Lancaster University student goes to Washington D.C. to lobby Congress

A Lancaster University PhD student recently went to Washington D.C. to lobby Congress regarding high-energy physics.

Beth McCusker was part of a group of scientists advocating for funding for Particle and Accelerator Physics.

She is currently conducting her PhD research at Lancaster, focusing on experimental particle physics. As well as this, Beth is a researcher at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois.

Each year, a number of researchers from Fermilab are selected to visit Washington D.C. to represent the United States high energy physics community. Beth was among the group of scientists visiting the Senate and House of Representatives in 2025 to discuss particle and accelerator physics and advocate for its funding.

During her time in Washington D.C., Beth “met with several offices from both the House of Representatives and the Senate, which represented various US states and both Democrat and Republican parties”. As well as this, she was also invited to meet with an Illinois representative covering the facility.

Beth was one of few British citizens on the trip, so she said that she “needed to demonstrate the importance of international collaboration in high-energy physics”. She was also “able to provide a personal account as to how a UK graduate student contributes to the US high-energy physics program.”

Featured image via Lancaster University