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Researchers attend Diabetes Conference Researchers from the Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences recently attended the European Association for the Study of Diabetes Conference in Hamburg - Europe's largest organisation for research in diabetes.
Senior Lecturer Dr Rachel Churm delivered a keynote lecture on 'the impact of physical activity and diet on the cardiovascular disease risk in post-menopausal women' and Professor Richard Bracken launched a free, online educational resource to better support healthcare professionals to include physical activity as a supplementary therapy in the management of diabetes. Richard is Vice Chair of the Exercise and Physical Activity Study group and member of Sports and Exercise Sciences.
The conference event was a tremendous success and highlighted Swansea’s reputation on a European diabetes stage. |
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All-Party Parliamentary Group for Menopause Awareness Dr Rachel Churm, Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences, was recently invited to attend the UK cross-party group at Parliament to provide evidence for the menopause report.
The group discussed the potential benefits of integrative therapies like exercise, reflexology, and mindfulness for women experiencing menopause, as well as the broader associated healthcare issues such as health awareness and inequalities.
The APPG (All-Party Parliamentary Group) was founded to tackle the lack of understanding around menopause amongst policymakers, the public and employers. |
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Top 100 inspiring and influential women Congratulations to Dr Leanne Cullen-Unsworth, Department of Biosciences, on being named one of the top 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2023.
The top 100 list focuses on some of the main challenges that women and girls around the world face, and this year, the list is additionally shining a spotlight on the impact of the climate crisis on their health and safety.
Leanne’s nomination is based on her work over the last 20 years, immersed in researching marine resource use and its sustainability. Her passion for seagrass was ignited by the realisation that human well-being is directly interlinked with this incredible habitat, and her goal is to improve the prospects of the millions of people intricately connected to seagrass ecosystems around the globe.
Leanne is the CEO of Project Seagrass, an international marine conservation charity headquartered in Bridgend and established as a spin-out from Swansea University. Project Seagrass is making a significant impact on both a national and international scale, consistently bringing positive attention to Swansea University. |
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Ginger Sue heads for India Sue Phillips (FSE Finance Team Leader) will be heading back to India shortly for another Ginger Sue Adventure epic cycle ride exploring the sights, sounds and delights of Kerala. This year’s adventure is dedicated to raising much needed funds for the Mind Charity.
Sue will cycle through the wildlife-packed Western Ghats, the spicy Cardamom Country and the beautiful backwaters of Kerala to the Mirari Beach. Setting off from Kochi, Sue and fellow cyclists will tackle tough climbs through Munnar’s misty coffee and tea plantations, to the top of the Kannan Devan Hills in the Western Ghats.
Good Luck Sue! |
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Physical Geographer receives the prestigious Hoggan Medal Congratulations to Professor Siwan Davies, Department of Geography, who recently received the Hoggan Medal from The Learned Society of Wales. The award recognises and celebrates the contribution of outstanding women in the areas of science, medicine, engineering, technology or mathematics.
Siwan is a physical geographer and science broadcaster, as well as a multiple award-winner for her research. Her work on the analysis of microscopic volcanic ash particles has been internationally recognised, and will help to reconstruct past periods of climate change to provide clues about current change.
Siwan said: "I am delighted and honoured to be awarded the Frances Hoggan medal from the Learned Society of Wales for my research into past environmental change, which is so important for us all given the climate emergency.”
The names of the 2023 medallists were announced at a ceremony attended by Jeremy Miles MS, Minister for Education and Welsh Language, and Professor Dame Sue Ion, one of our Honorary Fellows and Chairman, UK Nuclear Innovation Research Advisory Board. |
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RAI UK Impact Accelerator programme Congratulations to Professor Simon Robinson, Department of Computer Science, on his successful partnership with RAI UK (Responsible AI UK) on the Impact Accelerator programme for the project “Amplify: Empowering Underserved Voices in Spoken Language Interaction”.
The aim of the projects is to maximise impact from existing responsible AI research to rapidly realise benefits for the economy, society, culture, policy, health, the environment, and quality of life.
Simon is the Project Lead and will be working with Minah's Research Services and Studio Hasi. |
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TANGO to develop innovative AI systems Professor Alan Dix and Dr Matt Roach, Department of Computer Science, have secured funding of €8M on a 4 year EU project led by Trento University.
Project TANGO aims to develop research and prototypes that establish a deep mutual understanding between humans and machines that is essential for the development of truly effective and innovative AI systems that can expand human reasoning and decision-making capabilities. Swansea will lead in, developing methods for team decision-making and creating small-scale user-facing AI demonstrators for the XAI and ML models.
The project kicked off in Oct 2023, with 21 partner organisations from 9 countries across Europe, and is set to strengthen the leadership of Europe in this area. |
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Biosciences researchers visit Berlin Funded by the Swansea University Taith Researcher Mobility Fund and an Office for Naval Research Grant, two Biosciences research groups, Sociality, Heterogeneity, Organisation and Leadership (SHOAL) and the Behavioural Ecology and Endocrinology Lab, visited Berlin, Germany, to identify and form relevant, collaborative opportunities with partners.
Associate Professors Andrew King and Ines Fürtbauer (Biosciences Academic Staff), Dr Marina Papadopoulou (Postdoc), and Marco Fele and Lucia Pedrazzi (PhD students) visited researchers at the following organisations: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development.
Photo: Marco, Marina, and Lucia presenting at Humboldt University (left) and a research workshop at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (right). |
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REIS Seminar Series Programme A seminar on Security Sensitive Research & its registration will be delivered by Mrs Anjana Choudhuri, University Research Integrity Manager and Alexander Roberts, University Research Data Manager coordinating policies and systems to support Open Access Publishing.
Attendees will learn about the UK Government’s regulatory requirements for the area and the available support in the University to assist researchers undertake such research safely with compliance.
The session will be delivered via Zoom on 13 Dec 2023, 2 pm. |
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Swansea University welcomes Hilary and Bill Clinton Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton and President Bill Clinton recently visited Swansea University to take part in a Leadership for Future Generations event in the Great Hall, Bay Campus. The event included a moderated and wide-ranging conversation about some of the global challenges confronting society and took place in front of an audience of local schools and further education colleges, as well as key University partners and stakeholders.
Professor Paul Meredith gave a presentation on CISM, the Centre for Integrative Semiconductor Materials, while Professor Geoff Proffitt talked about the biophilic buildings project. Both Hillary and Bill seemed genuinely interested and asked lots of questions.
The visit was generously supported by Welsh Government. |
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