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February 2, 2026

Advancing plasma-based accelerators using nanostructured materials

Over the past few decades, the field of plasma-based accelerators - such as laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) and beam-driven plasma wakefield acceleration (PWFA) has made remarkable advances. The long-predicted GeV/m accelerating gradients are now routinely achieved at multiple experimental facilities…
January 26, 2026

IPAC’26 Scientific Program Committee meets in Liverpool

The University of Liverpool's QUASAR Group hosted an important planning meeting for the IPAC’26 Scientific Program Committee (SPC) in Liverpool from 14 - 15 January. Participants at the IPAC 2026 SPC meeting in Liverpool. The event was held at the…
January 23, 2026

IBIC 2025 Conference Proceedings published online

The International Beam Instrumentation Conference 2025 (IBIC 2025) was held from 7th to 10th September 2025 at the University of Liverpool. We are pleased to announce that the final conference proceedings have now been published and are available online at…
January 21, 2026

Mark Thomson takes up his mandate as CERN General Director

British physicist and former STFC Excecutive Chair Mark Thomson began his five-year mandate as CERN General Director on 1 January 2026, taking over from Fabiola Gianotti. CERN General Director Mark Thomson. (Image credit: CERN/Maximilien Brice) Much of his earlier career…
December 15, 2025

New Application Experiments on the SCAPA Laser-Driven Proton Platform

Cockcroft Institute researchers at the University of Strathclyde have successful commissioned a laser-driven proton source platform at the Scottish Centre for the Application of Plasma-based Accelerators (SCAPA) and completed three pioneering experiments that demonstrate its growing capabilities - from space…
November 28, 2025

Cockcroft Institute prepares for UKRI’s New Growth Strategy

On Monday, 24 November 2025, leading figures from UK research, industry and government convened at the Innovation for Growth Summit in London, hosted by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in the Science Museum. The event marked a major strategic shift:…
November 26, 2025

Tabletop accelerator research featured as Physical Review Letters cover story

A groundbreaking study involving members of the University of Liverpool's QUASAR Group, based at the Cockcroft Institute, has been selected as this week’s cover story for Physical Review Letters (PRL), highlighting an advance that could fundamentally transform how compact particle accelerators are designed and…
November 17, 2025

CI PhD successes from Liverpool

Over the last months, several PhD students affiliated with the Cockcroft Institute have successfully concluded their theses, marking an important step forward in their research paths. Alexander Morris from passed his viva in November. His PhD thesis ‘Design of a…