News Roundup

Despite the COVID lockdown, SOS once again see a big improvement in the National Student Survey (NSS) achieving a 72% response rate from graduating students. Our students placed the school no. 2 in the University for student satisfaction.

For the courses within Earth Sciences area the school achieved a 98% satisfaction rate (5th highest in the UK), whilst within the Ecology and Environmental Science subject area the school achieving a 93% satisfaction rate.

The marine renewable energy sector is an active area of research within the school and has been identified as vital to growing a

sustainable economy in Wales.

We have been given a further boost with the awarding of an additional £1.5M of EU funding from the Welsh Government. This will extend research and innovation to support the development of marine renewable energy in Welsh waters through the SEACAMS 2 partnership. The extension to the SEACAMS2 partnership between Bangor University and Swansea University will enable research to continue until 2022.

Bangor University Professor of Conservation Science, Julia Jones featured in Sir David Attenborough’s new documentary Extinction: The Facts.

The programme goes beyond the emotional to investigate what biodiversity loss and extinction mean - not just for the planet but for us as a species.

Commenting Professor Julia Jones said: “I was delighted to be a small part of Extinction: The facts. The programme makers did a brilliant job of explaining just how bad things are for our planet’s biodiversity, why this matters to each and every one of us, and what needs to change. The programme beautifully explains how interlinked our natural world is and that we are part of that system.”

SOS Senior Tutor and Marine Biology lecturer Dr Laura Grange has been appointed to the role of Learning and Teaching Development Leader within Bangor University’s Centre for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT).

This position represents an exciting opportunity to take forward the University’s commitment to the highest standards of learning, teaching, assessment and student support. This position will play a significant role in leading innovative projects to develop and support a high performing

learning and teaching environment across the University.

Dr Yueng Djern Lenn has been appointed editor of the leading international oceanography journal, the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Physical Oceanography.

She has also been appointed chair of a new international Scientific Committee on Oceanic

Research (SCOR) working group on ocean mixing. Yueng is also part of a recently funded £2.5 million NERC ArctiCONNECT Consortium which aims to investigate links between Arctic Sea ice retreat and UK weather severe weather. The other consortium partners are Oxford, Bristol and Exeter Universities and the National Oceanography Centre.

Our students have also been busy over the summer.

Recent MSc Marine Environmental Protection graduate Bex Turner started running during lockdown as a complete beginner, and ran 108 miles (the journey from Calais to London)

through September to raise money for the British Red Cross!

Gem Simmons (BSc Marine Environmental Studies graduate) was involved in the rescue of a fin

whale stranded in the Dee Estuary as a volunteer for British Divers Marine Life Rescue. Gem is

currently studying for an MSc in conservation in the School of Natural Sciences.

Marine Biology and Oceanography student Tom Williams and his friends rescued an unconscious man from the sea at Llanelli.

Such quick thinking and heroic actions deserve huge praise! Tom describes events: “We were just sitting on the beach when we saw this guy walking across the rocks. We thought it was a strange place to be walking, then all of a sudden he fell. I ran over to check if he was ok, and he was unconscious with his head in the water. I managed to lift him out and turn him onto his back so I could make sure he wasn’t bleeding.”

Second year Marine Biology student Thea Moule won a $4,400 scholarship to attend the Coral Reef Ecology course at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Science this summer.

She also planned to work as a research assistant on Dr James Waggitt’s research cruise to Iceland. Unfortunately, both had to be cancelled due to COVID.

Bangor - the green university choice

With many young people wanting to reduce their environmental footprint, students looking for a ‘green’ university can be assured that if they choose Bangor, they will be studying at a university which is word-leading for its commitment to recycling and sustainability.

Not only was the University recently placed 7th in the world for recycling and sustainability, measured against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Bangor is also ranked 10th in the world for its green credentials according to the Green Metric World University Rankings.