Our Work

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CONTEXT AND CHALLENGE

Background: Diamond Light Source

Diamond Light Source, located at the Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire, is the UK's national synchrotron facility. It accelerates electrons to nearly the speed of light to produce brilliant beams of light that scientists use to investigate the structure of materials at the atomic and molecular level.
With 32 operational beamlines and joint funding from the UK Government and the Wellcome Trust, Diamond serves over 14,000 researchers across disciplines including life sciences, engineering, archaeology, and pharmaceuticals. Its mission: enable cutting-edge research that transforms society.

 

The Challenge: Managing Risk Across a Complex Scientific Ecosystem

Diamond operated multiple risk registers—technical, health and safety, science, and projects—all with differing formats and scoring systems. Over 160 risks were being tracked at a time, creating noise rather than clarity. Key challenges included:
• Overwhelming volume of risks at Board and Committee level
• Inconsistent risk scoring and RAG assessments
• Strategic risks obscured by operational detail
• Limited integration of communications and reputational risks
• No defined risk maturity model to guide improvement

Faithfields was engaged to deliver a comprehensive risk review focused on strengthening assurance and improving enterprise-level risk oversight.

 

SOLUTION, IMPACT, AND TAKEAWAYS
 

Solution: A Strategic Risk Framework for the Future
Faithfields, led by Jeremy Harrison MA Oxon FIRM CMIOSH, undertook the review using a blend of document analysis, site visits, and 10+ leadership interviews. Distinctive features of the solution included:
• Assumption-Based Strategic Risk Review: Identifying which conditions must remain true for Diamond’s success, then inverting these to surface latent risks.
• Unified Risk Reporting Architecture: Establishing a hierarchy of risk registers and a single scoring matrix to enable cross-organisational consistency.
• Enhanced Risk Intelligence:
o Cause–Risk–Effect structure for descriptions
o Introduction of post-treatment risk scores
o RAG ratings to track delivery of mitigations
• Strategic Reporting Upgrade: A visual summary dashboard highlighting the top 20 risks via heatmaps—more meaningful for Boards.
• Roadmap for Maturity: A staged model to move from "awareness" to "robust risk handling," complemented by education programmes.

 

Outcomes and Benefits
✔ Sharper Strategic Focus — Streamlined registers reduced clutter and clarified Board-level accountability.
✔ Improved Confidence in Reporting — Common scoring and definitions enabled smarter comparison of risk exposure.
✔ Empowered Risk Culture — Embedding Communications and Divisional ownership elevated risk management from compliance to value creation.
✔ Pathway to Assurance Excellence — The recommendations provided a robust foundation for embedding dynamic, enterprise-level risk management.