About

Accelerate! is a particle and accelerator physics demonstration lecture aimed at secondary school pupils and the general public. It was developed at the University of Oxford during a two-year programme which saw it delivered to an audience of over 5,000 students, teachers and members of the general public. The show was delivered in venues around Oxford, in schools and at science festivals including the Big Bang Fair and British Science Festival.

The show is designed to be presented by one or two graduate or senior undergraduate students. This allows students and the public a chance to meet working scientists, and also offers a valuable (an unusual) opportunity for graduate students to practise their communication skills.

These resources, developed in 2012 by Andrew Steele with the support of STFC and SEPnet, provide a toolkit to allow universities or science centres to host their own Accelerate! programme, or help schoolteachers make the link between the science curriculum, classroom demonstrations and particle accelerators.