Sail - Swansea University

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WELCOME TO SAIL, YOUR ALUMNI MAGAZINE 03 04 It’s that time of year again when we update you on the many exciting developments taking place at Swansea University, and give you some highlights of what your fellow alumni are doing now. Firstly, congratulations to our 2011 graduates, and best wishes to you all as you embark on the next stage of your academic or professional journey. As Alumni of Swansea University you are part of a growing global network; we hope you stay in touch and send news of where your course takes you in the coming years. 09 There are challenging times ahead for higher education institutions across the UK, but you can be confident that Swansea University is pushing full steam ahead with its commitment to providing an outstanding student experience, widening access to higher education, delivering career-enhancing programmes of study, implementing campus developments, and maintaining its position as a world-class, research-led institution. 06 We hope you enjoy this new edition of Sail. Your feedback and suggestions for future issues are welcome, and don’t forget to inform us of any change of address so we can keep you up-to-date with all the latest news from Swansea. For further information you can also visit our Alumni Association web pages. Best wishes from Swansea! Sally Thurlow, Alumni Officer 11 12 Swansea’s Tuition Fee plan: putting students first Croeso i Sail, eich cylchgrawn cyn-fyfyriwr Adeg honno’r flwyddyn yw hi unwaith eto lle yr ydym yn rhoi’r wybodaeth ddiweddaraf i chi am y sawl datblygiad cyffrous sy’n digwydd ym Mhrifysgol Abertawe, ac yn rhoi’r uchafbwyntiau i chi o ran beth mae eich cyd gyn-fyfyrwyr yn ei wneud ar hyn o bryd. Yn gyntaf oll, llongyfarchiadau i raddedigion 2011, a dymuniadau gorau i bob un ohonoch wrth i chi gychwyn ar gam nesaf eich gyrfaoedd academaidd neu broffesiynol. Fel cyn-fyfyriwr o Brifysgol Abertawe rydych yn ran o rwydwaith fyd-eang sy’n tyfu drwy’r amser; rydym yn gobeithio y byddwch yn cadw mewn cysylltiad ac yn anfon newyddion atom o ble y mae eich cwrs yn eich arwain yn y blynyddoedd sydd i ddod. Mae sefydliadau addysg uwch ar draws y DU yn wynebu cyfnod heriol, ond gallwch fod yn siŵ r bod Prifysgol Abertawe yn mynd yn ei blaen ar frys gyda’i hymrwymiad i ddarparu profiad myfyriwr rhagorol, ehangu mynediad i addysg uwch, darparu rhaglenni astudio sy’n gwella rhagolygon gyrfaol, gweithredu datblygiadau i’r campws, a chynnal ei safle fel sefydliad o safon fyd-eang a arweinir gan ymchwil. Gobeithiwn y byddwch yn mwynhau’r rhifyn newydd hwn o Sail. Croesewir eich adborth a’ch awgrymiadau ar gyfer rhifynnau’r dyfodol, a pheidiwch ag anghofio rhoi gwybod i ni os ydych yn newid cyfeiriad fel bod modd i ni roi’r newyddion diweddaraf i gyd i chi o Abertawe. Am ragor o wybodaeth gallwch hefyd ymweld â thudalennau gwe Cymdeithas y Cyn-fyfyrwyr. Cofion gorau o Abertawe! Sally Thurlow, Swyddog Cyn-fyfyrwyr contents 02 Research news 04 Swansea means business 06 Campus transformation on the horizon 08 Supporting Swansea students 09 Swansea students to gain global experience 10 Academi Hywel Teifi yn hybu’r iaith Gymraeg yn Abertawe 11 Alumni profile: Penny Roberts 12 Serious about sport! Students are at the heart of what we do; we know that our students value the quality of the learning, teaching, and support they already receive, and we are committed to ensuring that we continue to invest appropriately in the student learning experience. Swansea’s Tuition Fee plan at a glance: • From 2012, Swansea University’s tuition fees will be £9,000 per annum. • No student will be required to pay their tuition fee up-front. • All UK students (including students from Wales) will be entitled to a Tuition Fee Loan paid directly to the University on the student’s behalf to cover the fee charged by their University. • Students from Wales will have the fee increase paid by the Welsh Government wherever they study in the UK. • Tuition fee loans will be deferred until student earnings exceed £21,000 per annum. • Swansea University’s package of support will be worth £1.1 million in 2012/13, rising to £4.2 million per annum by 2015/16, to aid students from households with an annual income of less than £30,000. Further information about the University’s Fee Plan can be found on the website at www.swansea.ac.uk RESEARCH AS ART The cover image shows a picture mosaic of Alan Turing. Alan Turing made some very influential scientific contributions leading to the development of modern computers and computer science. The image, based on an original portrait by D J Rogers, was submitted by Dr Arnold Beckmann, Department of Computer Science for the 2011 Research as Art Competition and won a runner-up prize. The mosaic is made up of hundreds of images reflecting research and activities over recent years where Swansea University computer scientists have played a key role and which have some link to Alan Turing’s work. The pictures, taken from our public website, range from several international conferences hosted by Swansea University, via research activities around the world, to the people who are forming the Department of Computer Science. Next year, 2012, is the centenary of Alan Turing’s birth. www.swansea.ac.uk/alumni Sail – 01
Research news Upping the anti Scientists at CERN in Geneva – including physicists from Swansea University – have succeeded in trapping antimatter atoms for over 16 minutes. The ALPHA (Anti-hydrogen Laser Physics Apparatus) team have created, trapped, and stored antihydrogen atoms long enough to begin to study them in detail. It is the longest time period that antihydrogen has been captured and a significant development on the experiment’s major advance last November, when atoms of antimatter were trapped for the first time. Controlled production of antihydrogen atoms in the laboratory has been possible for nearly a decade, when CERN’s ATHENA project, the first experiment to produce copious amounts of cold antihydrogen, made its first breakthrough. However, all of these anti-atoms were quickly annihilated when they came into contact with matter. This has now changed with the latest ALPHA breakthrough. The Swansea team, led by Professor Mike Charlton, played a major role in both the ATHENA and ALPHA projects. Professor Charlton said: “Our aim is to study antihydrogen, and make detailed comparisons with ordinary hydrogen. Whilst hydrogen is the most abundant element in the Universe, it seems that antihydrogen has only ever been formed in our experiments here on Earth. Why there was no antimatter left when the Universe became cold enough for atoms to form remains a great mystery – and one we hope to shed some light upon.” “This latest development is a huge step towards measurements on antihydrogen and we are planning first experiments for later in the year,” said Swansea University physicist Dr Niels Madsen, who is currently on sabbatical at CERN after winning a prestigious Royal Society Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship. “We have increased the efficiency with which we trap the antihydrogen atoms and held onto some of them for long periods, already increasing our capability several thousand times over what we reported last November.” Professor Mike Charlton Copperworks site link-up seeks to promote industrial heritage Swansea Council is entering into a Memorandum of Understanding with Swansea University and will work with them as a preferred development partner to explore regeneration opportunities for the city’s historic Hafod Copperworks. A feasibility study will explore the potential to preserve and develop the historic buildings on the site, review the masterplan for the site and investigate sources of funding. The Hafod Copperworks site contains 12 Grade II listed buildings and structures, an industrial heritage site of international importance that reflects Swansea’s development over the past 200 years. Professor Huw Bowen, who leads the project team on behalf of the University, said: “Exploring ways of developing the Hafod Copperworks site for the benefit of future generations offers us the chance – perhaps the last chance – of ensuring that visible signs of Swansea’s immensely important industrial achievements are not lost forever. It is now hoped that the heritage-led feasibility study can find ways of maximising the economic, social, and educational potential offered by the Hafod site.” Top right: The Engine Houses on the site of the former Hafod Copperworks site, credit: Huw Bowen Right: Hafod Copperworks 1957, image courtesy of City and County of Swansea Fungus combats Bluetongue disease The University’s College of Science is home to one of the UK’s leading insect mycopathology (insect pest control) teams. Team member Dr Minshad Ali Ansari has recently conducted a study that shows for the first time that a fungus known as Metarhizium anisopliae V275 can effectively kill adult Culicoides (biting midges) in the family of insects that carry Bluetongue Virus (BTV). Bluetongue disease affects sheep and cattle. It has had a major economic impact in European countries in recent years. Control of the disease is becoming more important as the virus is starting to survive further north over winter. This study is particularly timely as new EU directives are encouraging member states to develop integrated pest management programmes which use benign plant protection products. Encouragingly, the efficiency of the fungus was shown to increase when applied to certain substrates such as manure, suggesting success in future field tests. Dr Ansari explained: “Although insecticides have proved effective in killing Culicoides species, they have been harmful to a range of beneficial insects. “As a result, the range of available insecticides has diminished as the chemical-based products are withdrawn from the market – because of the perceived risk to humans and the environment – and farmers face a growing challenge to control the population of biting midges. The fungi can, potentially, be applied cost-effectively to the places where adult midges rest, such as animal housing and livestock, to effectively target known problem areas. The next step is to test the fungus in large-scale field trials with the eventual aim of developing protocols for its simple and economical application in BTV endemic countries.” Healthy adult midges Why the sudden change? Dr Siwan Davies, Senior Lecturer in Geography, has been awarded a prestigious, £1.47 million European Research Council grant to unlock the secrets of past climate change. Microscopic layers of volcanic ash deposited in ancient ice and marine sediments will be examined with the research aiming to answer the key question of whether the ocean drives or merely amplifies atmospheric temperature jumps. Dr Davies said: “Little has challenged our understanding of climate change more than the abruptness with which large-scale jumps in temperature occurred in the past. The causes of these rapid climate changes that saw temperature swings of up to 16°C occurring within a few decades are poorly understood. These climatic events could be related to ocean circulation behaviour, or be triggered by changes in the atmosphere possibly in the tropics. This project will test these opposing possibilities through the analysis of microscopic layers of volcanic ash that have been deposited in ancient ice and marine sediments.” Dr Davies will build a new team who will employ a pioneering approach, using the microscopic traces of ash left from volcanic eruptions to precisely match Greenland ice-cores, which provide a record of atmospheric variability, with North Atlantic marine records, depicting changes in the ocean circulation system. Dr Siwan Davies helping with camp chores during fieldwork in Greenland in 2009: collecting snow to be used for drinking water. In brief Swansea University scientists are working with the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences at Aberystwyth University and collaborators at Bangor University on the £20 million BEACON project, a Welsh Government-funded initiative which aims to pioneer bio-refining using plant material or ‘bio-mass’ to dramatically reduce the world’s dependence on oil. A Coping with destitution report released in February by Oxfam and the University’s Centre for Migration Policy Research, paints a depressing picture of daily life for people seeking asylum in the UK. The report’s lead author, Professor Heaven Crawley, said: “This research gives us a rare insight into what life is like for refused asylum-seekers in the UK and shows that there is a deep-rooted lack of faith in the current system.” The National Geographic Channel’s Great Migrations series was made possible with the expertise of a team of researchers led by the University’s Rory Wilson, Professor of Aquatic Biology. Filming for the series involved using some of the Swansea Smart Tag Group’s revolutionary electronic logging tags, to track and analyse the behaviour of marine animals round the globe. For further information about the world-class research underway at Swansea University, visit www.swansea.ac.uk/research Sail – 02 Sail – 03
Page 1: The Alumni Office Singleton Abbey S
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