NWO-I

Institutes Organisation of NWO

Research infrastructures

The NWO institutes have state-of-the-art large-scale research facilities at their disposal. They are also part of major national and international partnerships with renowned facilities.

National facilities and collaborations

Some of our institutes have (large-scale) research facilities on site. These range from magnets and lasers to the national research fleet for marine research. The facilities are used by scientists from NWO-I and are, in many cases, open to external researchers.

HFML-FELIX facilities

Facility with some of the world's strongest magnets and free‑electron lasers that produce an unprecedented range of infrared light.

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Orange ring section of the HFML-FELIX facility

Magnum-PSI, Ion Beam & PLD4Energy

DIFFER has several unique research facilities that allow researchers to study materials for the energy transition.

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PLD4Energy: a thin-film deposition and characterisation facility

NanoLab

Cleanroom with facilities for microscopy, electron microscopy, various lithography methods, plasma etching, material deposition and material analysis.

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AMOLF NanoLab researchers. Photography by Ivar Pel

National research fleet

The fleet consists of three state-of-the-art vessels equipped with advanced research instrumentation.

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The three vessels of the national research fleet from NIOZ are sailing side by side in the Wadden Sea

Secure Analytics lab

NSCR established a specially designed, highly secure working environment for research involving sensitive data sets.

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SolarLab

The SolarLab consortium researches new solar energy technologies from six main locations and three satellite sites.

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AMOLF researcher Daphne Antony in the 3D Photovoltaics research lab

International facilities and collaborations

Some of our institutes are part of international partnerships centred around large-scale research facilities, such as CERN in Switzerland or SKAO in Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

CERN Particle Accelerator

The Netherlands has been involved in major experiments using the LHC particle accelerator ever since CERN was founded.

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Man with white helmets walks near blue pipe at CERN

Einstein Telescope

A proposed infrastructure featuring kilometres-long underground ‘arms’ that can detect gravitational waves in detail.

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An impression of the Einstein Telescope

ESRF-EBS

The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility is home to the world's first fourth-generation high-energy synchrotron light source.

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Wit donutvormig gebouw in het landschap van Grenoble in Frankrijk

ESTEC-ESA

The European Space and Technology Centre is the technical heart of the European Space Agency.

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The ESTEC building in Noordwijk, seen from above

ITER

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor is the first fusion reactor for research into stable nuclear fusion on a commercial scale.

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Aerial photo of ITER with buildings under construction

KM3NeT: neutrino detector at sea

This large neutrino detector, designed to capture passing 'ghost particles', is currently under construction at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.

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A detector sphere from the KM3NeT measuring instrument

LOFAR

The Low Frequency Array is currently the largest radio telescope in the world that operates on the lowest frequencies that can be observed from Earth.

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Pierre Auger Observatory

Facility for cosmic ray research in the Argentine Pampas.

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Pierre Auger Observatory

SKAO

De Square Kilometre Array Observatory will be the most powerful radio telescope in the world.

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Aerial photo of radiotelescopes in South Africa

Virgo gravitational-wave detector

Gravitational-wave dectector at the European Gravitational Observatory in Italy.

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The Virgo gravitational wave detector, viewed from above

WSRT-EVN

A powerful radio telescope at Westerbork and part of the European Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network (EVN).

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Radio telescopes with a person in the foreground
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Logo BigScience.nl - For business

BigScience.NL

Various scientific research institutes in the Netherlands either operate large-scale research facilities themselves or are partners in (international) collaborations centred around large-scale scientific research infrastructures. Research conducted using or within these large-scale scientific research infrastructures is also referred to as Big Science. The Dutch institutes involved in Big Science are united under BigScience.NL.

Read more about BigScience.nl