Five-year Agreement Reached, Swords For High-brightness Optical Applications!

A new five-year agreement has been reached between two leading UK scientific organizations, the Diamond Light Source (DLS) and the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), to facilitate joint collaborative efforts.
The agreement, approved through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), will bring the two institutions together.
Diamond Light Source is the UK's national synchrotron facility, known for producing light 10 billion times brighter than the sun for scientific research. A private company, formed as a joint venture by the UK government through the Science and Technology Facilities Council in partnership with the Wellcome Trust as part of UK Research and Innovation, Diamond Light Source supports a range of applications through its light, from structural biology to fundamental physics and chemistry.
Diamond Light Source will work with NPL, the UK's National Metrology Institute, which develops and maintains the nation's primary measurement standards. The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is a public enterprise within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Commenting on the signing of the agreement, Dr. JT Janssen, Chief Scientist at the National Physical Laboratory, said, "Our aim is to combine our expertise and facilities to achieve significant scientific impact. We want to develop shared expertise and increase the effective use of our facilities; as well as enhance collaboration and mutual support among students and staff."
In addition to joint conferences, networks and training, the MoU will facilitate collaborative research and skills development opportunities of mutual or individual interest through a dedicated steering committee comprising representatives from both parties.
These opportunities may include identifying specific subjects for joint postgraduate training and development. This includes the implementation of a PhD program jointly supervised by Diamond Light Source and the National Physical Laboratory. In addition, they will conduct course exchanges in synchrotron and measurement science for student groups at each facility, which will include content provided by both organizations, as well as plant tours.
Prof. Gianluigi Botton, CEO of Diamond Light Source, concluded, "This agreement, will create tremendous opportunities for new science as well as for scientists and students of the organizations. A key objective is to foster collaboration around student engagement activities, including leveraging our respective expertise to accomplish valuable science training for each other's student populations."