News Archive

News Archive: March 2014

BEACON wins prestigious European Commission RegioStars award

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.

Publication date: 31 March 2014

Santander reward students’ bright ideas

Bangor University held the finals for the first stage of the Santander Entrepreneurship Awards recently. On the day, five undergraduate and five postgraduate students presented their ideas to a panel of judges, which included the University’s Vice-Chancellor Professor John G. Hughes, with the hope of making it through to represent Bangor at the national Santander finals in July.

Publication date: 31 March 2014

Unique herbarium to be resource to train future plant conservationists

A unique ‘herbarium’: a reference library of plants, containing some samples collected as far back as to the 1700s, is one of the resources to be made available to students following a new plant conservation course at Bangor University.

Publication date: 28 March 2014

Bangor students scoop NUS Wales awards

Bangor Students' Union not only won the Course Rep of the Year and Union Staff Member of the Year categories at the annual NUS Wales Awards this year, but also scooped the Higher Education Students’ Union of the Year category.

Publication date: 28 March 2014

‘I don’t wear jewellery’: How deaf pupils are marginalised in our schools

In early April, Bangor University will host a one-day conference for individuals and families who have a hearing impairment. The event will be held on Saturday, April 5th from 10.00 a.m. until 3.30 p.m. in Powis Hall, Main Arts Building, College Road, Bangor University.

Publication date: 28 March 2014

Bangor’s Forestry Department Celebrate 110th anniversary this year

News has been picked up by the Daily Post this week

Publication date: 27 March 2014

Bangor lecturer named as one of the best in the UK

Congratulations to Bangor Law lecturer Sarah Nason, a worthy finalist in the OUP Law Teacher of the Year competition.

Publication date: 26 March 2014

New research project addresses national priorities in combating the threat of tree diseases

New diseases are posing significant risks to tree health and plant biosecurity.UK Government Research Councils, DEFRA, Forestry Commission and Scottish Government, are together investing £7M to fund seven new projects to help address threats to UK forests, woods and trees. Bangor University is a partner in one of these projects in collaboration with the Universities of Stirling and Cambridge and the Forest Research agency. The project titled “Modelling economic impact and strategies to increase resilience against tree disease outbreaks” will address “the protection and enhancement of public benefits, including biodiversity and ecosystem services (…) building resilience in woodlands, and wider landscapes”, which are the key recommendations that have just been made by the House of Commons’ Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, specifically. It will also make a substantial contribution the Committee’s call for “long-term research and development work that focuses on preparation for future plant health threats in order to ensure an effective response in the UK”.

Publication date: 26 March 2014

Bangor University promotes agroforestry to combat land degradation in Uganda

Bangor University recently held a training course in Eastern Uganda, in collaboration with The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and the National Forestry Resources Research Institute (NaFORRI). MSc Forestry students (including SUTROFOR scholars and a distance learning Commonwealth Scholarship Commission scholar) from the School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography attended the course alongside researchers from partner institutes in Uganda and Burundi. The aim of the training was to equip researchers with the skills they need to collect and analyse local knowledge of trees and understand drivers of tree cover/landuse change. The results from further research in the area will feed into an Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) funded project called ‘Trees for Food Security’ ( http://worldagroforestry.org/project/aciar ). Two Bangor MSc Sustainable Tropical Forestry students (Mussie Tesfamicheal and Cecilia Kwateng Yeboah) are now conducting their fieldwork under the project and will present their results back to project partners in Nairobi at ICRAF Headquarters in June.

Publication date: 25 March 2014

Professor among 28 leading social scientists conferred as Academicians

Bob Woods, Professor of Clinical Psychology of Older People at Bangor University is one of 28 leading social scientists to be made an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences.

Publication date: 24 March 2014

Farmer Enterprise Competition 2014 - find the winning formula

Following the success of last year’s Farmer Enterprise Competition, Farming Connect is now working with Bangor University to host the competition for 2014. Menter a Busnes, which first developed and delivered this innovative competition last spring, is now seeking five new teams of three enthusiastic farmers from across Wales, to compete against each other to produce a profitable pen of lambs grazed on a crop of their choice.

Publication date: 24 March 2014

The #nomakeupselfie phenomenon

A psychologist at Bangor University has been fascinated by the the #nomakeupselfie social media phenomenon seen on social media this week.

Publication date: 21 March 2014

New research shows how nutrient management can improve farm profitability and agricultural impacts on the environment

Large increases in the price of fertiliser and pressure on the agricultural industry to reduce its contribution to water pollution mean that making best use of nutrients has never been more important. This was the focus of research conducted on farms across Conwy by scientists from the School of Environment, Natural Resources & Geography at Bangor University. The findings have just been published in a leading academic journal, “Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment”.

Publication date: 18 March 2014

When heat casts a healing spell over cancer

Thomas Turner, a recent Cancer Biology graduate from Bangor University, and Dr Thomas Caspari , a researcher based in the School of Biological Sciences at Bangor University published one of the first comprehensive reviews of using heat in cancer treatment in Open Biology , the Royal Society's fast, open access journal.

Publication date: 18 March 2014

Welsh inventor of the breathalyser remembered by University

Wales’s First Minister, Carwyn Jones, visited Bangor University on Thursday 27 March 2014, to commemorate the life and work of Dr Thomas Parry Jones OBE, who was one of Wales’s internationally-acclaimed scientists and entrepreneurs.

Publication date: 18 March 2014

BAFTA Cymru winning student runs Masterclass

A Bangor University postgraduate student from the School of Creative Studies and Media who won a BAFTA Cymru Best Short award in 2013 ran his own Masterclass for students and lecturers at the University of South Wales recently.

Publication date: 17 March 2014

Major Prize Award Shortlist for poet of disappearing sounds

An internationally renowned poet, whose work is already translated into 18 languages, has been shortlisted for a major poetry prize. is shortlisted for The Poetry Society's Ted Hughes Award for New Poetry .

Publication date: 17 March 2014

30 Years of Mathematics Master Classes

Bangor University’s Mathematics Masterclasses are celebrating their 30 th year. These are exciting hands-on and interactive sessions led by education and industry experts for keen and talented young people from across North West Wales. The unique sessions go beyond the school curriculum and bring maths, computer science and engineering to life in surprising topics such as art and sculpture, computer science, design, medicine and even cryptography - the art of protecting information by encrypting it an unreadable format, called cipher text.

Publication date: 17 March 2014

Could Orkney lead the way in generating low carbon electricity?

Marine renewable energy experts at Bangor University have published a new study which examines the potential of Orkney, in the north of Scotland, to generate low carbon electricity through tidal turbines.

Publication date: 17 March 2014

Bangor Medical Sciences new agreement with Graduate Medicine at Cardiff

Bangor University and Cardiff University have signed an historic progression agreement for Medical Sciences (BMedSci) graduates from Bangor to the MBBCh Medicine programme at Cardiff. Each year students (up to a maximum of 10) who reach the threshold eligibility criteria will be guaranteed an interview for the 4 year graduate entry MBBCh Medicine programme at Cardiff. The aim of this agreement is to support the widening participation agenda for Medicine and to also support Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) in its efforts to increase the recruitment of Doctors into the NHS in north Wales.

Publication date: 13 March 2014

Hidden Worlds revealed at fourth Bangor Science Festival

Hidden Worlds’ the flagship event at Bangor University’s Science Festival , which runs 14-23 March 2014, is offering even more hands on activities and demonstrations in this the Festival’s fourth year.

Publication date: 13 March 2014

Bangor University celebrates 110 years of Forestry teaching

One of the oldest “forestry universities” in the UK – and the first to offer a degree in forestry – is celebrating 110 years of forestry teaching. Over that time Bangor University has awarded forestry degrees to students from more than 100 countries, and today 60 undergraduate and 100 postgraduate MSc students are studying on forestry courses run by its School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography. Bangor’s international research profile and vibrant research culture in forestry mean that 50% of the School’s research students are working in the areas of forestry, agroforestry and wood science.

Publication date: 13 March 2014

New £21m networks to boost world-class scientific research in Wales

Science Minister Edwina Hart today (13 March) marked the completion of the first phase of the Welsh Government’s £50m Sêr Cymru programme to bring scientific talent to Wales, with the launch of three National Research Networks.

Publication date: 13 March 2014