The Cockcroft Institute of Accelerator Science and Technology celebrated its 20th birthday on Friday the 20th September 2024 at Daresbury Laboratory.
Approximately twenty years ago, accelerator science was re-established in UK universities and this initiative led to the creation of the Cockcroft Institute. The Cockcroft Institute has become an internationally leading research institute, made important contributions to large-scale international accelerator projects, trained over 300 PhD students and developed impactful applications of accelerators.
The event started with a moving talk by Jim Clarke celebrating the scientific career of former ASTeC director Mike Poole, and followed by a retrospect of the first 20 years of the Cockcroft Institute from its foundation to its establishment as a world-renown institution. All of the former directors, John Dainton, Swapan Chattopadhyay, and Peter Ratoff reflected on the challenges of the early years, from securing initial funding to even ensuring the correct spelling of 'Cockcroft.' Current director Stewart Boogert provided a vision for the future development of the institute, with an overview of the many projects in which it is involved.
Graeme Burt (Lancaster) and Mike Jenkins (Rapiscan and former Cockcroft student and post-doc) shared their personal experiences in transitioning from postdoc to professor and from CI to Industry respectively. Finally, a selection of early career researchers (Morgan Hibberd, Kristina Small and Tom Pacey) presented some of the most exciting work being carried out in the institute in the fields of novel accelerators, medical accelerators, and the CLARA/FEBE facility in Daresbury Laboratory.
Over 80 people associated with the Cockcroft and its formation, successes, people and research attended the celebrations, including John Cockcroft's son and grandson, and former Labour MP Dame Louise Ellman.
Professor Stewart Boogert said of the event, “The Cockcroft Institute feels like a family opposed to a research institute. So many talented and dedicated people have contributed to its establishment and success over the last 20 years. From the talks at the event, it is clear that the Cockcroft will have another 20 bright years."
The slides from the talks are available on Indico: https://indico.stfc.ac.uk/event/1086/
