Governance and Management

Diamond Light Source Ltd was established in 2002 as a joint venture limited company funded by the UK Government via the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and by the Wellcome Trust, owning 86% and 14% of the shares respectively. Diamond now employs over 500 scientists, engineers, technicians and support staff from over 40 countries worldwide. The Chief Executive and Directors are advised by committees representing key stakeholder groups, including the Science Advisory Committee, Diamond Users’ Committee, and Diamond Industrial Science Committee (DISCo).

Diamond is free at the point of access for researchers, provided the results are in the public domain. Allocation of beam time is via a peer-review process to select proposals on the basis of scientific merit and technical feasibility. Seven peer-review panels meet twice a year to assess the proposals submitted for each six-month allocation period. Diamond also welcomes industrial researchers through a range of access modes including proprietary research.

• Professor Sir Adrian Smith (Chairman)
  Vice-Chancellor, University of London
• Prof Andrew Harrison
  Chief Executive Officer, Diamond Light Source
• Jane Tirard
  Director Finance & Corporate Services, Diamond Light Source
• Prof Jim Naismith
  Professor of Chemical Biology, University of St Andrews
• Marshall Davies
  Business Advisor, Science and Technology Facilities Council
• Simon Jeffreys
  Wellcome Trust representative
• Prof Tony Ryan
  Pro Vice Chancellor, University of Sheffield
• Prof John Womersley
  Chief Executive Officer, Science and Technology Facilities Council
• Company Secretary
  Andrew Richards, Diamond Light Source

Prof Andrew Harrison took the helm as CEO of Diamond Light Source in January 2014. He was previously Director General of the Institut Laue- Langevin neutron source in Grenoble, France, where he had worked since 2006. With a background as an inorganic chemist and Professor of Solid State Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh, Prof Harrison brings a wealth of experience of scientific leadership to the organisation.

Prof Trevor Rayment joined Diamond as Director of Physical Sciences in 2008. He is also Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Birmingham, where his research focuses on development of novel techniques for studying interfaces and their application in nanoscience, solid-liquid interface of electrodes and biomolecular interactions at interfaces.

Prof David Stuart is MRC Professor of Structural Biology at the University of Oxford, and Head of the Division of Structural Biology at the Department of Clinical Medicine. He was appointed Director of Life Sciences at Diamond in 2008. His principal research interests include the structure of viruses and viral proteins as well as cellular proteins, especially those that interact with viruses.

Prof Richard Walker joined Diamond Light Source as Technical Director in January 2002. He was previously Director of the Light Sources Division at Sincrotrone Trieste in Italy, and prior to that he was a key member of the Daresbury Laboratory SRS team. He is a visiting Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford.

Jane Tirard joined Diamond as Director of Finance and Corporate Services in 2015. With over 30 years of regional and global experience in business and financial management, she was most recently Finance Director at Queen Mary University of London, and previously held the post of Executive Director of Finance at STFC; joining STFC after many years in the R&D Division of Pfizer.