Diamond Light Source Reviews

I can only concur with some of the other reviewers. DLS is NOT a career destination for an ambitious young scientist. Early career researchers applying for beamline scientist/support scientist jobs should be aware that there is a sort of demographic bulge of staff above you in the 35-45 age group, who have started families and have no inclination to move on - this leads to a lot of stagnation in the scientist roles. It does happen, people do move up, but there is a strong tendency to parachute in external big hitters. In particular, the Support Scientist role should be avoided. It is not at all obvious from the job specifications on the website that this role is a dead end and potentially career ending for a young scientist. The Prinicipal beamline scientists are given considerable freedom in running their ship, and there is no standardisation or oversight from senior management. Some PBS' are excellent and natural born leaders, others should not be in a management position. Any engineers or programmers wishing to join DLS need to be aware that the PBS' are allowed to act as project managers. There are a number who may be academically gifted but may be a bit clueless in managing large projects. You will be expected to implement their orders, no matter how insane - you have been warned!! There is a union, although it appears to be fairly weak by public sector standards and consists mainly of people from technical rather than scientific background. In short, if you are a young scientist looking for that first permanent job, carry on looking. There's better opportunities that this. Give it a try as a postdoc though!

Diamond has recently announced a policy that trans people can't use the toilets matching their gender (and in fact claim this has been the rule all along). Despite pushback and comparison with other workplace's policies, senior management has actively defended this policy. The EDI working groups have been completely sidelined, feedback has been ignored. You do not recruit underrepresented groups by discriminating against them in the workplace. (This policy applies to visitors too, so good to know if you have beamtime coming up!). I've never heard the executive board actually address any employee concerns satisfactorily, but obviously this one is particularly bad. If you are trans, NB, gender non-conforming, LGBTQ+, or like me simply find this morally abhorrent, I would stay away.