Health Policy Appointment at Bangor University

Myfanwy DaviesIt will be possible to study Health Policy through the medium of Welsh at the School of Social Sciences, Bangor University, from October this year, following the appointment of Dr. Myfanwy Davies as a lecturer there. This will be a means of expanding the existing provision and be a foundation for research plans in truly innovative fields that are relevant to our era.

Myfanwy is originally from Llanelli, and following a period of study at Oxford, Sheffield and Middlesex Universities, she worked, until recently, as a researcher in the field of health at Cardiff University’s School of Medicine. The results of her research in the field, and her understanding of health in Wales, were the foundation of her report on Histories of Uncertainty: Parental attitudes to HPV vaccinations for their daughters, published by the National Assembly for Wales in 2011. Myfanwy is a fluent French speaker, and for a time, she lived in Aix-en-Provence and in the city of Rouen in France, and worked as a Sociology lecturer at the University of Aix-Marseille II and the University of Rouen.

Myfanwy said: ‘The opportunity to work in a School of Social Sciences that has secured international distinction will be a challenge, but I look forward to being a part of the Welsh life in north Wales, and take advantage of the expertise of colleagues in this special department’.

This appointment, the fourth in a series of nine Welsh language lecturers at the Bangor University during the next few months, has created much excitement at the institution. Appointments have already been made in the fields of Popular Music, Music and Film, and Modern Languages, and it is hoped that other appointments in the fields of Health Science, Psychology and Environmental Science will be made soon.  

Professor John G. Hughes, Vice Chancellor of Bangor University, said: ‘It’s a great privilege to be able to provide a home for these young scholars at Bangor University.  With the support of Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, the opportunities available to them are good and the prospects for development in the field of learning and research at Bangor are extremely promising’.   

Dr Ioan Matthews, Chief Executive of Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, said: ‘This appointment is further proof that leading academics are drawn to jobs funded by the Coleg. Further appointments will be announced within the next few weeks at Aberystwyth University, Cardiff University, Swansea University, the University of Wales: Trinity Saint David, the University of Glamorgan and the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff. Congratulations to Dr Myfanwy Davies on her success and we wish her well in her new job in Bangor, within a department that already makes a key contribution to the Welsh medium provision in the field of Social Sciences’.

Myfanwy will start her new job in October this year.

Publication date: 10 August 2011