In 1972 Bancroft took part in a workshop organised by Bill McGowan of (UWO) on the uses of synchrotron radiation, an event he has described "the beginning of my 30 year odyssey to develop Canadian synchrotron capabilities in the US and then in Canada". He began work at the Synchrotron Radiation Center (SRC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, US, in 1975, as a result of contact established with then-SRC director Ed Rowe at the 1972 meeting. After several failed attempts were made to establish a synchrotron facility in Canada, Bancroft submitted a proposal to the NRC to build a Canadian beamline at SRC. In 1978 the newly created NSERC awarded capital funding, and the Canadian Synchrotron Radiation Facility (CSRF) was founded. CSRF, owned and operated by NRC, with Bancroft as scientific director, grew from the initial beamline to a total of three by 1998.