News Archive: July 2016

New £7m EU-backed investment in graduate career opportunities

A £7.3m EU-backed scheme to boost the career prospects of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, announced by Minister for Skills and Science Julie James has been welcomed by staff at Bangor University.

Publication date: 29 July 2016

Bangor Graduate’s Social Learning Platform Employs Bangor University Graduate

Polina Cowley, MBA Information Management graduate has set up LearnerNet, an Innovative social learning platform aimed at students in Higher Education.

Publication date: 29 July 2016

Conservation scientists call for global strategy to halt threatened animal extinctions

Aiming to stop the looming extinction of large wild-animal species across the globe, a group of international conservation scientists has issued a call for actions to halt further declines.

Publication date: 28 July 2016

Slate and Sounds: Bangor University at the National Eisteddfod Monmouthshire and District 2016

Bangor University’s presence will be seen and heard at the National Eisteddfod field this year with a full programme of events taking place at their stand during the festival week.

Publication date: 28 July 2016

Rip currents are a natural hazard along our coasts – here's how to spot them

Rip currents are found along most coastlines, and where they form near popular beaches they can be deadly. The journalist Decca Aitkenhead has written movingly about how quickly life can change after her husband was swept out to sea by a rip current while rescuing their son.

Publication date: 27 July 2016

Prof. Tony Dobbins debates new PM’s corporate governance plans in international media

Tony Dobbins, Professor of Employment Studies at Bangor Business School, has discussed new Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans to put employee representatives on company boards in order to reform corporate governance in UK firms. The discussions about the new corporate governance proposals have been published in in the national and international media: The Guardian and the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail .

Publication date: 27 July 2016

New research points to the crash site of missing plane MH370

Two years on and Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is still missing . The plane disappeared on March 14 2014, probably over the southern Indian Ocean to the west of Australia. Despite an estimated $130m search by Australian, Chinese and Malaysian authorities, covering 120,000 square km of ocean (an area around half the size of the UK), the crash site and the bulk of the aircraft have not been found.

Publication date: 27 July 2016

Bangor University teams up with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Bangor University, via its BioComposites Centre , has been accepted as a ‘network university’ by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a charity dedicated to promoting the idea of a ‘circular economy’.

Publication date: 26 July 2016

Igniting Ambition across North West Wales - Menai Science Park receives full planning consent

Following the unanimous approval of the outline planning application in May 2015, Menai Science Park Ltd has now secured full planning consent for Wales’ first dedicated Science Park, which will be based on Anglesey. Working with FaulknerBrowns Architects and the recently appointed main contractors, the detailed designs for this exciting Bangor University project can now be completed. M-SParc intend to complete the build in 2017/18.

Publication date: 25 July 2016

Gwyn Thomas Memorial Fund

When Gwyn Thomas died in April 2016, Wales lost a national treasure. For nearly forty years, he influenced generations of students as a lecturer, professor and head of Welsh at Bangor University.

Publication date: 25 July 2016

Bangor University hosts Medieval Fun Day at Caernarfon Castle

Nearly 500 local school pupils and their teachers enjoyed a packed program full of history, education, creativity and fun at a Medieval Fun Day at Caernarfon Castle, organised by Bangor University recently.

Publication date: 21 July 2016

Pontio and Invertigo Theatre Company establish new and exciting three-year relationship

Pontio have announced Invertigo ( ‘exciting young company’ - The Stage) as an Associate Company for the next three years,

Publication date: 20 July 2016

Masters’ student wins Learning and Work Institute award after graduating twice

A man from Conwy’s been called “remarkable” and “inspirational” after he turned caring for his mother into a full-time job; re-training and graduating for a second time.

Publication date: 19 July 2016

Bangor University Student becomes one of the youngest ever to become Japanese Jiu Jitsu second degree black belt

A Bangor University student has become the fourth woman in the world, and one of the youngest ever to be graded as a second degree black belt in Japanese Jiu Jitsu.

Publication date: 18 July 2016

Do you know what’s in your fish fingers? It’s in the genes…

DNA detection tools are revolutionising the way that global fish stocks are being protected and identified. It is now possible to identify a fish species at any point from the net to a breaded product in the freezer, and these tools are powerful enough to reveal where the fish was caught, or what group of fish it belonged to.

Publication date: 18 July 2016

Bangor Professor elected a Fellow of the British Academy

An eminent historian and archaeologist from Bangor University has been made a Fellow of the British Academy . Nancy Edwards , Professor of Medieval Archaeology at Bangor University’s School of History, Welsh History & Archaeology receives the Fellowship, which is the highest honour in the UK for a scholar of the arts and humanities, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to research in archaeology. She is also the only academic from a Welsh university among this year’s new Fellows.

Publication date: 15 July 2016

How is language related to thought?

How is language related to thought? What can we learn from the structure of language about the human mind? How does this differ between the languages of the world? How has language developed to make us smart? Over 200 researchers from 35 countries will be attending a top international conference being held in Bangor from July 18-22 to discuss just these issues at the UK Cognitive Linguistics Conference hosted by the University's School of Lingusitics & English Language .

Publication date: 15 July 2016

Bangor University student bags “life changing” grant to develop his ed-tech idea

A Bangor University student has been announced as a winner of a national competition to come up with ideas for new digital tools and apps for learning.

Publication date: 14 July 2016

Four out of four for Bangor University in Green Gown Awards Finals

Bangor University has reached the 2016 finals of the Green Gown Awards with all four of its entries. It is the first year that the University has entered these prestigious awards, run by The Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC). The University joins over 100 other finalists representing a combined population of 1.5 million students and nearly quarter of a million staff who benefit from pioneering sustainability initiatives in teaching, leadership, research, and student life.

Publication date: 13 July 2016

Historic Medals go under the hammer

Medals belonging to a pioneering Bangor scientist are to go under the hammer at a world leading auction house this week (Thursday 21 July) Lot 167 and 168 in the Spink Sale of Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals and Militaria are medals awarded to Dr Harold King, who graduated in Chemistry from Bangor University (then the University College of North Wales) in 1909.

Publication date: 13 July 2016

British women will soon be able to serve on the military frontline – but are they ready to fight?

At last, a ban that has long restricted women’s roles within the British military is to be lifted . For years, sceptics and fearmongers have influenced policy and public opinion in the UK preventing women from serving in ground close combat roles, “where the primary role is to close with and kill the enemy ”; stopping female soldiers from joining the Royal Marines, RAF Regiment, infantry and armoured regiments. This article by Leanne K Simpson , PhD candidate at in the Schools of Psychology and Sport, Health & Exercise Sciences Bangor University was originally published on The Conversation . Read the original article .

Publication date: 11 July 2016

Bangor University award Honorary Fellowships during Graduation Week 2016

Lucky graduates at one of Bangor University’s 10 degree ceremonies to be held next week will hear renowned opera star Elin Manahan-Thomas sing during their degree ceremony, as she receives an Honorary Fellowship at the University. Other Honorary Fellowship recipients during the week include the highest-ranked female in the British Armed forces, a renowned sculptor, television presenter, actor and other notable individuals. They will be joining over 3,000 graduating students for the ceremonies which take place at the University’s splendid Prichard Jones Hall between 11-15 July.

Publication date: 11 July 2016

Three Sustainability Awards for Undeb Bangor

Undeb Bangor ( Bangor University Students’ Union ) has picked up not one, or two, but three Awards for their sustainability work. The Students’ Union was awarded a highly coveted Gold Award in the NUS Green Impact Awards , having achieved the Gold Award twice in 2011 and 2013 and the Excellence Award twice in 2012-13 for their 'Bangor Bikes' scheme pilot and 2014-15 for Love Bangor Community Partnership. They were also named Union of the Year (non-commercial) Green Impact Awards in Liverpool.

Publication date: 8 July 2016

National Procurement Awards 2016: Rhondda Cynon Taff Council wins award for electronic procurement

The Welsh National Procurement Awards 2016, held at Bangor University by Bangor Law School’s Institute for Competition & Procurement Studies, recently saw RCT Homes awarded the Award for Electronic Procurement.

Publication date: 7 July 2016

Succeeding in Nuclear industry

A pair of students from North Wales attending Bangor University have recently taken huge strides forward in pursuing their ambitions to carve out future careers in the nuclear industry.

Publication date: 5 July 2016

HRH The Prince of Wales opens Marine Centre Wales at Bangor University

HRH The Prince of Wales visited Bangor University’s School of Ocean Sciences recently (5 July) to open Marine Centre Wales. The Prince also took the opportunity to visit the R.V. Prince Madog, the largest university research vessel in the UK.

Publication date: 5 July 2016

DR Congo Chargé d’Affaires visits University archives

A delegation from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s UK Embassy visited Bangor University recently. The group included the Embassy’s Chargé d’Affaires, Madame Marie-Louise Kafenge Nanga, who was keen to explore contents of the University Archives and Special Collections relating to the Reverend William Hughes, founder of the Congo Training Institute at Colwyn Bay.

Publication date: 4 July 2016

Roller-coaster soaring flights of frigatebirds negotiate the doldrums of the tropical Indian Ocean

An international team of scientists, led by Professor Henri Weimerskirch of Chize Centre for Biological Sciences, CNRS in France, with collaboration from Dr. Charles Bishop, Bangor University in the UK, studied the movement ecology of great frigatebirds ( Fregata minor ). Their paper: Frigate birds track atmospheric conditions over months-long trans-oceanic flights , is published in Science today (1st July).

Publication date: 1 July 2016

Professor Bernardo Batiz-Lazo named Honorary ATM Industry Champion

Professor Bernardo Batiz-Lazo, Professor of Business History and Bank Management at Bangor Business School, has been named an Honorary ATM Industry Champion by the ATM Industry Association (ATMIA).

Publication date: 1 July 2016

Canolfan Bedwyr in the Community

Staff members at Cylch Meithrin Seiont a Pheblig in Caernarfon received certificates recently, after they had completed a bespoke language improvement course designed and delivered by tutors from Bangor University’s Canolfan Bedwyr.

Publication date: 1 July 2016

Citizen Scientists sought to investigate our saltmarshes

We are an island nation, and yet we know surprisingly little about parts of our coastline.

Publication date: 1 July 2016