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Conference focuses on Culturally Responsive Education Pages 14 and
it within RECAP. The Journal is the research publication of the National Society for Art and Design Education (NSEAD) and as such explores the intersections between creative practice, research and education; a perfect fit with the focus of the research centre. My hope is that the Journal’s reputation and international reach will benefit the Centre, raising its profile and providing opportunities for special issues and joint events.
What are the benefits of working with RECAP?
Working with RECAP connects me with academic colleagues and research activity that is difficult to have access to when working outside of higher education. I have always been based in cultural organisations throughout my career, working between them, creative practitioners and the education sector. RECAP connects some highly experienced and innovative international researchers. We all have particular career backgrounds, research interests and methodological expertise all focused on creative practice and research. I am working on projects with the health sector at the moment and developing cultural and creative programmes and research from a range of artforms in this context. This is providing a great opportunity to explore and test approaches against health and wellbeing criteria, increasingly significant within the work that we do as arts educators.
Can you share some more about the recent Conference?
All of us working in education have been concerned with developing culturally inclusive and responsive curricula in recent years. We touched on this theme in last year’s iJADE conference, Hybrid Practices and feedback from delegates was that they were keen to explore it further. The iJADE Conference brought together international art educators and researchers from a range of contexts across all phases of education. As such it always creates opportunity for intellectual and practical dialogue in a supportive and generous space. This year’s programme for Belonging: Dialogues For a Culturally Responsive Art and Design Education brought together a fantastic line-up of keynote speakers who introduced some really rich and engaging ideas and debates. Alongside the keynotes, the iJADE Conference has become known for the range of papers presented from teachers, artists, academics and students.
Belonging
Online Conference, Friday 11 - Sunday 13 November 2022
Image © Alberta Whittle, Glasgow School of Art MFA 2011
Registration
Early Bird registration until 31 August 2022 Standard registration from 1 September until 15 October 2022*
Call for Papers
Abstracts of 200 words (max) must be submitted by Monday 15 August 2022
Registration and submission links below
Please see overleaf for booking fees, registration details and the call for papers
Conference Registration: ijade-2022-belonging.eventbrite.co.uk Online Abstract Submission Form: https://chester.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/abstract-submission-ijade-online-conference-2022
Research into Education, Creativity and Arts through Practice (RECAP)
With support from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation (PHF) Backbone Fund
What are the plans for the future with RECAP and iJADE?
We are already planning the iJADE Conference for next year and looking forward to our first face-to-face event since 2019. The Conference will be a joint event between the University and in particular RECAP, NSEAD and Storyhouse.
Reinforcing historic University and Library links
LINKS forged for almost 150 years between the University and Gladstone’s Library have been reinforced with a joint publication which offers insights on the significance of everyday objects and consumer culture in the Victorian era. Edited by a Professor from the University, Deborah Wynne, and former student, Dr Louisa Yates - who is now Director of Collections and Research at the Flintshire Library - Victorian Material Culture explores the most important developments in manufacturing history, across the 19th century.
The book is part of a six-volume collection discussing everything from chatelaines - sets of short chains on belts to carry items - to whale blubber, and ice making machines to stained glass.
With the Industrial Revolution and new commodities, the new publication offers a unique insight into the way Victorians responded to the production and consumption of manufactured goods.
The volume, IV - Manufactured Things, brings together a range of primary sources on Victorian manufactured items and the cultures associated with them, considering mass produced industrial and domestic objects including fabrics, clothing, carpet, paper, cutlery, locks, keys, ceramics, glass, soap and candles.
Deborah said: “The Industrial Revolution saw the rapid expansion of technology and the development of factory production, and developments in consumerism characterised this period. Lives were transformed in terms of increased access to the ownership of objects.
“Providing a new perspective, this collection addresses important questions about how we classify and categorise 19th-century things - and demonstrates the significance of objects in the everyday lives of the Victorians.
“It has been an honour to work with Dr Yates and explore the archives at Gladstone’s Library to create this volume, and continue a long history of the institutions working together.”
Louisa added: “Not only have I been extremely lucky to be able to work with Professor Deborah Wynne but it’s been a wonderful opportunity to highlight the historic collections in some of the UK’s most significant cultural institutions.”
For further information on the book, published by Routledge, visit here.
Gladstone’s Library, in Hawarden, is the UK’s finest residential library, and the UK’s only Prime Ministerial library, built following a bequest from William Ewart Gladstone, Victorian statesman and four-times Prime Minister of Great Britain. The current building, raised in 1902 and designed by John Douglas, was funded by public subscription, and the organisation is a self-sustaining registered charity.
The college which would become the University of Chester was founded in 1839 by such pioneers as Gladstone.
For more details on Gladstone’s Library, visit here.
Professor Deborah Wynne (left) and Dr Louisa Yates (right).
Recognising staff commitment
COLLEAGUES who have achieved 10 and 25 years’ service at the University and its predecessor institutions joined those who have completed the Certificate of Supervisory Management and Advance HE’s Aurora development programme at a recent celebration event.
The gathering was held at the Queen’s Park Brasserie and hosted by Richard Waddington, Pro-ViceChancellor (Resources) and Bursar/ Chief Financial Officer with Rashmi Patel, Director of Human Resources, who highlighted the varied career journeys of the recipients of the 25 years’ service awards.
Feedback from those who attended included: “It was a really enjoyable event and exceeded my expectations. It was an absolute pleasure to support colleagues being awarded and recognised for their efforts. The location was good and the fizz and cake was a nice touch!” and “I thought it was really lovely to be recognsied in this way”.
As well as the recognition for 10 and 25 years’ service, colleagues who are entitled to 22 days’ annual leave receive an additional five days’ leave (pro rata for part time staff) after five years’ in post.
25 years
Paul Humphries, Senior Lecturer, Chester Business School; Catherine Bartley, Finance Assistant, Finance; Janice Beech, Cashier/Catering Assistant, Catering Services; John Clipperton, Administrator, Sport and Active Lifestyle; Michelle Turner, Assistant Director, LIS; Susan Hultum, Assistant Subject Librarian, LIS; Lisa Thomas, Deputy
Director, Marketing, Recruitment and Admissions; Fiona White, Departmental Secretary, Music, Media and Performance, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Dr Elizabeth Wheelan, Senior Lecturer, Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Janet Chadwick, Senior Student Record Systems Officer, Registry Services; Penny Gibson, Departmental Administrator, Social and Political Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science and Valerie Lane, Senior Administrator, Universities Economic Development Unit.
10 years
Vikki Brockhurst, Student Success Manager, Careers and Employability, Directorate of Access, Skills and Apprenticeships; Dr Lisa Rowe, Associate Professor, Centre for Professional and Economic Development; Rev Canon Dr Peter Jenner, Senior Chaplain and Dean of Chapel, Chaplaincy; Keith Chandler, Senior Lecturer, Chester Business School; Vicki Silver, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education and Children’s Services; Zoe Garratt, Administrator, Faculty of Education and Children’s Services; Dr Joanne Close, Deputy Head of Department, English, Faculty of Arts and Humanities; Gordon Reay, Senior Operations Manager, Sports and Active Lifestyle; Sean Baker, Senior Lecturer, Acute Adult Care, Faculty of Health and Social Care; Michael Jones, Administrative Assistant, Faculty of Health and Social Care; Dr Amy Gray-Jones, Senior Lecturer, History and Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Stewart Brotherston, Graphic Design Manager, LIS; Mark Heard, Senior Project Officer, LIS; Jonathan Ivison, Senior Project Officer, LIS; Steven Markham, LIS Assistant Desktop and AV Support, LIS; Stephen Roberts, LIS Assistant, LIS; Sam Vanderzijl, Senior Project Officer, LIS; Lee Border, Customer Services Manager, LIS; Caitlyn Hallman–Lewis, Assistant Subject Librarian, LIS; Frances Shelley, LIS Resources Assistant, LIS; Angela Evans, Web Assistant, Marketing Recruitment and Admissions (MRA); Niall Farrall, Market Research Manager, MRA; Sarah Markillie, Digital Marketing Manager, MRA; Anna McLachlan, Senior Marketing and Recruitment Co-ordinator, MRA; Dr Shelley Piasecka, Associate Professor, Music, Media and Performance, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Emma Chu, Widening Participation Officer, Outreach Team, Directorate of Access, Skills and Apprenticeships; Dr Julie Kirkham, Senior Lecturer, Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Dr Linda O’Neill, Senior Lecturer, Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Helen Berrie, Research and Development Officer, Student Services; Susan Shand, Student Support Funds Officer, Student Services; Daniel Griffiths, International Admissions Coordinator, The International Centre; Sophia Minshull, Administrator, The International Centre; Dr Matthew Collins, Senior Lecturer, Theology and Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Dr Ben Fulford, Deputy Head of Department, Theology and Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Carly McEvoy, Departmental Secretary/PA, Theology and Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Patricia Spillane, Senior Contract Co-ordinator, Universities Economic Development Unit and Neil Clatworthy, Director (Europe and Resources), Universities Economic Development Unit.
Certificate of Supervisory Management
Jennifer Donald, Campaigns and Events Officer, Corporate Communications; Kathryn LiveseySim, Practice Learning Support Office Manager, Faculty of Health and Social Care; Patricia JonkerCholwe, Weekend Helpdesk Supervisor, LIS; Caroline Major, Administrative Assistant, Chester Medical School; Jonathan Shanks, Customer Services Assistant, LIS, and Rebecca Turner, Laboratory Manager, Biological Sciences.
Aurora
Galina Georgieva, Administrative Assistant, Commercial Operations; Dr Claire Lucas, Senior Lecturer, Chester Medical School; Dr Katie Lloyd, Lecturer, Chester Medical School; Caroline Major, Administrative Assistant, Chester Medical School; Jill Pye, REF and KEF Manager, Research and Innovation Officer; and Dr Anjali Shah, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education and Children’s Services.
• Colleagues awarded in 2022 reached the service milestones by
March 31 2022.
Creating Citizen Academics
DID you know that since 2020, the University has been working with Cheshire West Voluntary Action (CWVA) on a joint Citizen Academic project?
This partnership gives staff the chance to become trustees of local charities, community groups and charitable organisations and offer support around areas such as governance, funding, training, and volunteering.
As part of the project, CWVA has created profiles so they can match University staff with a well-suited organisation, helping to put in place their strategy and vision and making sure they are governed correctly.
The initiative was set up by Dr Holly White, herself a trustee of CWVA and our Deputy Head of Social and Political Science. She said: “Becoming a trustee gives our staff the chance to support a community and an area of personal deep interest and concern.”
Rebecca Collins, Deputy Head of Department and Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, recently became a Trustee of the Cheshire Wildlife Trust, through the project.
She said: “I’ve loved my experience so far and, even though I hope the charity would probably say I’ve made some useful contributions since I joined the Board, I feel like I’ve gained more than I’ve given.”
Jan O’Driscoll, Director of Foundation Years and Associate Professor, has started two roles with both Chester Cathedral Education Trust and Winsford Youth and Community Forum (WYCF) after being matched through the project.
She said: “Seeing the amount of work charities do, whether their services are free or subsidised, is amazing.
“I’m brand new to being a Trustee and it all works well alongside what I do at the University.
“It’s a great opportunity to work with different people outside my university role and the community engagement offers a civic connection between the University and local area.”
If you’re interested in the Citizen Academic project and the opportunities that could be available to your organisation, please email enquiries@chesterva.org.uk and the team at CWVA will help match you with one of its members, or contact Dr Holly White at h.white@chester.ac.uk
In memory of Rae
THE memory of much loved and respected colleague Rachael Bate was celebrated at a ceremony held at the University earlier this term.
Rachael, known as Rae, was the Departmental Administrator in the Department of Social and Political Science from 2014, but her links to the University went back further. She began working at the University in the Faculty of Health and Social Care in 2006, before moving to the Faculty of Education and Children’s Services in 2009. She was also a student at the University as an undergraduate, postgraduate taught and postgraduate research student.
A passionate advocate for a nature and the environment, Rae was a green champion and led initiatives to reduce, reuse and recycle, organising events to raise money and awareness for various charities close to her heart, including Cancer Research and the Neuro Foundation, which researches Neurofibromatosis.
Rae was also a Mental Health first aider and was adept at providing a listening ear to students and staff.
Earlier this term, colleagues, friends and family gathered at a memorial event which saw a special bench dedicated in her memory at Exton Park.
Paul Taylor, Head of Social and Political Science, said: “Rae was a very caring, social person and the Department will aim to continue our work with Rae’s example of helping others, in our minds.”
Latest from the Staff Association
Walking:
Sunday, December 11 2022 Christmas Walk and Meal – Loggerheads Country Park - C Grade
Golf:
Players competed for the coveted Claret Jug trophy on Friday October 14. The players ranged from beginners to semi-seasoned pros. This will be an annual tournament and the Association will try to pick challenging courses for its players. If you’re interested in being notified of any future events, please email Paul Fletcher on p.fletcher@chester.ac.uk
Christmas Party:
The Association is really pleased to announce the Staff Christmas Party will be making a welcome return on Friday, December 16 in The Bar at Exton Park. Tickets will be £10 per person and posters advertising the event will be distributed over the next few weeks. Make sure you put the date in your diaries!
Theatre trips and other events are also being planned. Please see the link below for details when confirmed: https://portal1.chester.ac.uk/staffassociation/Pages/ default.aspx
Events are open to ALL staff – there’s no joining involved. Please contact Deslie Bailey d.bailey@ chester.ac.uk or Paul Fletcher p.fletcher@chester.ac.uk for more information or if you are interested in joining the team. THE Staff Association team is busy and excited to be arranging events again now that it is able to do so. Here’s an update on what they have been up to and some exciting things to look forward to.
The group’s first walk since the pandemic took place in October 2021 around Frodsham and Helsby Hills. It was so good to see everyone in real life and not on the screen. Walks around Llangollen, Halkyn and Delamere Forest followed but, unfortunately, the annual Sunset on Snowdon walk had to be cancelled due to bad weather.
In June Deslie, Dennis Holman and Dr Helen Southall took part in the Hospice of the Good Shepherd’s Sparkle Walk to raise money in memory of our dear friend Rachael “Rae” Bate, who is sadly missed, and that of Dennis’ wife, Jan. The Staff Association has also arranged for a University rose to be planted near Critchley in Rae’s memory.
Deslie Bailey, Dr Helen Southall and Dennis Holman.
July saw the retirement presentation for Professor David Balsamo, after 31 years at the University. There have been several other members of staff who have retired but not wanted a formal presentation and a gift/ donation and flowers have been provided on their behalf.
From Frank Sinatra to Fyre Festival - new book looks at events mismanagement
FROM the over-promising of global music festivals and concerts to motor racing safety failures - a new book co-edited by a Chester academic is looking at what can be learned from the mistakes made in managing events.
Using case studies including the notorious 2017 Fyre Festival, a 1984 concert by Frank Sinatra that did not go to plan and the 2018 Macau Grand Prix, Events Mismanagement examines events from the viewpoint of how and why they fail and what can be taken from this.
Bringing together a range of expert insights, contributors discuss how core planning theory and concepts fail to emerge in practice and the reasons for this, how to improve practice through learning about event failure, how to avoid risks, and reduce the chance of events failing so they can be safer and successful.
Each chapter looks at different aspects of events mismanagement, exploring a wealth of international examples from music and sporting events to product launches and community and corporate events, with the case study approach offering a consistent thread and links throughout the text.
Lead Editor, Dr Tim Brown is Programme Leader and Senior Lecturer for Events Management, and Senior University Teaching Fellow, at the University of Chester’s Business School.
Joining him in the editing role is Phil Higson, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and former Head of Tourism and Events Management at the University of Chester Business School, and Lindsey Gaston, Senior Lecturer in Events Management at Liverpool John Moores University.
The book also highlights the rising stakes and expectations, with the events industry in the UK alone estimated to contribute more than £70 billion in direct spend, accounting for over 50% of the UK visitor economy (BVEP, 2020).
Tim, who also co-authors a chapter on free-toattend events, said: “It could be argued that learning from mistakes is the most fundamental type of learning we have all used, as we grow and develop. Therefore, this book embraces this core ideology of ‘learning from failure’, and is concerned with events mismanagement, as opposed to events management - of which there is an abundance of excellent books, articles, and papers. It aims to bring a new perspective to understand how to overcome the issues and reduce the likelihood of failure in the future.”
For further information on Events Mismanagement, please visit:
Events Mismanagement: Learning from failure - Goodfellow Publishers
Dr Tim Brown.
Time-freezing photos capture dance troupe’s sparkle
Image by Stephanie Wynne @McCoy Wynne.
IN the early 1990s, Art and Design Lecturer, Stephen Clarke was teaching photography at a sixth form college on the south coast of England. When one of his students decided to make promotional photographs of a local dance troupe, Stephen took the opportunity to document the proceedings and capture a more informal set of images.
Stephen said: “These black-andwhite photographs were not meant as promotional material, instead the pictures show a behind-the scenes tableaux as the dancers get in to position for poses.”
The photographs of the Hampshire-based dance troupe, called Bezique, have laid dormant in a portfolio for 30 years, along with additional pictures in Stephen’s negative files. They have remained unpublished until now and have not been exhibited.
Stephen added: “They represent a moment in time. Three decades on, the glitter and glamour of that moment may be gone, and what remains is the memory.”
The project has been picked up by the independent photobook publisher, Fistful of Books, based on the Wirral. The photographs have been released as a book titled All that Glitters. Stephen gave the publisher licence to be playful with his photographs - so the images have been colour-tinted and solarised to add to the glamour of the subject.
The spiral-bound book was launched at the Bristol Photobook Festival in October, and more details are available here.
The book complements work that Stephen exhibited at the University’s Contemporary Art Space Chester (CASC) gallery during the summer, as part of the exhibition, ‘Emerge’.
Stephen exhibited collages he has made, since the early 1980s, from sellotape, glossy magazines and paperbacks, influenced by the Punk processes of the 1970s.
He said: “My collages incorporate fragments of images and pieces of text that are melded into a new image, usually a female mannequin that acts as a contorted anagram of the glamour model. Over the years, my collages have become more refined, less abrasive and more ambiguous.”
The collages have been exhibited at numerous venues around Britain, and locally, including being selected on several occasions for the Grosvenor Museum’s Open Art Exhibition in Chester.
Talk and TV appearance remember East German anti-communist uprising
PRESERVING the memory of an uprising against the communist regime in 1950s East Germany has led to a University academic speaking in a city which was one of the main centres of the unrest and featuring on its regional TV.
Dr Richard Millington, Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for German, presented a public lecture at Magdeburg City Hall on ‘The Collective Memory of the Magdeburg Uprising of 17 June 1953’, after being invited by the head of the City Archive. The lecture was recorded by the independent TV station Offener Kanal Magdeburg and broadcast in the summer.
Among the audience were eyewitnesses who revealed their experiences of the day. Presented in German, it shared some of Richard’s extensive research, and was part of the Archive’s summer seminar series of lectures on the history of the city.
Richard said: “On 17 June 1953, more than 500,000 people protested in East Germany against the communist regime. Magdeburg was a centre of the uprising and a particular flashpoint - several police officers and demonstrators were killed in exchanges of gunfire. The uprising ended in the afternoon of June 17, 1953, when Soviet tanks and troops arrived to break up the demonstrations and restore order.
“In 2008, I spent 10 months in Magdeburg interviewing people who had witnessed or taken part in the demonstrations. I also conducted archival research into how the uprising was remembered by ordinary people in the city in later years. Dr Richard Millington.
“It was a great honour for me to be able to present my research to the people of the city. They had helped me so much throughout my project, so it was nice to be able to give something back to them. The response was very positive and it was fascinating after my talk to hear people, one after the other, say ‘I was there and this is what I remember’.”
He added: “The uprising of 17 June 1953 marks a turning point in East German history. The state had only been founded four years prior to the unrest, and the protests showed that ordinary people had had enough of the repression of the regime. After the uprising, however, the government cracked down hard. One of its main measures was to expand its political security service - the Stasi - exponentially. In later decades, this would lead to a society of mass surveillance, with one Stasi informer for approximately every 100 citizens.”
The lecture is available to watch here.
Richard has worked in the Department of Languages and Cultures at the University since 2012. His published work includes State, Society and Memories of the Uprising of 17 June 1953 in the GDR (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014)
Bees roll balls and match colours in new research
BEES have been trained to roll a ball to a goal matching its colour, as part of research seeking to gain a better understanding of the ability of insects to learn and reason.
Through ball-rolling tasks, Dr Pizza Chow, from the University of Chester’s School of Psychology, and experts from the Ecology and Genetics Research Unit at the University of Oulu, Finland, have highlighted that the right choice of stimuli is paramount, to discover more about the extent to which invertebrates possess aspects of ‘higher’ cognition. These aspects include tool selection, concept learning and causal reasoning, that are comparable to those of humans.
With the footballing skills of the human species in focus for the World Cup, the research on buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) in the ball-rolling tool selection tasks has been published in the international journal, iScience.
The bees’ performance was assessed on a platform including three lanes, with the lanes being connected at a central point - ‘the goal’ - and a bordering wall.
Balls of different colours were placed at each end of a different lane. To successfully complete the training, the bee needed to select the ball that matched the platform’s colour and move it to the goal, to be rewarded with a sucrose solution using a syringe. If the bee did not successfully perform the task, a model bumblebee was used to demonstrate how to obtain the reward.
The research found that the colours chosen in the tasks affected the performance of the bees. Therefore, while historically, it has been thought that a small brain and short life limit cognitive abilities, and more recent studies have shown that invertebrates, such as bees, exhibit remarkable performance in some cognitive tasks, the new research has shown that the views of invertebrate cognition to date may have been biased by the choice of stimuli.
Bees trained with blue-and-yellow colours took fewer training bouts to make a match than those trained with yellow-and-orange/red colours. When assessing the bees’ concept learning in a follow-up transfer test with a new colour, the bees trained initially with blue-and-yellow (novel colour: orange/red) were highly successful. Those trained with yellow-and-orange/red (novel colour: blue) failed the test. Bees trained with blue-and-orange/red (novel colour: yellow) did not differ from random results.
These colours are within the perceptual range of bumblebees’ trichromatic colour vision system. However, as perceived by the human eye, blue has been shown to be the innate preferred colour of most bumblebee populations and red, as perceived by the human eye, appears as dark shades to bees and thus is a more difficult colour for them to perceive. Yellow can be well-perceived and bees are likely to perceive orange/red as dark shades.
Pizza, the lead author, whose research focus is the evolution of cognition, said: “Our findings affect our practice in doing good science: we should diversify stimuli that we use in experiments, if we want to draw robust conclusions when studying animal cognition.
“It is important to increase our understanding of insects’ behaviour and minds so that we can help them in terms of conservation and more. In this case, it is bees because their populations have significantly decreased in recent years.”
Associate Professor Olli Loukola, the project leader, from the Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, University of Oulu, Finland, said: “It’s surprising how complex rules the bumblebees learn in the ball-rolling task. Even more amazing is how much the differences in training affect their performance in the generalisation task.”
He continued: “Determining the cognitive capabilities of insects and what factors contribute to their differences is vital for understanding our own intelligence, how cognition has evolved, and how we approach policies and activities that influence one of the most diverse and abundant groups of animals on the planet.”
To read the paper, also contributed to by Dr Topi Lehtonen and Ville Näreaho, Prior associations affect bumblebees’ generalization performance in a toolselection task, in full, please visit here.
You can also watch a short video of a bee completing the ball-rolling task here.
Ensuring the efficiency of wind turbines
SCIENTISTS at the University are partnering with industry leaders on a new robotic way to maintain wind turbines to ensure their efficiency.
With the world looking towards ‘greener’ methods of creating energy, harnessing the power of wind has become increasingly popular.
The University’s Chester Smart Materials Centre (CHESMAC), based within the Faculty of Science and Engineering, is the only academic partner in the ROMAIN (Robotics Operation and Maintenance) project, an EUfunded initiative for three years to develop a roboticbased inspection and repair system for wind turbine blades both offshore and onshore.
Wind turbines operate for between 20 to 25 years once they are installed and maintenance is essential to ensure they are operating effectively for both environmental and economic benefit. The project covers different research areas with industrial partners from the UK and EU countries including composite damage detection and monitoring, composite material welding, characterisation and assessment, robotics system, Artificial Intelligence modelling and wind farm and energy development.
The project is co-ordinated by EDP Labelec - Estudos, Desenvolvimento e Actividades Laboratoriais SA (Portugal) and involving Alerion Technologies S.L.(Spain), Front Technologies Ltd (UK), Rope Robotics ApS (Denmark), Fundación Tecnalia Research & Innovation (Spain) with together on the project with the University of Chester’s team led by Professor Yu Shi.
Yu’s team will develop the rapid welding technology for the composite repair for onshore and offshore wind turbine blades and design and integration with the robotic system with project partners. When repairs are detected and required, the robotic will be deployed to repair the faulty area of composite components. The aim of this maintenance work is to lower the bills for using wind energy and alleviate the energy crisis by introducing more sustainable energy.
Yu is a Research Professor of Smart Composite Structure and Director of the Chester Smart Materials Centre (CHESMAC), an innovative hub to explore and develop the multifunctional materials for future industrial applications with the aim of building smarter, sustainable, self-powered autonomous systems, achieving extended life cycles and contributing to zero carbon emissions.
Yu said: “I am extremely proud that the University of Chester has been selected to be part of this consortium and I look forward to working with our industry partners on this exciting development. This research aligns with our university’s research strategy on clean energy and sustainability. We are very exciting to be the only academic partner involved in this project to contribute our composite processing and assessment capability to further develop the robotic repair system for wind turbine blades. The project will aim to make wind power even more efficient in the future with further reduced costs of maintenance to make wind energy more affordable to the UK and EU citizens. This will significantly help to tackle the energy crisis and reduce the UK and EU residents’ energy bills.”
For more details of project, please watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub9Zq_9YhcQ
For more information visit: www.projectromain.org
UNIVERSITY Centre Shrewsbury’s newest graduates gathered with their family, friends and tutors to celebrate their achievements in the beautiful and historic surroundings of St Chad’s Church.
Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Eunice Simmons, presented the undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and awards at the graduation ceremony on September 22.
More than 100 graduands received awards after 180 enjoyed celebrations at St Chad’s, in the heart of Shrewsbury, in February - the first in-person ceremonies since before the pandemic.
Professor Simmons said: “Graduation ceremonies are a highlight of the academic year. Each is a testament to all the hard work and dedication of our graduands - and a wonderful occasion for them all, their families, and everyone who has supported them in their achievements.”
Head of University Centre Shrewsbury (UCS), Professor Paul Johnson, said: “I am extremely proud of our students, our partnerships, and the contribution our students have made, and that our graduates will go on to make.”
Kimberley Jordan, who graduated with a degree in Medical Genetics and gave a speech at the ceremony, added: “I will always cherish the life-long friendships and memories I have made at UCS.
“The support I received from my friends, lecturers, the wider University, and of course my parents, has helped me tremendously in achieving a first-class honours degree, and now furthering my studies with a Master’s degree.
“We have been provided with many opportunities at UCS to make friends and cement these friendships, to participate in events that would further develop our interpersonal skills, and help us carry these skills forward into our professional lives. “We were only in our first year when COVID hit but we were given the help we needed which made the difficulties so much easier - and I would like to take this opportunity to say ‘thank you’ for all the support I have received.
“It has been an honour to celebrate with everyone, share a speech at our graduation ceremony and wish everyone all the best in their future endeavours.”
