Scottish Universities Physics Alliance
SUPA - the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance - links the research activities of six Scottish Universities. An important part of SUPA is the organisation of research into areas which span several institutions.
Through its strong connections with the University of Edinburgh, the UK ATC is part of the TEOPS initiative within SUPA. Standing for Technology for Experimental and Observational Physics in Scotland, this is a collaboration between the UK ATC and two research groups at the University of Glasgow: the Institute for Gravitational Research and the Experimental Particle Physics group. The theme takes advantage of shared areas of leading-edge technology in astronomy and particle physics, and is supported by a SUPA Advanced Research Fellow based at the UK ATC. The collaboration enables techniques, materials and expertise originally developed for astronomical instruments to be applied to other areas of physics, as well as allowing the UK ATC to benefit from developments in other areas. An example of work carried out under the TEOPS banner is the setting up of a cryogenic material property measurement system at the UK ATC. Taking advantage of the expertise and infrastructure in cryogenic methods at the UK ATC, this will enable the properties of materials of interest to the various groups involved to be measured, without requiring each group to set up and operate their own system.