The Cockcroft Institute

The Cockcroft Institute through experts from the University of Liverpool is playing a leading role in four newly awarded Horizon Europe projects that will help define the next generation of large-scale research infrastructures.

Supported with more than 25 M€, with more than 1 M€ for Liverpool, the projects, EuPRAXIA, EPITA, TwinRISE and iRIS, bring together leading laboratories, universities, research facilities and industrial partners across Europe. Together, they address how we can make major research infrastructures more compact, more sustainable, more intelligent, and easier for industry, researchers and society to benefit from.

Find out more:
https://www.cockcroft.ac.uk/2026/06/01/cockcroft-institute-secures-four-horizon-europe-awards-to-shape-the-future-of-research-infrastructures/

The Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), through its Radiological and Medical Sciences Research Institute (RAMSRI), has successfully hosted a high-level international training workshop under the Supra-African Physics Partnership for Health Innovation and Radiotherapy Expansion (SAPPHIRE) Project.

The workshop programme and its syllabus were coordinated by Prof Graeme Burt from the Cockcroft Institute / Lancaster University, with contributions from lecturers from both the UK and across Africa.

https://www.cockcroft.ac.uk/2026/05/27/gaec-hosts-major-international-sapphire-workshop-to-boost-cancer-treatment-capacity-in-africa/

The Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), through its Radiological and Medical Sciences Research Institute (RAMSRI), has successfully hosted a high-level international training workshop under the Supra-African Physics Partnership for Health Innovation and Radiotherapy Expansion (SAPPHIRE) Project.

The workshop programme and its syllabus were coordinated by Prof Graeme Burt from the Cockcroft Institute / Lancaster University, with contributions from lecturers from both the UK and across Africa.

Read more:
https://www.cockcroft.ac.uk/2026/05/27/gaec-hosts-major-international-sapphire-workshop-to-boost-cancer-treatment-capacity-in-africa/

European Experts Gather in Darmstadt to Shape New Doctoral Network on AI for Particle Accelerators.

Building on the momentum of the ARTIFACT ecosystem and several recently funded Horizon Europe initiatives, the workshop marked an important step towards the development of ARTIFACT-DN, an ambitious European training network focused on advancing artificial intelligence for next-generation particle accelerators and large-scale research infrastructures.

Read more: https://www.cockcroft.ac.uk/2026/05/13/european-experts-gather-in-darmstadt-to-shape-new-doctoral-network-on-ai-for-particle-accelerators/

The PACRI (Plasma Accelerator systems for Compact Research Infrastructures) project held its first annual meeting at the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) in Lisbon, Portugal from 24th to 26th March.

The Lisbon annual meeting brought together all partners, both in-person and online, to present and discuss progress made in their respective tasks within the project.

Read more:
https://www.cockcroft.ac.uk/2026/05/12/members-of-cockcroft-institute-join-pacri-annual-meeting-in-lisbon/

We are pleased to announce that CI expert Professor Rob Appleby has been appointed Associate Vice President for Students at the University of Manchester.

In his new role, Rob will provide academic leadership for the entire student journey, including admissions, access, and student success.

Congratulations👏

Read more on our website www.cockcroft.ac.uk

The fourth edition of the Reinforcement Learning for Autonomous Accelerators (RL4AA’26) workshop was held in Liverpool from 30th March to 1st April 2026 as a LIV.INNO workshop.

Organised by Dr Andrea Santamaria Garcia, the event brought together over 60 international researchers at the intersection of reinforcement learning and accelerator physics.

Read more:
https://www.cockcroft.ac.uk/2026/05/04/rl4aa26-workshop-hosted-in-liverpool/

A major milestone has been reached in efforts to transform particle-beam therapy and radiobiology, as the team behind the LhARA collaboration publishes a Conceptual Design Report (CDR) for the Ion Therapy Research Facility.

The report outlines a proposed UK-based Ion Therapy Research Facility (ITRF), setting out a vision for a centre capable of transforming studies of proton and ion beam therapy.

Find out more:
https://www.cockcroft.ac.uk/2026/04/29/new-laser-hybrid-accelerator-design-strengthens-vision-for-next-generation-radiotherapy-research-facility/

Six past and present members of the Cockcroft Institute of Accelerator Science and Technology from Liverpool and Lancaster universities are among the winners of this year’s Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, one of the world’s most prestigious scientific awards that celebrates new scientific discoveries.

This year the $3 million prize has been awarded to the approximately 350 collaborators who contributed to publications reporting precision measurements of the muon magnetic moment from experiments at CERN, Brookhaven, and Fermilab. This work has provided the world’s most precise measurement of the magnetic field produced by the fundamental subatomic particle, the muon. Such measurements are extremely challenging as the magnetic field produced by a muon is roughly a trillion trillion trillion trillion times weaker than the magnetic field of the Earth.

Find out more:
https://www.cockcroft.ac.uk/2026/04/24/muon-g-2-experiment-wins-prestigious-breakthrough-prize-in-fundamental-physics/

Leading representatives from European institutions – from the European Commission to the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) – together with stakeholders from research, industry, and funding agencies gathered on 23 April in Brussels, at the Foundation University, for the EuPRAXIA Showcase Event 2026. This high-level meeting aimed to strengthen collaboration, promote innovation in accelerator technologies, and discuss new funding opportunities for one of Europe’s most ambitious research infrastructure projects.

The Showcase highlighted EuPRAXIA’s vision to deliver a next-generation, compact plasma-based accelerator facility, capable of transforming applications across science, medicine, and industry.

Find out more:
https://www.cockcroft.ac.uk/2026/04/27/eupraxia-gains-momentum-at-high-level-brussels-event/