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! 

STUDENT NEWS

Atomic fountain clock aims to solve the mysteries of antimatter

Swansea PhD students, Ted Thorpe-Woods and Joos Schoonwater, Department of Physics, have been involved in a Swansea led project to create a device capable of producing a fountain of caesium atoms at CERN. These atoms can measure the frequency of light absorbed by antimatter and are vital to understanding the extent of the symmetry between matter and antimatter, a big question at the heart of how the Universe works.

The caesium fountain was designed and built at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), and funded by EPSRC with support from Denmark’s Aarhus University.

Find out more

Chancellor's Award winners

Funding success for PhD student

Congratulations to Jon Walker (Biosciences) and Victoria Jenkins (Law) who won the 2023 Chancellor’s Award for their outstanding contribution to sustainability. The award is in recognition for their work on the sustainable management of Welsh peatlands and was presented by Dame Jean Thomas.

Congratulations to Gemma Woodhouse, PhD student in Biosciences, for winning funding from the James Pantyfedwen Foundation. Gemma is researching resource mobilisation in extended fungal networks and is supervised by Professor Dan Eastwood and Dr Deb Roy.

Faculty PhD prizes

Congratulatios to the following students:

Faculty prize for the Best PhD Thesis: Emmanouil Lempidakis (Supervised by Professor Emily Shepard and Professor Rory Wilson, Biosciences)

School Prize for the Best PhD Thesis: (Joint Award): Sarah-Sophie Weil (Supervised by Dr William Allen and Professor Luca Borger, Biosciences) and Joseph Strong (Supervised by Dr Warren Perkins and Professor David Dunbar, Physics) 

School Prize for the Best MSc by Research Thesis: Patrick Colledge (Supervised by Dr Almudena Ortiz-Urquiza and Dr Miguel Lurgi, Biosciences) 

Eisteddfod 2023

Eilir Hedd Morgan Memorial Award

Congratulations to Dr Rhian Hedd Meara, Senior Lecturer in Geography, who has been awarded the Eilir Hedd Morgan Memorial Award by the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol in recognition of her significant contribution to Welsh language geography provision at Swansea.

Read more

The Science and Technology Medal

Emeritus Professor Alan Shore (Cardiff and Bangor) was awarded the Science and Technology medal which was sponsored and crafted by the Faculty of Science and Engineering. Professor Trystan Watson spoke on behalf of the faculty and provided insights on how the medal was created from 3D printed metal - a new venture for the faculty.

Professor David Smith joined the ceremony which was hosted by Elin Rhys. 

OTHER STAFF NEWS

Falling Walls Breakthrough of the Year in 2023 winner

Congratulations to Professor Carlos Garcia de Leaniz, Department of Biosciences and Director of CSAR, who has won the Falling Walls Foundation for the Science Breakthrough of the Year Award 2023.

Carlos’s award for the Science and Innovation Management category is in recognition of his ground-breaking research on the AMBER project which sought to achieve the effective and efficient restoration of stream connectivity across Europe.

In 2022, AMBER won the ‘Outstanding International Impact of Research and Innovation Award’.

Academic Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Education award success

The Department of Computer Science has received the Academic Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Education (ACEs-CSE) Silver award for the MSc Cyber Security programme and research in recognition of their excellence in cyber security education. 

The MSc course was the first in Wales to be fully and completely certified by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and Swansea University is now listed on the NCSC web pages as one of 14 UK universities with an ACE-CSE award.

OPTIC project exhibition

The OPTIC project (Understanding Older and younger people’s Perspectives and Imaginaries of Climate change) is hosting an exhibition in Taliesin Create over the next few weeks.

OPTIC, which is made up of staff from Geography, Health, and Materials Science, is a one-year funded project by the University of Stirling’s Healthy Ageing Challenge and supported by the Centre for Ageing and Dementia Research (CADR).  

Event Highlights

Zienkiewicz Lecture 2023

Swansea University’s Faculty of Science and Engineering will host its seventh Zienkiewicz Lecture on 22 November, 6pm at the National Waterfront Museum.

The guest speaker will be Professor Lord Darzi, OM, KBE, PC, FRS, who will deliver a lecture entitled ‘Health Care Transformation through Science and Technology’. He is a Consultant Surgeon at Imperial College NHS Trust and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.

Find out more

Integrated Pest Management

University Research Week

Professorial Inaugural Lectures

International Symposium and Networking Event

New IPM - One Health

5 - 7 September, Swansea University

For the second year running, Swansea University has been chosen as the host for this prestigious event which focuses on new and developing innovative programmes in Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

The symposium, led by the Natural Products BioHUB and IBMA, offers a unique opportunity for researchers, technologists and end users to hear from others working in the field and to exchange ideas.

As human, animal, and plant health are inextricably interlinked with each other and the environment, ‘One Health‘ is an integrated, unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimise the health of people, animals and ecosystems.

Sponsored by FSE

11 – 15 September, Swansea University

We are delighted to announce that an exciting University-wide Research Week will be held from September 11th to 15th, 2023! This week-long program promises a rich variety of events and workshops designed to engage and inspire participants from all faculties and staff members.

Event Highlights include:

On Monday 11th September the Vice Chancellor, Professor Paul Boyle, will open Swansea University Research Week 2023 at the film showing Rapid Motion Through Space: An Incomplete History of Speed.

On Tuesday, 12th September, there will be an Impact Lecture Series plus a wide range of activities, including exhibitions and posters, taking place in the Taliesin.

PVC Research and Innovation, Professor Helen Griffiths, will conclude Swansea University Research Week 2023 on Friday 15th September.  Come and join us at our Research Culture Lectures and Awards Ceremony, followed by a networking lunch.

 All events are free to attend!

In celebration of the Faculty of Science and Engineering’s newly promoted Professors, we would like to cordially invite you to join us for the inaugural lectures of Professor Ben Evans and Professor Enrico Andreoli on Wednesday 13th September 2023.

An Inaugural Lecture is a significant milestone in an academic staff member’s career and a fantastic opportunity for our Professors to showcase their achievements in research, teaching, innovation and engagement.

This event is part of the University Research Week 2023, sponsored by the Faculty of Science and Engineering.

All staff and students are welcome to attend.

Computational Foundry Lecture Theatre 003, Bay Campus 

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.

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

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