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

A prestigious European Commission RegioStars Award 2014 has been won by the BEACON Biorefining Centre of Excellence, an innovative Welsh research partnership dedicated to developing industrial products from plants to reduce reliance on fossil-based resources such as coal and gas. BEACON is a Welsh Government EU funded collaboration between Aberystwyth, Bangor and Swansea universities. The BEACON team received their award at a glittering awards ceremony in Brussels. Researchers at BEACON work with industry, including small and medium sized enterprises, to develop renewable materials, fuels and chemicals as well as modified and new environmental and economically sustainable processes. Led by Aberystwyth University’s Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), BEACON was one of 4 projects to be shortlisted in the “Sustainable growth: Green growth and jobs through Bio-economy” category. The other three were Ecoponto em casa from Portugal, ORGANEXT from Belgium, Ge...

Five representatives from Carmarthenshire’s Youth Council  (CYC) recently attended an all Wales Funky Dragon Grand Council residential at Bangor University. The event was hosted by Fun ky Dragon, Wales’ children and young people’s assembly, with the aim of highlighting issues important to young people across Wales and to bring about positive change. At the residential, the CYC raised all the views and opinions of young people living in Carmarthenshire. Funky Dragon confirmed that their priorities for this year will be education, health and the environment. Jamie Davies, aged 18, of Glanamman, Ryan Davies, aged 15, of Llanelli, Celt Whitburn, aged 12, of Newscastle Emlyn and Adam Cousins, aged 15, of Newcastle Emlyn, have all been elected by their peers as the CYC’s new Funky Dragon representatives. Ryan Davies has also been elected by Funky Dragon as one of the co-chairs for education, and Jamie Davies has been elected to represent the over 18s group on Funky Dragon’s Manageme...

Aberystwyth and Bangor Universities’ Strategic Alliance have launched a joint consultancy company. Aberystwyth and Bangor Consultancy Ltd will be the vehicle for both Universities to further develop the portfolio of commercial consultancy services for the two Universities and forms a key feature of the future of the Strategic Alliance. Professor April McMahon, Vice-Chancellor of Aberystwyth University, said: “Our Universities have worked together for a number of years; we’re good friends and good neighbours and have a strong track record of partnership working. Establishing a new joint consultancy company is amongst a range of exciting initiatives which sees our universities strengthen the ties we have, whilst at the same time allowing us to promote our individual areas of academic and professional strengths. I look forward to learning of the successes of our new company as we continue to provide a range of high level consultancy services to our customers.” The company has be...

A five-month exhibition showcasing the research of Aberystwyth and Bangor universities into medieval seals in Wales from 1200-1550 is running at the National Library of Wales. The exhibition, Seals in context: Medieval Wales and Welsh Marches, is housed at the National Library’s Hengwrt Gallery and runs until the end of September 2012. The ‘Seals in Medieval Wales’ (SiMeW) project, undertaken by the Department of History and Welsh History at Aberystwyth in collaboration with the Department of History and Welsh History at Bangor University, is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The project has been running since September 2009 and has recorded around 3,500 seals from across Wales and the Marches in order to explore aspects of medieval society and economy, politics, religion and expressions of identity in new ways. The exhibition offers an early opportunity to present some of the rich material contained in medieval seals. Seals shed light on many aspects of medie...

On Saturday 11th February, Aberystwyth and Bangor Universities will go head to head and compete against each other in a range of sporting competitions. The Aberystwyth-Bangor Varsity sees 30 teams competing in 32 fixtures covering a number of sports from octopush and ultimate frisbee through to more traditional sports of rugby, football, table tennis and fencing. In its fifth year, the title has always been retained by the home side with Aberystwyth University currently holding the trophy for 2011 as they travel to Bangor to compete for the title of 2012 Varsity champions. Alun Minifey, Activities Officer at Aberystwyth University Guild of Students commented: “Close to 400 students will travel from Aberystwyth to Bangor on Saturday and will compete in a range of sports matches. Aber teams will be aiming to keep hold of the Varsity trophy and, for the first time, take the trophy away from the home side! “There are a variety of inter-collegiate competitions and events which are...

Aberystwyth and Bangor Universities will announce a new Strategic Alliance today (Wednesday 7th December) that signals a new phase in the partnership between the two institutions. The new alliance will build on the successful HEFCW funded £10.9m Research and Enterprise Partnership which was established by the two universities in 2006. Set a target of generating £11m of additional research funding over a period of 5 years, the Research and Enterprise Partnership will report on Wednesday that it has in fact generated £53m of additional research funding. This represents 481% of target and has been achieved in the form of new joint research projects, funding brought in by new appointments or as a result of workshops and meetings, which have brought together existing academics from both universities. The new Strategic Alliance is already beginning to broaden and deepen the partnership between the two universities into areas such as joint strategies in Teaching and Learning, Innovation and E...

Aberystwyth University and Bangor University are to launch an ambitious programme to develop an innovation fund to support small businesses in mid and north Wales. For many years, both universities have worked with businesses in their region to share knowledge and expertise. Many spin out companies have been formed as a result of the practical application of research undertaken at Aberystwyth and Bangor. Now, the two institutions are looking to take things to the next level by providing access to venture capital funding to ambitious local businesses, who will benefit from appropriate investment. The fund will be operated independently of the Universities and will allow for the commercialisation of research, developed within the institutions and also from outside the universities, in the mid and north Wales region. The venture capital fund of some £2m initially, will be financed from a variety of sources including private equity, and provides an emphatic underlining of the key relations...

Aberystwyth University welcomes the publication of the report Future Structure of Universities in Wales by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales and looks forward to contributing to the consultation process which will now ensue. In a statement, the university also said - We also welcome the statement issued by Higher Education Wales. These proposals include further strengthening of the relationships between Aberystwyth, Bangor and Glyndŵr Universities. These will now be considered carefully over the coming weeks. Aberystwyth University has established a very successful collaboration with Bangor University, initially the Aberystwyth/Bangor Research and Enterprise Partnership, which we are pleased to see recognised by the Welsh Government. Aberystwyth and Bangor Universities have already embarked upon a process to strengthen the partnership, whilst retaining their separate identities. The Council of Aberystwyth University has set a clear ambition for the University – we will con...

If you've been reading recent posts on this blog about the HPC Wales high performance computer project, you might be wondering how it all helps researchers at our universities. Here is one case study from Bangor University - The new HPC Wales computer will help us balance our future power needs with our desire to save the environment. The School of Ocean Sciences at Bangor University is carrying out detailed modelling to predict the long-term impact of site-choice for tidal power generation systems. As the world is taking action to reduce the damaging carbon emissions associated with fossil-fuel-based electrical power generation, attention is being focussed on renewable energy sources. Tidal power systems are attracting particular attention due to the extremely reliable natural event that underpins their operation – the tide always comes in and goes out twice a day! Marine tidal turbines directly harness the power of the tidal flow in a location by using what are effectively underw...

Menter Cwm Gwendraeth has been praised for its Twilight Service to help patients leave hospital and return to the community. A team of Bangor University researchers has hailed the hospital transport service as a beacon of good practice. The service operates from 2pm-10pm Thursday to Monday, offering free car transport home from accident and emergency departments at Prince Philip and Glangwili hospitals to vulnerable patients. Researchers have estimated that the service saves a minimum of 20 bed days per month at a saving of £363 per day. The service helps to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions by providing social care support to help people settle back at home – patients that would otherwise be admitted on to a ward without any real medical need. As well as seeing people safely home from hospital, Twilight Service volunteers also help people settle by turning on lights and heating, making them refreshments, getting in food supplies and carrying out basic home safety checks. They also...

Bangor University has a number of projects in mind to tie-in with the launch of the new HPC super computer project for Wales. (See earlier posts starting at http://sirgarblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-40m-super-computer-project-for.html ) Here are a few case studies of the sort of work which will benefit from the HPC Wales project - How the brain works Bangor has a world renowned academic, Professor Fergus Lowe, who studies the way children think about healthy eating, eating fruit and vegetables and so on. He has a 20 year programme where he has proven empirically that the behaviour of children who are exposed to health eating techniques can be changed. Obviously, obesity is a great problem for the Western World. It can cause huge costs in terms of health in later life and the knock-on impact on our health service. Bangor has a team of experts who have been able to measure what happens in the brain. Bangor has the scanners, the people and huge data sets of material. HPC will allow us to...