Monte Carlo simulation or its application to particle accelerators. The underlying Monte Carlo simulation will be either Geant4 (https://geant4.web.cern.ch) or FLUKA (https://fluka.cern).

Most of the programming and data analysis will be conducted in the python programming language. This project will be well suited any student wishing to develop their skills in computational physics, simulation and data analysis and has an interest in nuclear, particle or medical physics. There is an opportunity (subject to funding) to perform this project in collaboration with a nuclear simulation company.

For more information, contact Prof. Stewart Boogert (Stewart.Boogert@cockcroft.ac.uk).

This project involves practical work in the laser lab at Liverpool, initially learning how to set up and align the laser system, and then working on developing a single shot autocorrelator to measure the pulse duration of the laser after compression.

This will be used to optimise the compressor in the lab, and if there is sufficient time, add in an additional amplification stage using photonic crystal fibre, and compressing the amplified pulses.

This project will support new experiments on fibre combination in the lab and provide invaluable practical lab experience for a student, as well as in data collection and analysis and writing code.

For more information, contact Dr Laura Corner (Laura.Corner@liverpool.ac.uk).

Aim: To develop a quantum model of the “Wiggler-free free-electron laser” (WFFEL), and compare its behaviour to both the classical WFFEL and the conventional quantum free-electron laser (FEL).

Description: The FEL is among our most versatile scientific tools, able to produce ultra-short, ultra-bright pulses of radiation with wavelengths ranging from microwaves to hard X-rays. It operates on the principle that relativistic electrons in a magnetic wiggler emit radiation, and their oscillations in the combined wiggler and radiation fields lead to an instability, causing the radiation intensity to grow exponentially. The WFFEL simplifies this process, replacing the wiggler with a uniform magnetic field and instead exploiting the electrons’ cyclotron motion. Theoretical studies suggest that quantum recoil effects in the FEL can enhance the coherence of the radiation, leading to radiation with desirable properties. This project will explore the analogous effect in the WFFEL, finding the linear growth rate and determining the operating conditions required to reach the quantum regime.

The project will appeal to students with a strong mathematical background and an interest in using fundamental concepts to produce practical outcomes. The work will be based at the University of Strathclyde, under the supervision of Dr Adam Noble and Dr Gordon Robb.

For more information, contact Dr Adam Noble (adam.noble@strath.ac.uk).

‘Ghost imaging’ is an indirect imaging technique that reconstructs the image of an object by using spatial correlations between two light beams (for example via a beam splitter). Unlike classical ghost imaging, Computational ghost imaging (CGI) eliminates the need for a second light source: it reconstructs an object’s image by illuminating it with known light patterns, such that the spatial correlations are now between the beam and a computable pattern.
Computational ghost imaging has gained popularity for its ability to reconstruct images using a single-pixel detector, even in challenging conditions. It has found applications in biomedical imaging, remote sensing, data encryption and accelarator physcis.

The choice and design of illumination patterns directly affect reconstructed image quality, influencing metrics such as resolution, signal-to-noise ratio, and acquisition speed.

The aim of this project is to explore novel illumination patterns and systematically investigate how they affect image reconstruction quality in computational ghost imaging. The work will involve literature review, code development for image simulation and analysis of reconstruction quality under different illumination schemes and comparison with laboratory experiments at Cockcroft Institute.

Requirements:

  • Basic knowledge of Python, MATLAB, or similar programming languages.
  • Interest in imaging physics and computational methods

For more information, contact Dr Daliya Aflyatunova (Daliya.Aflyatunova@cockcroft.ac.uk).

This project involves practical work in the laser lab at Liverpool, investigating the formation and measurement of longitudinally polarised light.

This will involve generating radially polarised light and then focusing it with an axicon to generate significant on-axis polarisation.

The student will develop a methodology for measuring the longitudinal component of the focused light and assess the suitability of this method for acceleration of electrons. This project will provide practical lab experience as well as experiment design, data collection and analysis.

For more information, contact Dr Laura Corner (Laura.Corner@liverpool.ac.uk).