Landmark commissioning project combines AWE’s experience in creating extreme environments with the world-leading capabilities of the European XFEL light source. Scientists can find out a lot about materials and the inner workings of our universe by recreating extreme environments, like those at the centre of giant planets, here on Earth. These experiments help to push […]

A £5,000 donation has been made to a local charity that supports babies and their families after being chosen by AWE staff. BIBS (Babies in Buscot Support) offers support and equipment for families in the special care baby unit at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. BIBS raises funds to support families and babies that are either […]

Over 30 AWE sponsored postgraduate students gathered at the Materials Student Conference 2022 – held recently at Pembroke College, University of Oxford – to present their work, research and achievements in materials science. The students, who came from universities across the UK, gave oral presentations and poster sessions on areas of particular interest to AWE’s […]

Our charity partner Thrive helps a range of clients at its Reading centre and gardens. The charity’s clients have a wide range of conditions, including physical or learning disabilities, mental health support needs, sensory loss or autism. Thrive’s trained horticultural therapists work with clients so they can enjoy the health benefits that gardening and spending […]

When our research has the potential to impact on industry more widely, we use patents as a means of sharing the benefits of technological innovations. In December 2021, Physicists David Hillier and David Winter were granted a patent for a technology they originally developed for the Orion laser facility to help it accurately measure signals […]

The exchange of information and knowledge between organisations is known to help innovation and scientific discovery. At AWE, we have a long history of working with the US national laboratories, and secondments are an important part of that relationship. Matt Hill, Plasma Physicist, joined AWE in 2008 and works on high energy density material physics […]

The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has today (31 March 2022) announced that AWE has delivered ‘significant and sustained’ safety improvements at its Burghfield licensed site, resulting in its move to ‘routine’ regulatory attention. The improvements demonstrated by AWE at the Burghfield site were driven by its Structured Improvement Programme (SIP) and its holistic approach […]

AWE is joining in the celebrations for British Science Week – which runs from 11th to 20th March in 2022 – and its programme of national events with the aim of celebrating science, engineering, technology and maths (STEM). AWE has shown its support by making a series of donations to local schools allowing them to purchase […]

On 8 March AWE marked International Women’s Day – a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women and raising awareness about gender equality. This year’s theme of ‘Break the Bias’ featured in a series of events. The day’s virtual events started with a panel discussion – featuring guest panellists from […]

The latest edition of AWE’s community newsletter is out now. This issue celebrates the 70th anniversary of our apprenticeship programme – talking to apprentices old and new and delving into its history as well as exciting future. There’s also a round-up of AWE news plus features on our academic partnerships and work with education and […]

The health and wellbeing of clients attending a local gardening charity, Thrive, are being supported by a £15,000 donation from AWE. The donation is going towards weekly sessions during which client gardeners receive bespoke support from Thrive’s horticultural therapists. Thrive has been AWE’s charity partner for the last few years is one of the leading […]

AWE is incredibly proud to announce that it has achieved a prestigious silver award and been ranked within the top 200 companies for the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index (WEI) 2022.The Stonewall WEI is a benchmarking tool that assesses a company’s achievements and progress on LGBTQ+ equality. AWE is com​mitted to equality at work and to […]

11 February is International Women and Girls in Science Day, a day dedicated to recognising the achievements of women across the field to inspire girls to study science at school and empower women to pursue a scientific career. We spoke to Paula Rosen, Materials Physics Team Leader, about her career at AWE and what we […]

AWE’s latest supercomputer, Vulcan, entered active service just before Christmas, boosting AWE’s impressive research and simulation capabilities even further. At Vulcan’s official opening ceremony AWE CEO Alison Atkinson and executive directors Andrew Randewich and Tony Mather were joined by VIPs from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), including Mark Armstrong, vice-president and general manager EMEA HPC, and […]