Bangor University’s work for the benefit of public health has been recognised with the presentation of a Queen’s Anniversary Prize medal and certificate at Buckingham Palace.
The Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education are part of the UK’s Honours system and are awarded every two years by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister following a rigorous, independent review process managed by The Royal Anniversary Trust, an independent charity.
This is the fifteenth round of the scheme and there were over 100 entries, of which 22 institutions were awarded a Prize.
Bangor University was recognised for its novel system for public health surveillance through the analysis of harmful pathogens in wastewater, deployed nationally during the pandemic and now adapted to measure a wide range of public health indicators.
Faced with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, we knew from previous research that there was a possibility we could harness the power of wastewater to track the spread of the virus, and we were able to do just that. This shed light on the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2, but also the transformative potential of wastewater-based epidemiology in safeguarding public health.
Since then, and on behalf of Welsh Government, the Food Standards Agency and European Union, the technology has been expanded to monitor a wide range of public health indicators including enterovirus, norovirus, influenza, RSV, polio and antimicrobial resistant organisms. This is now being built into a real-time alerting system for healthcare facilities and public health agencies. The technology is also being used to predict the potential for individuals to become infected from coming into contact with sewage contaminated water (e.g. Open water swimming), helping to sever the disease reinfection cycle.
Professor Jones added, “It’s a great honour to receive this Award, and I’d like to thank all my colleagues who have given their time and energy to make this research possible. By working with industry, other academic institutions and governments locally, nationally and internationally, we will continue to undertake responsible research for the public good.”
In a letter to Queen’s Anniversary Prize winners UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said,
