Bangor International December 2014
Sir David Brailsford opens Sports Centre named in his honour Sir David is the General Manager of Team Sky cycling team which competes in the top cycling events worldwide including the Tour de France and was previously performance director of British Cycling at the time of the London 2012 Olympics. Sir David Brailsford who grew up on the outskirts of Bangor, visited Bangor University in November to officially open ‘Canolfan Brailsford’, the newly refurbished Bangor University Sports Centre renamed in the successful cycling manager’s honour. The Sport Centre, which reopened in advance of the new academic year, following an investment of £2.5 million, has been well received by students and public alike, following the year-long remodelling project. The facilities now include a brand new two-storey gym, a new aerobics studio, a new sports café and the complete replacement and upgrade of the public changing rooms and showers, and a new floor in the main sports hall. This is part of a wider investment in sports facilities at Bangor University which includes the new £5 million indoor tennis and netball facility attached to Canolfan Brailsford and a third-generation artificial pitch at Bangor City FC’s ground at Nantporth, now home to both University student teams and a host of community clubs. A highlight of the event, for the student cycling club, was a q&a session for some of the University’s student athletes who had an opportunity to question Sir David
Sir David Brailsford and Bangor University’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. John G Hughes
Brailsford and pick up some useful training tips for their members! On his visit to Canolfan Brailsford, Sir David, said:
“I’ve been to a lot of gyms around the world, and there’s a fantastic feeling in there, a real energy and buzz to it, the facilities were fantastic and that’s the acid test. To see the way in which the facility has been developed, which has amalgamated old and new elements, is quite a feat of architecture and clever engineering because it feels like a homogenous sports centre, you wouldn’t know that there are older parts. It feels modern, the staff are very friendly and welcoming and it’s remarkably clean and that makes a big difference.”
In this issue of our newsletter... u
Culture Challenge 2014
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Memorandum of Understanding
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Research News www.bangor.ac.uk/international
Research News Bangor Mixing waters up in the Southern Ocean
University and the Emirates Institute of Banking and Financial Studies (EIBFS) sign a Memorandum of Understanding
The Southern Ocean encircles Antarctica and plays a key role in controlling the global climate. It is here that ocean currents return from the abyss to the surface, closing the global ocean overturning circulation. This circulation drives the poleward transport of heat, which is critical to the relatively mild weather here in the UK. New research by Bangor University and the National Oceanography Centre, Liverpool, has for the first time identified a new process that contributes to this upwelling of abyssal water, a key component of the global overturning circulation. The research, recently published in the leading American Geophysical Union Journal Geophysical Research Letters: (doi:10.1002/2014GL061538), presents the first direct evidence of a hypothesised mechanism that enables the transport of deep waters to the surface over the Antarctic continental slope. This research forms part of Jess Mead Silvester’s PhD which is supervised by Dr Yueng-Djern Lenn and Professor Tom Rippeth at the School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University and Drs Jeff Polton and Miguel Morales Maquedas at the National Oceanography Centre, Liverpool. The PhD is funded by the Natural Environmental Research Council.
L-R: Mr Al Jesmi, General Manager of EIBFS; Bangor University’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. John G Hughes; Prof. John Thornton, Head of Bangor Business School Bangor Business School has always enjoyed a good reputation in the Middle East with its highly ranked banking and finance programme attracting a large number of students from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait. Following on from some productive discussions between Bangor University and the EIBFS over the last year, the two institutions celebrated the establishment of a strategic collaborative relationship with the MoU signing. Under the MoU framework, collaborations on pathway articulation, research collaboration and programme validation will be explored. The UAE based Institute is a well-established centre of excellence. In addition to the Banking Diploma and Bachelor Degree programmes, it offers various professional training programmes for the banking and financial sector in the region. 17,000 students and bankers took part in the training programmes in 2014 across its centres in Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Working with Bangor Business School, the EIBFS is hoping to further expand its academic provision to deliver the most up to date knowledge, and encourage innovative high quality research among its faculties. Professor Phil Molyneux, Dean of the Bangor College of Business, Education, Law and Social Sciences, who has extensive experience in working with universities and students from the Middle East was delighted with the development with EIBFS, “BBS has some of the best banking and finance programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels taught by a team of internationally well know academics. The School is very internationally oriented when it comes to teaching and supporting our students. Our students from the Middle East tend to do very well and one of our students from Bahrain actually won the best student of the year in 2014. We look forward to developing the relationship with EIBFS.”
Bangor University partners the British Antarctic Survey The British Antarctic Survey is one of the world’s leading environmental research centres and is responsible for the UK’s national scientific activities in Antarctica. As evidence is showing that acid levels are increasing in the world’s oceans, the key question is whether marine species will be able to adapt to these changing conditions. This latest study, led by scientist Dr. Coleen Suckling of Bangor University and the British Antarctic Survey is one of the longest ever conducted. Dr. Coleen Suckling of Bangor Within this survey, a study of sea University urchins has revealed an ability to adapt to changing conditions such as rising sea temperature and acidification. A total of 288 sea urchins were collected by divers from Ryder Bay off the Antarctic Peninsula and placed in aquarium tanks and monitored over a two year period. All the sea urchins survived, but took between six to eight months to acclimate to the new conditions.
Agents visit Bangor University
Some of the agents pictured outside the Henfaes Research Centre Some of Bangor University’s agents visited Bangor in December and spent a week taking in all of the facilities that Bangor has to offer as well as tours of the surrounding area, and a visit to our London Centre. They visited many schools and departments where they were given interesting and informative presentations, tours of Bangor’s newly refurbished ‘Canolfan Brailsford Sports Centre,’ Treborth Botanic Gardens, Henfaes Research Centre, the new ‘Moot Court’ within the Law School, as well as a visit to Llandrillo Menai International.
Research News Natural Resources Wales Chief Executive visits 25-year research programme at Bangor University
Prof Chris Freeman shows Dr Emyr Roberts specialist equipment used to measure the gases from wetlands
Dr Emyr Roberts Chief Executive of Natural Resources Wales (NRW) visited Bangor University to present a guest lecture on Natural Resources Wales and opportunities for the integrated management of our natural resources to a gathered audience of students and staff. Bangor University is at the cutting-edge of this field. Professor Chris Freeman, head of the School of Biological Sciences, has pioneered this research work and leads an enthusiastic team of wetland lecturers and researches in the Bangor Wetlands Group at the School. Prof Freeman and his research team have conducted wetland research on topics as diverse as treatment wetlands for dairy waste, to enzyme activities in mangrove swamps. They have had scientific papers published in the leading journals, advised politicians and policy makers around the world, and had their work reported on in many media outlets. Dr Emyr Roberts commented: "For 25-years Bangor University has been at the forefront of wetland research and teaching, and it's fantastic to have such a wealth of experience and expertise in Wales.
Beijing Capital Agri-Business Group
The Welsh Government contingent at the Great Wall of China Prof. Dave Chadwick, from Bangor University’s School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography, recently represented Bangor University as part of a Welsh Government mission to Beijing to the Beijing Capital Agri-Business Group. The aims of the mission were to promote the strength of Wales’ R&D in the Food Supply Chain, enhance the close collaboration between Welsh scientists and Chinese food industry and academia, help Chinese businesses to understand Wales’ investment environment and attract investment from China and maximize cooperation opportunities. The Welsh contingent included; David Morris (Welsh Government - Deputy Director Food and Market Development Division), Fuling Li (Welsh Government - Sector Manager, Foreign Direct Investment), Prof Mike Gooding (Director of IBERS), Dr David Lloyd (Director of the Food Industry Centre, Cardiff Metropolitan University), Dr Adam Charlton (BioComposites Centre, Bangor University), Prof Dave Chadwick (School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography, Bangor University).
Culture Challenge 2014
The winning team (L-R): Jake Sallaway-Costello (UK), Hong Yang (China), Alexandra Wuergler (Switzerland), Julian Kisselevits (Estonia)
Bangor University held it’s annual Culture Challenge competition on the 3rd December, where a trip to China was the first prize, with numerous cash prizes also up for grabs! The Culture Challenge, organised by the University’s International Student Support Office, with the support of the Bangor Confucius Centre, is a great way for Bangor students from different backgrounds and nationalities to meet up, make new friends and work together as a team to compete for the first prize of a trip of a lifetime to China. Nine teams made up of Bangor University students from all over the world entered the competition, whereby they had to do a presentation about an aspect of culture of one or more members of the team. The presentation was then followed by a quiz, where the teams tested their knowledge of world history, geography and literature. All teams were fantastic and the winning team pictured above, won the amazing prize of a two week all expenses paid trip to China. They will visit Shanghai, Beijing, as well as Bangor’s new campus in Changsha, among many other places.
They will leave the UK on the 21st March 2015, so if you are in China and would like to meet them please contact internationalsupport@bangor.ac.uk Alternatively, follow their adventures and check out their journey by logging on in our facebook page: www.facebook.com/BangorUniversityInternational
Second Award Nomination for Bangor Law School
Confucius Institute Annual Conference
Bangor University’s Vice-Chancellor Prof. John G Hughes
Dr Ama Eyo, Law Lecturer at Bangor University A Bangor University lecturer has been shortlisted for the prestigious Law Teacher of the Year award. Dr Ama Eyo is one of only six law teachers from institutions across the UK shortlisted for the Award. Sponsored by Oxford University Press, the Law Teacher of the Year Award is the only one of its kind in the UK set up specifically to reward great law teaching in both further and higher education. With an exceptionally high standard of nominations from universities around the country, the judging panel had a tough job selecting the final shortlist of six. The judges will return to Bangor University for the rigorous second stage of the judging process, as Ama Eyo’s colleague, Sarah Nason at the Law School was shortlisted for last year’s competition, underlining the high standard of teaching at Bangor University’s ten year old Law School. Ama is the Director of Bangor LLM in Public Procurement, where she has developed innovative teaching methods to excite students’ passion for the law and strategy of public procurement at the Law School's leading procurement law centre, the Institute for Competition & Procurement Studies. Ama also teaches Company Law and Tort at undergraduate level, and originally hails from Nigeria and holds her PhD from Nottingham. On hearing the news, Ama Eyo said: “I am extremely delighted at this excellent news and as it demonstrates the validation of the relationship my students and I have tried to create over the years, the exceptional contributions my colleagues and students have made to my teaching, and a testament to the excellent level of engagement between lecturers and students at Bangor University. Over the last four years of my academic career, the University and Bangor Law School have provided me with a range of unique teaching opportunities and skills, and I am grateful that my students have helped me to develop and hone these skills through their dedication and engagement in class.”
Bangor University Vice-Chancellor, Prof. John Hughes and the Director of the Confucius Institute (CI) at Bangor University, Dr. David Joyner, attended the 9th Annual Confucius Institutes Conference in Xiamen, China on the 7th and 8th of December 2014. The conference brought together thousands of delegates from every corner of the globe to celebrate the collaboration between local universities, Hanban (the language agency of the Chinese Ministry of Education) and partner universities in China. The Confucius Institute at Bangor University partners with the China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing. Prof. Hughes was Co-Chair of a session focussed on the Cultural and Academic Function of the CI and gave a presentation on Bangor CI's Two Dragons Initiative, highlighting how this approach to two-way cultural exchange is woven through all the work at Bangor CI. Dr. Joyner gave a presentation about the new China Business service being developed in Bangor.
www.bangor.ac.uk/international
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Seasons Greetings from the International Education Centre Please do contact us if you would like one of our international oďŹƒcers to visit your school or if you need any advice.
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