Special feature

BIOLOGY NEWSLETTER

November 2020

“Creativity”, said Albert Einstein, “is contagious - pass it on”.

In that vein it gives me great pleasure to write this short Editorial for the inaugural issue of the Biology Subject Digital Newsletter (title to be confirmed -see ‘Opportunities’). In previous years we have produced a printed newsletter in Biology and Environmental Science, which, for historical reasons lost to the mists of time, was entitled ‘Leaves and Leather’ probably a loose representation of the flora and fauna studied within the field.

We now feel the time is right for a more collaborative Subject approach in the form of digital news. This newsletter will therefore be a conduit for the many and varied activities taking place within the whole Biology Subject. We are a diverse Department, covering broad aspects of the life sciences, including elements of human and animal biology, microbiology, wildlife conservation, sustainability, and the environment, alongside food, nutrition, and wellbeing. We are also, therefore, a busy Department, with lots of news, reports, views, and updates to share on a regular basis, and we look forward to doing exactly that, in this new format. In this first edition, we kick off with some words from our current students; give some muchneeded programme and research updates; cover graduate achievements; alumni insights; art and opportunities. Contributions here showcase not only the applied nature of our discipline, but also, its innovation and enterprise. I very much hope you enjoy reading our stories, and will end (or indeed begin) with a quote from the NASA astronaut, Mae Jemison, “Sciences provide an understanding of a universal experience; Arts are a universal understanding of personal experience. The arts and sciences are avatars of human creativity”.