Our facilities
The Particle Physics Department (PPD) operates world-class facilities that enable experiments at the frontiers of particle physics. From deep underground laboratories to high-energy accelerator halls, our infrastructure supports cutting-edge research in dark matter, high-energy collisions, rare-event studies, and advanced detector development. These facilities provide UK scientists with access to state-of-the-art equipment, low-background environments, and specialised laboratories – turning ambitious ideas into pioneering discoveries.
Boulby Underground Laboratory
Boulby Underground Laboratory, 1.1 km beneath Boulby Mine, provides one of the world’s rare ultra-low background environments, almost entirely free from cosmic interference. Operated by STFC in partnership with ICL-UK, Boulby enables world-class experiments that advance particle physics, dark matter research, Earth and environmental science, astrobiology, and planetary exploration. It is one of only a handful of facilities worldwide capable of deep underground, ultra-low background science.
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL)
Located on Harwell Campus near Oxfordshire, RAL is a multidisciplinary research hub with over 60 years of scientific and engineering excellence. PPD at RAL supports the construction, upgrade, and operation of high-energy physics experiments, providing a broad range of specialised laboratories, equipment, and computing infrastructure for both academic and industrial use.
Contact PPD
Get in touch to access PPD’s world-class laboratories, advanced instrumentation, and computing infrastructure for pioneering particle physics research.
