Diamond Light Source to get £500m upgrade

Running on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus since 2007, Diamond Light Source has been at the forefront of UK science in the intervening years, playing a central role in health, engineering and environmental research. The particle accelerator has aided important work on COVID, HIV, malaria and cancer, as well as materials breakthroughs in electronics and renewables.

Billed as Diamond-II, the upgrade programme will include:

Upgrades will take place over several years, concluding in 2030. This will include a ‘dark period’ of 18 months where no research will be able to take place. Once complete, however, Diamond II will feature a brighter synchrotron machine with three new flagship beamlines as well as ‘critical beamline upgrades’. Each beamline of the synchrotron essentially acts as an experimental laboratory, where particles are directed for different types of research.

“Diamond Light Source is an example of how investment in critical research infrastructure leads to scientific innovation,” said Cheryl Moore, chief research programmes officer at Wellcome, which funds the facility alongside UKRI.