Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

Ceredigion Autism Spectrum team and Aberystwyth University Student Support Services are hosting an Autism conference at the Old College in Aberystwyth today, Friday 31 March 2017. Now in its fourth year, the conference brings together people on the autism spectrum, parents, carers, supporters, and professionals from health, social care and education. The one day conference marks World Autism Awareness Week which runs from 27 March to 2 April 2017, and World Autism Day which is on Sunday 2 April 2017. Carys James, Head of Adult Social Care and Commissioning, Ceredigion County Council commented: “We are pleased to be working with Aberystwyth University to arrange the Ceredigion Autism Conference and to build on the success of previous years. With a range of expert speakers, the event promises to bring new insight and understanding of a condition that affects at least one in every hundred people”. The conference will open with a presentation from Dr Jill Bradshaw of the world renowned Tiz...

Three research students from Aberystwyth University have been selected to present papers at the world’s biggest planetary conference currently being held in the United States. The PhD students will speak about their research at the European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) which meets outside Europe for the first time since it was established in 2006. In partnership with the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) this year’s EPSC is taking place until October 21 in Pasadena - next to the NASA jet propulsion lab. Students from Aberystwyth have always been involved in the EPSC, thanks to one of the event’s founders and main organisers Professor Manuel Grande who’s Head of Solar System Physics at Aberystwyth University’s Department of Physics. In the past, he’s been able to offer students the chance to apply for positions in various supporting roles such as stewards and ticket collectors – but this is the first year students from Aberystwyth will present ...

Researchers at the Department of Law and Criminology at Aberystwyth University are calling on people who work with, or support elderly people in Carmarthenshire to contribute to a major study into abuse against older people. As part of the £1.3m Big Lottery funded study, the team is hosting a free one day conference on Thursday 22nd October at the Halliwell Centre, Carmarthen, entitled Building Justice Options with Older People in Wales. Anyone interested in issues related to abuse against older people in Carmarthenshire is invited to attend the conference, which will feature keynote speakers Sarah Rochira, Older People’s Commissioner of Wales, and Eleri Butler, CEO of Welsh Women’s Aid. The study, entitled Choice, is being undertaken by the Centre for the Study of Ageing, Abuse and Neglect at Aberystwyth University’s Department of Law and Criminology. Choice has been developed to raise awareness about the abuse of older people in their own homes and design and test an entirely new app...

A financial education programme developed by Carmarthenshire County Council is being showcased at a national Trading Standards conference next week. Money Wise ( Synnwyr Arian ) is a web-based resource designed by the council’s Trading Standards team and education department to help people, in particular children and young families, to understand the concept of money – where it comes from and how to save and spend wisely. A small team of officers are attending the Chartered Trading Standards Institute conference to market the programme and spread the word about the proactive work being undertaken in Carmarthenshire to help protect people from financial problems. If other authorities are interested in rolling the programme out in their areas, it could generate income for Carmarthenshire which would be invested to develop more innovative schemes. Cllr Jim Jones, Executive Board Member for Public Protection, said: “This is a great opportunity to show Trading Standards professionals ...

Young people in Carmarthenshire have been working to raise awareness of domestic abuse and healthy relationships. Over the past few months, members of Carmarthenshire Youth Council, supported by County Council officers, have been looking into and gathering young people’s views and experiences on domestic abuse and healthy teen relationships. The work involved planning and running a youth conference, called “Abuse At Home, You’re Not Alone” which coincided with the 25th anniversary of Universal Children’s Rights Day. As a result of the conference, the young people put together a report which highlighted the main concerns raised. The report was shared with young people, decision makers and relevant partners and agencies from across Carmarthenshire and Wales. The three main concerns and options raised were: Gossiping versus passing on information Telling someone about domestic abuse Raising awareness and accessing better support CYC Chair Freya Amsbury, aged 17, said: “To ensure th...

Carmarthenshire County Council’s efforts to deliver community energy projects has been hailed inspirational as part of a UK conference hosted by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Edward Davey MP. Councils and public sector organisations from around the UK attended the Powering Up conference, run jointly by The Department of Energy and Climate Change and the OxFutures initiative . The council’s Sustainable Development Manager, Kendal Davies – part of the Property Services department - was a guest speaker at the event, and spoke about the efforts Carmarthenshire is making to deliver energy efficiency measures, as well as the challenges we face. He said: “One of the obstacles to developing community schemes is the cost of seeking planning permission and the unpredictability of the outcome. To help overcome this, we employ a dedicated renewable energy development officer as part of our planning service, and also provide a free pre-application advice service. “Financ...

The iOSDevUK conference takes place at Aberystwyth University from 2-4 September 2014 and is the largest event of its type in the UK. The conference welcomes Apple developers from all over the world to learn and share knowledge and experiences of the technology. This year the conference will be focusing on Apple’s new development platform, Swift, as well as covering new industry trends such as Wearable Technology. Professor Chris Price of the Department of Computer Science at Aberystwyth University, who founded the conference, comments, “iOSDevUK gets bigger and better year after year and this year’s conference is our most exciting line up yet! We’re delighted to have such prestigious speakers at our conference here in Aberystwyth and we’re very much looking forward to yet another successful iOSDevUK.” The delegates will be given the opportunity to attend talks and tutorials by over 20 Apple experts including Colin Eberhardt from Scott Logic who will present a session on ReactiveCoco...

Hundreds of grassland experts from across the world will be celebrating 50 years of the European Grassland Federation at a conference in Aberystwyth from 7-11 September 2014. Aberystwyth has been strongly associated with grassland agriculture and in particular the breeding of forage and cereal crops since the foundation of the Welsh Plant Breeding Station (WPBS) in 1919. The influential grassland scientist and environmentalist Sir George Stapledon was its first Director, a post he held from 1919 to 1942. Stapledon argued that grasslands were at the heart of successful agriculture, which in turn was at the heart of Britain's economic and spiritual well-being. For many years his vision was allied with the requirement to increase production from all types of grassland. Meeting bi-annually, this 25th General Meeting of the European Grassland Federation is entitled ‘EGF at 50: the future of European Grasslands'. Dr Athole Marshall, President of the EGF and Head of Public Good Pla...

An international conference aimed at enhancing collaborative working amongst professionals in child education, creating effective policy and sharing best practice in childhood studies opens today (25 June) at Aberystwyth University. The conference, ‘A Child's World – Next Steps’, runs over three days – 25 to 27 June 2014. Full conference programme is available here . Building on the success of the 2012 conference ‘A Child’s World: Working Together for a Better Future’, the conference focuses on new concepts in Raising Standards, Curriculum Development, Safeguarding Children and sharing best practice in childhood studies within an international strategic dimension. Organised by the University’s School of Education and Lifelong Learning, the conference will include contributions by experts from around the world with more than 100 papers presented over the three days. Countries represented will include Australia, Canada, USA, China, Malaysia, The Netherlands, Finland, France, South Af...

The Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA) is organising a conference called Improving Welsh Procurement. It will be run in association with Constructing Excellence in Wales. Details: Monday 5 November 2012 Parc Thistle Hotel, Park Place, Cardiff 9.00am – 3.30pm Conference Chair: Gerald Holtham, Trustee, IWA Public procurement is an important driver for economic development and employment. At some £4.3 billion the Welsh public sector’s annual procurement budget is one of the main economic policy levers in Welsh hands. But how effectively are we using it? Are we achieving the right balance between risk management and creativity in public procurement, especially with contracts below the EU thresholds? Are we encouraging Welsh SMEs to learn from the tenders they make by providing adequate feedback? How are we addressing the skills gap that exists amongst Welsh procurement professionals? How can we push the profile of procurement management higher up the policy ladder? This conferenc...

'Alternative finance for Welsh micro businesses' is the title for a conference being organised by the Institute of Welsh Affairs in association with the Federation of Small Businesses. Details are - Tuesday 23 October 2012 Novotel, Cardiff 9.00am - 4.15pm Conference Chair: Geraint Talfan Davies, Chairman, IWA Micro-businesses employing fewer than nine people account for the vast majority of businesses in Wales – 193,010 in 2011, or 94.5 per cent. Yet these businesses – the main growth engine of the Welsh economy – are experiencing severe problems in obtaining finance from conventional banks. Even where they are successful they often have to pay over the odds for investment funds. This conference asks whether the model we have for channelling resources to micro businesses is appropriate. Are there alternatives sources of finance and better methods of distribution available to us? Are their lessons to be learnt from other countries, especially Germany and the USA? The confere...

The Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA) is to stage a national education conference under the banner, 'Enhancing vocational education for 14 to 16 year olds'. It is being held in association with the Welsh Government and WJEC. Details: Tuesday 21 February 2012 9.15am - 4.00pm WJEC, Llandaff, Cardiff Conference Chair: Sir Adrian Webb, Chair of the Wales Employment and Skills Board The widening education attainment gap between Wales and England for 14 to 16 year olds and Welsh pupils’ relatively low PISA scores have been the cause of much soul searching. Yet the picture is a more complex one than these simple comparisons might suggest. The most recent data show Welsh pupils’ performance in GCSEs to be equivalent to that across the border. It is in vocational qualifications that England is outperforming Wales. This conference will address questions critical to the development of Welsh vocational provision. Is there/should there be a distinctive vocational educational syste...

'Getting Wales Moving' is the title of the Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA) third Welsh National Economy Conference. It takes place on  Friday 9th March 2012  at the Parc Hotel, Park Place, Cardiff 9.00am - 4.15pm. Conference Chair: Rob Lewis, Chairman, Wales and West, PwC. The IWA’s conference will explore innovative plans to tap private funds to improve our infrastructure as well as the work of the new industrial sector panels set up by the Welsh Government. Biotechnology superstar Sir Christopher Evans, will top the bill with a keynote address on enterprise and innovation and the prospects for building Wales’s life science businesses. Welsh-born Sir Christopher is credited by many as the founder of the UK’s bio-technology industry and is now Chair of the Welsh Government’s life sciences sector panel. Welsh Government Finance Minister, Jane Hutt, will outline the prospects for raising capital to create a national infrastructure investment fund, and D...

The Institute of Welsh Affairs is organising a special conference on 'Wales’s Obesity Epidemic'. The event is being held in association Academy Health Wales, Cardiff Metropolitan University and the National Heart Forum on Wednesday 22nd February 2012, 9.15am - 4.00pm, at the Management Centre, Llandaff Campus Cardiff Metropolitan University, Cardiff. More than 50 per cent of adults in Wales are obese or overweight, a statistic that is predicted to increase to 85 per cent by 2020 unless remedial action is taken. Wales is the most overweight country within the United Kingdom where obesity has more than doubled in the last 25 years. It is predicted that on current trends, some 60 per cent of men and 50 per cent of women in Britain could be obese by 2050. This is estimated to represent a seven-fold increase in direct healthcare costs associated with excess weight, with wider costs to society reaching £45 billion a year. Obesity increases risks for chronic disease, i...