Sent on behalf of Professor Perumal Nithiarasu, Associate Dean for Research, Innovation and Impact

Dear Colleagues,

Please read below about some of the Faculty’s most recent success stories. We would particularly like to see more from our Professional Services staff for the next email! 

PRIZES AND AWARDS

Unsung Hero Award 2022

Congratulations to Dr Mahaboob Basha (Energy Safety Research Institute) who was recently jointly awarded the Unsung Hero Award 2022 for his community work in South Wales. 

Mahaboob received the award from the City and County of Swansea in partnership with the Welsh Government Community Cohesion and NHS Swansea Bay at a ceremony at the Brangwyn Hall. Mahaboob said: ‘I am tremendously happy to receive the “Unsung Hero’s Award” for this year. This is among the most significant events of my public and political career and I shall remember this day with great fondness’. 

Mahahoob has been a champion of community cohesion and the diverse community in Swansea over many years and a passionate advocate for those in need – including refugees, asylum seekers, international students and other newcomers to Swansea. Mahaboob volunteers to help vulnerable people in the community and is a trained and practicing community responder for the Welsh Ambulance Service. He was previously shortlisted for the St David Awards for the community spirit category and has been decorated with the Mary Williams Award for his outstanding contribution to the wider community of South Wales.

PUBLICATIONS

New paper published on STEM education in Wales

The S4 team have recently had a paper published entitled 'Reaching out to the hard-to-reach: mixed methods reflections of a pilot Welsh STEM engagement project' in Springer.

Swansea University Science for Schools Scheme (S4) is a widening access project focused on STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Maths) outreach education in Wales. S4 delivers hands-on experiential science learning workshops, summer schools and mentoring programmes aimed at widening participation to increase socio-economic and gender diversity in science higher education in Wales. S4 was designed and is led by physicist Dr Will Bryan and Geographer Professor Mary Gagen.

Case study on enhanced vortex generators published

Dr Marinos Manolesos (Aeropspace Engineering/Swansea Wind Tunnel Manager) has recently had a case study published on the MEECE (The Marine Energy Engineering Centre of Excellence) website. The study – Demonstration of Enhanced Vortex Generators – examines the impact of decreased rotor efficiency on wind turbine energy yield. 

In partnership with Anakata, Natural Power, Swansea University and City, University of London, ORE Catapult aims to develop a streamlined process for designing enhanced vortex generators (VG) for wind turbine blades and optimising their siting on the blades. Initial testing will be carried out in Swansea University’s wind tunnel facility.

Read more about the Case Study

SWANSEA UNIVERSITY PRESS OFFICE NEWS

Swansea academic awarded best thesis prize

Congratulations to Dr Alberto Hornero (Geography) who has won the prestigious Agronomy Best PhD Thesis Award. Alberto's thesis centres on detecting the early signs of disease caused by plant pathogens using a combination of field data, air and space-borne imagery, and physical and empirical models. These methods for early detection could have global economic and environmental impacts in terms of a growing world poulation and global food production.

Agronomy is an open-access journal from MDPI.

Read the full story

A new 5 year partnership to support conservation in Borneo

Leading researchers within the Faculty of Science and Engineering are continuing a successful partnership with a leading rainforest research programme in Borneo following a new £330,000 research grant.

The South East Asia Rainforest Research Partnership (SEARRP) has renewed its decades-long collaboration with Swansea University by signing a new five-year partnership agreement. SEARRP supports world-class environmental science, from its base at the world renowned Danum Valley Field Centre in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.

Read more

Protecting the Amazon's giant trees

The story about protecting the Amazon's giant trees continues to gain interest having generated over 1 million views within the first 24 hours after appearing in the BBC News.

Swansea geographer Dr Jackie Rosette has recently returned from the Amazon with vital data on giant trees of over 80 metres, which she first helped discover in 2018. As a result of this work, the State government in Brazil has pledged to enact a Bill to protect them and their surroundings.

Jackie is part of a Brazilian and UK team that first detected six giant trees - up to 88.5 metres high – using airborne laser surveys. The discovery was remarkable as the Amazon was not previously thought to be capable of supporting trees of such size.

Read the full story

New research project takes one step closer to a circular economy

Dr Jenny Baker (Engineering) is lead on the three-year TReFCo (Thermal Recovery of Functional Coatings) project which has just received a £1.2 million research grant from the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC).

The new project will investigate thermal recycling methods for functional coatings and develop wavelength sensitive adhesives which will ‘unglue’ when subject to certain types of radiation.

Read more

RESEARCH EVENTS

If you would like to promote a research event on the FSE Events webpage, please contact fse-reception@swansea.ac.uk

Faculty upcoming events

KEEP IN TOUCH!

If you are aware of any recent achievements to share, either for yourself or for any members of your team, we would love to hear about them!  We’re interested in stories from academic and professional services communities. Please email any news to Anna Ratcliffe (a.c.ratcliffe@swansea.ac.uk). Deadline for submissions: 15th of each month.