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| STFC Hartree Centre | |
|---|---|
| Name | Hartree Centre |
| Established | 2012 |
| Location | Daresbury, Cheshire |
| Parent | Science and Technology Facilities Council |
| Type | Research centre |
| Focus | High performance computing, data analytics, artificial intelligence |
STFC Hartree Centre
The Hartree Centre is a research and innovation hub focused on high performance computing, data analytics, and artificial intelligence located at Daresbury in Cheshire, operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council. It supports applied computing for industry and research by providing access to advanced computing resources, specialist staff, and collaborative programmes with universities, companies, and funding bodies. The Centre works across sectors including energy, manufacturing, life sciences, finance, transport, and aerospace, engaging with national programmes and international initiatives.
The Centre was established amid national initiatives such as the Industrial Strategy and UK research investments linked to organisations like the Science and Technology Facilities Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and development programmes influenced by the European Research Council and Horizon 2020. Its origin involved infrastructure at Daresbury Laboratory and collaborations with institutions including Liverpool University, University of Manchester, University of Sheffield, University of Warwick, and partners associated with the UK Research and Innovation portfolio. Early links connected to projects from bodies like the Technology Strategy Board and industrial demonstrations reminiscent of work with Rolls-Royce, BP, Siemens, and Jaguar Land Rover. Over time, the Centre responded to national crises and strategic priorities reflected in partnerships with NHS England, National Grid (Great Britain), and initiatives tied to UKRI funding calls and regional development via agencies like the Science and Technology Facilities Council and Daresbury Campus stakeholders.
The Centre operates under the umbrella of the Science and Technology Facilities Council with governance interfaces involving the UK Research and Innovation executive, advisory input from boards connected to institutions such as the Universities UK, and collaboration frameworks familiar to organisations like Innovate UK and Catapult (UK) networks. Strategic oversight relates to national strategies referenced by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and its successors, and programme management aligns with standards used by entities like European Commission funding panels and grants procedures employed by the Wellcome Trust and Royal Society. Operational management includes technical and business-facing teams that engage with multinational companies such as IBM, Intel, NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Google as technology partners and suppliers.
The Centre's computing infrastructure has included access to supercomputing platforms comparable in ambition to systems at ARCHER (supercomputer), DiRAC (Distributed Research using Advanced Computing), and architectures leveraging processors from Intel Xeon, accelerators from NVIDIA Tesla, and interconnects like InfiniBand. Facilities are housed at Daresbury Laboratory with data centre capabilities, secure environments for work with sensitive datasets similar to those used by Met Office and National Health Service (England), and specialist labs for prototyping with partners such as ARM Holdings and AMD. The Centre has deployed software stacks and middleware used across projects associated with Apache Hadoop, TensorFlow, PyTorch, OpenFOAM, and workflow managers seen in collaborations with CERN computing groups and national e-infrastructure services.
Research spans high performance computing applications in sectors represented by companies such as Unilever, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, BAE Systems, and Airbus. The Centre provides services in computational modelling, machine learning, data analytics, digital twinning, and optimisation for supply chains and manufacturing lines similar to projects in Siemens and GE. Projects address climate and energy challenges alongside partnerships reminiscent of work by National Grid (Great Britain), EDF Energy, and research directions in computational chemistry linked to RSC (Royal Society of Chemistry) interests. Services include software engineering, algorithm optimisation, cloud integration referencing providers like Amazon Web Services, containerisation strategies using Docker, and reproducible research practices promoted by institutions such as the Institute of Physics.
The Centre has formal and informal links with universities including University of Liverpool, Lancaster University, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and Imperial College London, and industrial partners such as Jaguar Land Rover, Siemens, Rolls-Royce, BP, and Vodafone. Collaborative funding and consortium roles have engaged organisations like Innovate UK, European Investment Bank, Wellcome Trust, and regional bodies connected to Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. International collaborations reference models used by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and joint initiatives akin to partnerships with IBM Research and Microsoft Research. Knowledge exchange involves networks such as Tech Nation, Knowledge Transfer Network, and business-facing intermediaries like Catapult Network centres including High Value Manufacturing Catapult partners.
The Centre has contributed to industrial productivity improvements for firms similar to Unilever and Jaguar Land Rover, accelerated drug discovery pipelines for organisations like AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline, and supported climate modelling efforts in line with work by the Met Office and National Centre for Atmospheric Science. Its optimisation work has parallels with supply chain transformations seen at DHL and Siemens, while AI deployments echo applications pursued by DeepMind and OpenAI in research translation. The Centre's outputs fed into policy dialogues involving the Department for Business and Trade and innovation reports referenced by think tanks such as the Resolution Foundation and Nesta.
Training programmes mirror curricula and courses offered by institutions like The Alan Turing Institute, Coursera partners, and postgraduate centres at University of Manchester and University of Liverpool, offering workshops in machine learning, data engineering, and HPC optimisation. Outreach includes demonstrator days with start-ups similar to those in Techstars cohorts, engagement with SMEs through Innovate UK schemes, and public-facing events with links to science festivals and organisations like the British Science Association and Royal Society. Industry secondments, apprenticeships, and collaborative PhD studentships connect with doctoral training centres such as those funded by EPSRC and industrial partners including Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems.