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On Friday 26th April, His Majesty the King’s Lord-Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, Mrs Marjorie Glasgow BEM, made her first visit to the UK’s national synchrotron, Diamond Light Source.
The Lord Lieutenant is the king’s personal representative for the county and conducts royal duties as well as champions local businesses and charitable organisations.
Mrs Glasgow was keen to understand the contribution of the science undertaken at Diamond and its impact on the local and UK economy. She said:
With my personal interest in science and innovation, I’ve already been impressed by Diamond’s role cementing the UK’s place as a science superpower. The facility also provides significant jobs for our country’s most talented researchers, giving them the best opportunities to make major breakthroughs across a wide range of disciplines from structural biology to advanced materials and battery technologies. It has been truly insightful to see behind the covers at the facility and talk to some of the scientists about their work.
Her personal interest in science innovation aligns with her role as founder and chief executive of an Oxfordshire based clean energy company. She was welcomed by Diamond’s CEO Gianluigi Botton and visited several of the facility’s 34 beamlines.
Commenting on the day, Gianluigi said:
We are so proud of what our scientists and users are achieving at Diamond and delighted to have the opportunity to show the Lord Lieutenant some of what is being achieved and to brief her on our innovative expansion programme to create Diamond-II.
He continued, noting that:
This is a major investment drive in cutting-edge facilities funded by the UK Government through UKRI’s Science and Technology Research Council (STFC) together with Wellcome one of the world’s largest biomedical charities. This upgrade will strengthen the UK’s global scientific leadership and keep UK researchers and innovators at the forefront of discovery by giving them the facilities and technology to help address the many global challenges our world faces, such as climate change, pandemic preparedness, and renewable energy pipelines.
Diamond Light Source is an example of how investment in critical research infrastructure leads to scientific innovation. Over the past two decades, it has enabled generations of researchers to explore scientific questions that push boundaries, collaborate across disciplines, develop new technologies and make new discoveries to advance health that could not have been pursued elsewhere.
Marjorie was appointed Lord Lieutenant on 1st October 2021. She is the founder and chief executive of an Oxfordshire-based clean energy company, which develops private/public partnerships that combine renewable energy projects and community hubs. Her firm also undertakes key environmental work for the restoration of peatlands across the UK. Alongside this work, she has taken on voluntary leadership roles in west Oxfordshire, leading her town’s efforts to develop a new £2.5m community centre to create a new library, sports hall, café and community space. She also helps lead the local Meals on Wheels. More recently, she co-founded The Cornerstone with her husband and their parish church as a community sharing centre for food, education and community cohesion, which she hopes to replicate elsewhere in the county. She is a member of the Ditchley Foundation Council of Governors. She is an active member of her local church, and her interests include running, equestrian sport and the natural environment. Mrs Glasgow is a graduate of Stanford University. She was born in the US, but now has dual citizenship and lives in Charlbury with her husband, Dine. They have two adult children.
Diamond Light Source is the UK's national synchrotron science facility, located at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire.
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