Who we are
An aerial view of Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
The Technology Department (TD) is one of the largest departments in the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). It spans two of STFC's three major sites and is comprised of over 280 staff members, including scientists, engineers, technicians and more.
Our role at STFC is to provide technology and instrumentation to the organisation's programmes and facilities and derive maximum impact from its innovations through collaboration with industrial and academic partners. Our work involves the design and delivery of large and complex scientific instruments and we specialise in using our multi-disciplinary engineering skills and expertise to develop solutions where no suitable technologies exist.
STFC is one of UK Research and Innovation's (UKRI) nine councils. Visit
UKRI's website for more information.
Our sites
An aerial view of Daresbury LaboratoryTD is located on two sites: the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) and the Daresbury Laboratory (DL).
RAL has existed on the Chilton site, in one form or another, since 1957 and is named after famous physicists Ernest Rutherford and Edward Appleton. The laboratory is located on the
Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire and houses several sophisticated scientific facilities including the
Central Laser Facility, the
ISIS Neutron and Muon Source,
RAL Space, the Scientific Computing Department, the Particle Physics Department, and
Diamond Light Source.
DL, which was founded in 1962, is an internationally recognised, world-leading scientific facility. Based in the Liverpool City Region and a part of the
Sci-Tech Daresbury Campus, the laboratory hosts key activities in
accelerator science,
scientific computing, data science, technology, and nuclear physics.
If you are interested in visiting these sites, please see our
contact page for more information.
Our teams
The Department is led by its Director, Dr Anna Orlowska, and is comprised of four divisions. They are:
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Applied Science (ASD) – The division's skillset includes magnet and materials technologies, cryogenics, renewable energy research, high-power target engineering, and advanced engineering design and analysis. ASD is led by Dr. Jim Halliday and is based at RAL.
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Detector and Electronics (DED) – The division has expertise in instrumentation, from detector research to high-rate data acquisition, including sensor material development, CMOS imaging, and ASIC design. DED is led by Marcus French and is based at RAL.
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Microelectronics Support Centre (MSC) – The support centre provides academic institutions across Europe with access to modern electronic design techniques and tools and training on how to use them. The MSC is led by Mark Willoughby and is based at RAL.
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Technology at Daresbury Laboratory (TDL) – The division focuses on the support of STFC's programmes and facilities, with particular strengths in accelerator engineering, controls and electrical engineering, and nuclear physics (working closely with the UK NP community). TDL is led by Ian Lazarus and is based at DL.
Each division is made up of a series of groups, each managed by a group leader and focusing on a different area of work. The Department's projects are also supported by our extremely skilled Finance, Computing Support, Business Support, Business Development and administrative teams.
Our achievements
We have contributed to several Nobel prizes, including the:
Key projects
You can find out more about Technology's key projects, by browsing our Project Showcase.
