AN OXFORDSHIRE laboratory has opened its virtual doors to show school children and the public its race to find solutions to the Covid-19 virus.

Diamond Light Source at Harwell has recorded webinars, virtual tours, a printable board game, podcasts, and science resources for schools.

The new resources reveal how Diamond works and explores some of the world changing research it is undertaking.

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This research includes its current work to help address the global challenges to the coronavirus.

The virtual facilities are not just for school children, they are aimed at family audiences and all ages.

Andrew Harrison, CEO of Diamond Light Source, said: “Public interest in science and the work of our scientists is at an all-time high. Especially in relation to Covid-19. So as part of our ongoing public engagement work and commitment to transparency we wanted to try and answer any questions the public and students might have.

“This includes a special focus on the various initiatives we are working on with international partners around the world, in the race to find solutions to the Covid-19 virus.

“To this end we have introduced a series of public webinars with some of our top scientists working in the field. People can participate in questions and answer sessions about their work and the progress to date.

“In addition to webinars on Covid-19, other key topics covered range from how Particle Accelerators work to amazing experiments undertaken and technologies used.”

Usually the science facility opens its doors to more than 6000 visitors to its facilities and runs four open days a year.

However, because all events have been postponed Dr David Price, Diamond public engagement manager and his team, in conjunction with the careers service at The Open University, have made everything virtual and created online tours of Diamond.

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Dr David Price said: “Our new dedicated web page giving people a virtual tour of the synchrotron machine, is attracting a lot of visitors and you can do it in VR (virtual reality).

“We are also consistently attracting audiences in the hundreds for our weekly webinars on a range of topics including COVID-19, and we have just launched a downloadable paper copy of Diamond: The Game so people can have fun while also learning about the challenges scientists in a facility like Diamond face every day.

“The boardgame is available in hard copy to schools on application but this means everyone can now print and play it at home. And last but not least a series of engaging podcasts called ‘Shining a Diamond Light’ where we talk to some of our leading scientists about their work.”

People can also submit questions online and if they would like to know more specifically about the work Diamond is doing to help fight coronaviruses via diamond.ac.uk/covid-19.

Take the virtual tour of Diamond via diamond.ac.uk.