Zoë joined the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in 1979, five years before ISIS started operations, developing instrumentation for the Harwell linear accelerator, the first accelerator-driven neutron source in the UK. As ISIS prepared to go into operation in 1984, Zoë worked on the build of the High Energy Transfer (HET) instrument, and became one of the first instrument scientists. Her career developed with the facility, taking on various scientific and technical posts across neutron instrumentation, sample environment and experimental operations, before becoming deputy director and head of operations in 2014.
Zoë says, “I feel privileged to have had such a rewarding career at ISIS, being able to use my expertise across the whole of the facility, encouraging best practice, facilitating innovation and working on ways to improve the use of facility and its resources to maximise the science we deliver. I've seen a huge amount of change during my career at ISIS - we have constantly striven to maximize our impact and to keep the facility at the forefront of research. The exciting challenge for Steve will be to ensure that we do this for decades to come!"
Steve Wakefield joined the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source in 2001 after 10 years in the food manufacturing industry in the UK, the USA and Canada. He took a lead role in bringing the first suite of ISIS Target Station 2 instruments into operation in 2008 and became Head of the ISIS Experimental Operations Division in 2014. In that role he had responsibility across the facility for target, beamline and sample environment operations, user laboratories and experiment safety management.
Steve says, “I'm delighted to be taking on this new role at ISIS. It's an exciting time for the facility, with the Endeavour programme of new instruments developing rapidly, and the potential of a whole new facility, ISIS-II, on the horizon. Of course there are challenges, not least in finding ways to improve sustainability without compromising the performance of the machine, but we have a fantastic team of engineers and technicians to find and deliver innovative solutions."
