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:

• Machine: Equipment to replace the synchrotron machine to generate even brighter light
• Beamlines: Three new flagship beamlines and critical beamline upgrades
• Software /Computing: New computing hardware and software 
• Infrastructure: A new building to house equipment during the build-up and delivery of the new machine and beamlines
• Programme Management: An overall close supervision of the delivery of the programme 

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.

“Over the past two decades, it has enabled generations of researchers to explore scientific questions that push boundaries, collaborate across disciplines, develop new technologies and make new discoveries to advance health that could not have been pursued elsewhere.”

Diamond has hosted over 220 UK-based companies and more than 14,000 scientists since operations began in 2007. Its economic and social impacts are estimated to be worth at least £2.6bn, showing a significant return on the £1.4bn public investment to date. Patents citing Diamond publications are collectively valued over £10bn.

“The UK is home to incredibly talented researchers, but this alone is not sufficient to stay at the forefront of globally competitive science,” said Professor Mark Thomson, executive chair of the Science and Technology Facilities Council and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Champion for Infrastructure.

“It is essential that we also invest in world-class research infrastructure programmes that provide our researchers with the necessary tools to work at the cutting edge.”