Harwell Science and Innovation Campus

From disease outbreaks to the International Space Station, Oxford Nanopore’s technology is changing how we understand the living world 🧬🌍 Now, the Harwell Campus member has been awarded the 2026 MacRobert Award, the UK’s longest-running and most prestigious prize for engineering innovation. The award recognises Oxford Nanopore Technologies’ pioneering technology, which enables the direct, real-time analysis of DNA and RNA. Already deployed in more than 125 countries, it is supporting everything from infectious disease surveillance and cancer research to environmental monitoring. A brilliant achievement for the team and another powerful example of Oxfordshire innovation delivering real-world impact on a global scale. Huge congratulations to everyone involved! 👏 #harwellcampus #oxfordnanopore #engineeringinnovation #lifesciences #genomics #ukinnovation Royal Academy of Engineering

Thank you to everyone who joined us for last week's Harwell Connect event, hosted by the STFC Particle Physics Department. ⚛️ Guests heard about Harwell's role in global projects including the Hyper-Kamiokande experiment, and how the team is helping to shape the future of particle physics. We also welcomed STFC's Industrial Liaison Office, who shared how they support UK organisations to collaborate with CERN through partnerships, commercial opportunities and workforce development. The event concluded with tours of the facilities, including a visit to the Cold-Radon Facility. A huge thank you to everyone who made the afternoon possible. #behindthescenes #particlephysics #scienceandinnovation #partnerships #collaboration #networking #community #harwellcampus

A new gateway for collaboration. A shared commitment to a more sustainable future. On 10 July 2026, His Majesty King Charles III visited Harwell Science and Innovation Campus to officially open the UK Space and Defence Gateway. The new Gateway will act as a front door for two of the UK’s most strategically important sectors, bringing together government, academia, industry and innovators to accelerate collaboration, unlock new partnerships and help shape the future of the global space and defence economy. The visit also recognised Harwell’s alignment with the Sustainable Markets Initiative and the Terra Carta and Astra Carta mandates, founded by His Majesty, which encourage organisations to embed nature, climate resilience and long-term sustainability into their strategies and operations. From the work taking place at RAL Space, European Space Agency - ESA, Astroscale, Space Solar and Oxford Space Systems, to the Gateway’s recycled plaque, Harwell’s smart sustainable power grid and the high-performing Quad Three building, sustainability is being considered at every level. Read the full story to discover how the UK Space and Defence Gateway reflects Harwell’s wider vision for sustainable growth, both on Earth and in orbit: https://lnkd.in/e9avRqQH #harwellcampus #space #defence #sustainability #innovation #collaboration #greengrowth

A bee-rilliant day of learning at Harwell Campus! 🐝 We recently welcomed Chilton Primary School’s Eco-Warriors, with pupils from across different year groups visiting Campus to discover more about the work Harwell Campus and IPM Facilities Limited are doing to support nature and biodiversity. The visit included a very special trip to our beehives, where the pupils met some of our busiest Campus residents, took a closer look inside the hives and learned what felt like 1,000 fascinating facts about bees! Despite the soaring temperatures, everyone brought plenty of enthusiasm and curiosity. It was fantastic to see the next generation so engaged with the natural world and passionate about protecting it. A huge thank you to Chilton Primary School, IPM Facilities and everyone who helped make the visit possible. 🐝🌿 #harwellcampus #biodiversity #sustainability #community #education #bees

A stellar day for Harwell. Today, His Majesty King Charles III visited our campus to launch the UK Space and Defence Gateway, and our community of scientists, engineers and innovators were delighted to welcome him. His Majesty began at RAL Space, the UK's National Space Laboratory, before moving to the Harwell Quad to meet leaders from across the space and defence sector and unveil a plaque marking the Gateway's launch. The visit also marked the announcement of a new partnership between Harwell Science and Innovation Campus and the Sustainable Markets Initiative, advancing the principles of the Astra Carta. The Gateway will be a dedicated hub for the space and defence sectors, driving national and global collaboration between government, academia, innovators and industry. None of this happens without our Gateway champions, whose vision and hard work made today possible: European Space Agency - ESA, RAL Space, UK Space Command, UK Research and Innovation, STFC, Astroscale, Open Cosmos, Orbit Fab , Space Solar, Magdrive, Oxford Dynamics and Oxford Space Systems. A successful launch and just the beginning for the Gateway. #Harwell #SpaceandDefenceGateway #AstraCarta #UKSpace #SMI #UKRI

Steady hands, sharp focus and serious team spirit 🏆 Day two of the annual Harwell Cup Challenge brought the competition up a notch, with teams taking on the elimination games, a series of challenges where teamwork, hand-eye coordination, communication and a calm head were all imperative to success. A huge congratulations to our winners: 🥇 Las Cucarachas, MDA Space 🥈 Nanosquad, Oxford Nanopore Technologies 🥉 UK Space Cadets, UK Space Agency And a big shout out to everyone who competed and brought the energy, enthusiasm and competitiveness: Common Laser Folk, Central Laser Facility Keyboard Warriors, ARC | Advanced Research Clusters Miracles of Mirico, Mirico Glamallama, Rosalind Franklin Institute The Fast and the Curious, European Space Agency - ESA IPM, IPM Facilities Limited Powered by Pippins, Rosalind Franklin Institute A huge thank you to everyone who turned up, got stuck in and made the day what it was. The Cup Challenge has become a brilliant annual tradition here at Harwell, bringing our campus community together in the best possible way. Same time next year? 👀 #harwellcampus #harwellcupchallenge #campuscommunity #innovationcommunity

What's next for the Large Hadron Collider? Could dark matter finally be detected? And how does Harwell contribute to some of the world's biggest physics experiments? Taking place on Thursday 9 July, our next Connect event will be hosted by the RAL Particle Physics Department, offering campus members a behind-the-scenes look at the people and projects helping to shape some of the world’s leading particle physics experiments. From the Large Hadron Collider to dark matter, neutrinos, detector technology and high-performance computing, the event will explore how work at Harwell supports international research into the fundamental building blocks of matter. You’ll also hear from the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Industrial Liaison Office about how UK companies and organisations can access commercial opportunities at CERN. Limited short facility tours will be available on the day, with spaces offered through registration: https://lnkd.in/eMW8dWeG #harwellcampus #particlephysics #scienceandinnovation #stfc #ral #cern #campuslife Fermilab STFC STFC Particle Physics Department

The fourth annual Harwell Cup Challenge is well underway, and Round One gave us exactly what we hoped for. A lot of over-engineering. A lot of office materials being used in ways they were never designed for. A lot of teams suddenly taking balloon popping very seriously. For Round One, teams had three hours to design and build a Rube Goldberg machine. The task sounded simple: trigger the machine with one action, keep it running for at least 10 seconds, include at least five steps and pop a balloon at the end. The reality was ramps, falling weights, rolling objects, improvised pulleys, ambitious sketches, last-minute fixes and official run videos that gave the judges plenty to argue over. Entries were scored on balloon pop success, run time, complexity, creativity, silliness and presentation. At the top of the leaderboard after Round One: 🥇 Nanosquad from Oxford Nanopore Technologies are out in front. 🥈 Common Laser Folk from STFC Central Laser Facility are close behind. 🥉 UK Space Cadets from the UK Space Agency and Keyboard Warriors from ARC | Advanced Research Clusters are sharing third place. Right on their heels are Las Cucarachas from MDA Space and Miracles of Mirico from Mirico. And still very much in the chase are Glamallama and Powered by Pippins from The Rosalind Franklin Institute, The Fast & The Curious from the European Space Agency - ESA and IPM from IPM Facilities Limited. That is what makes this challenge such a good Harwell tradition. It brings people out from their labs, offices and teams. It gets colleagues building, testing, laughing, competing and quietly checking where everyone else has landed on the leader board. Round Two takes place this Wednesday on the Middle Field, by the Archery Area. Come along, support your colleagues and see who takes another step towards becoming Harwell Cup champions. The winning team will receive a summer lunch for up to 50 people, choosing between a Harwell picnic or BBQ. Plus a year’s worth of campus bragging rights, which may be the more dangerous prize. #harwellcampus #harwellcommunity #community #scienceandinnovation #campuslife #innovationcommunity #teamwork #collaboration #sciencecommunity

A bright idea, recognised again. Lumen has secured its second industry award, winning the Innovative Workplace Design Award at the Construction News & Property Week Life Sciences, Tech & Research Clusters Awards. Delivered in conjunction with BondBryan:Fairhursts, Lumen is setting a new standard for what laboratory workspace can be. As the UK’s first fully fitted neuroinclusive lab, every detail has been designed with the people using the space in mind, from lighting and acoustics to breakout areas, biophilic design, braille wayfinding and tailored lab interventions. It is a powerful reminder that great science needs great spaces. Spaces that support focus, comfort, creativity and collaboration for the people delivering life-changing research. Congratulations to everyone involved in bringing Lumen to life. Read the full story: https://lnkd.in/ejXiyP_g #harwellcampus #lifesciences #labspace #neuroinclusive #neuroinclusivedesign #innovation

The 2026 STFC Cross Cluster Proof of Concept: SparQ Quantum Computing call is now live, delivered in partnership with the National Quantum Computing Centre’s SparQ programme. The call is open to quantum innovators looking to accelerate practical, industry-focused applications across the public, private and charitable sectors, from benchmarking quantum applications and testing algorithms on real hardware to scaling previous proof of concept work towards commercially meaningful solutions. Applications from energy, healthcare and transport are particularly encouraged, but projects from all sectors are welcome. An information webinar will take place online on Wednesday 8 July, 11:00–12:00, offering the chance to ask questions before submitting an application. Applications close on 19 August 2026 at 17:30. Register for the webinar and find out more: https://lnkd.in/eiQdWqpm #quantumcomputing #quantumtechnologies #innovation #scienceandinnovation #harwellcampus #nqcc #stfc STFC National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) STFC Business & Innovation Najwa Sidqi, PhD