Welcome to the Summer Issue of News Bites from the College of Science where you can find out some of the latest news and events. For more information about the College of Science visit www.swan.ac.uk/science

STUDENT ACTIVITIES / STUDENTS IN THE NEWS

Swansea physics students experience CERN

Student success for Robyn Lock and Olivia Fox

Antimatter matters!

Earlier this year, forty Swansea physics students, visited the world renowned CERN facilities in Geneva, where discoveries such as the Higgs Boson particle have been made. 

The whole trip was organised through the physics society with the assistance of members of the physics staff.

The visit included a tour, of the ALPHA experiment where Swansea staff and alumni work year round. ALPHA is an international collaboration based at CERN whose aim is stable trapping of antihydrogen atoms, the antimatter counterpart of the simplest atom, hydrogen.

Best friends Robyn Lock and Olivia Fox graduated together this summer after they both battled the same illness while studying for their degrees. They began their Marine Biology degrees in 2012 and immediately became best friends and were always very keen to learn.

During the course of their studies, both Robyn and Olivia were diagnosed with similar rare forms of cancer at different times, causing both of them to have to suspend their studies while they undertook treatment.

Their strength and dedication has been remarkable. Their treatment was quite harrowing, causing them both to lose all of their hair and feel quite unwell. Despite this they were committed to their studies, they returned to complete their third year and have both just graduated with a high 2:1 and exactly the same overall mark. Congratulations to them both!

Final year PhD physics student Steven Armstrong Jones and Post Doctoral Research Assistant Dan Maxwell took part in the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition ‘Antimatter Matters’. 

The exhibition looks at science’s biggest questions - why we live in a Universe made of matter, rather than a Universe with no matter at all?

The behaviour of antimatter, a rare oppositely charged counterpart to normal matter, is thought to be key to understanding this question – but the nature of antimatter is a mystery. Scientists use data from the ALPHA and LHCb experiment at CERN to study antiparticles and antiatoms in order to learn more about it.

Quantum Advisory Prize for the most original contribution to Mathematics

Alissa Alicherova Kamilova, originally from Bulgaria but more recently living in Mexico, is the first recipient of the ‘Quantum Advisory Prize for the most original contribution to Mathematics’ of £1000 donated by Quantum Advisory, Cardiff, the Actuaries and Employee Benefit Consultants. Congratulations Alissa!

Geography students visit Vancouver

The Physics Society wins award

Second-year field courses in Geography again included Vancouver as a destination in March and early April, this year with more students than ever.  48 students studied aspects of the physical and human geography of Vancouver and south-west British Columbia, accompanied by Kevin Rees, Geraint Owen, Kath Ficken, Suzanne Bevan and Hilary Carberry, with support in Canada from the Geological Survey of Canada, local film studios and tourist attractions, and geographers from University of British Columbia.

At the Annual Swansea Employability Academy (SEA) Awards dinner, the Physics society won an award for its partnership with the Physics Department in organising a Physics employability afternoon.  The PhySoc organisation and advertising of the event made it one of the most successful Physics-focussed employability events to-date, with the attendance of over 100 students.

The PhySoc has also been recognised at the Annual Student Union Awards where the award of ‘highly commended’ in relation to most improved society was given.

Pollination expert invited to workshop

Adam Powell wins subject rep of the year!

Biosciences graduate has paper published

Biosciences PhD student Andrew Lucas was invited as one of a limited number of pollination experts to a elicitation workshop. The workshop was covered by the local midlands BBC news but has also been featured in the BBC radio 4 farming Today programme.

Adam, a 2nd year physics student, has been praised for his work as a student representative.  Whilst juggling this role, Adam has also been President of PhySoc and also continues in that role next year with a new and committed team. Well done Adam!

Chris Dowle, our recent Biosciences undergraduate student has had his third year literature review accepted for publication in Bioscience Horizons, a journal run by Oxford University Press. Many congratulations Chris!

Success for final year physics student!

Congratulations to final year BSc student Sri Potturi who has succeeded in gaining both gold and platinum awards in the Swansea Employability HEAR Scheme. Well done Sri!

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & OUTREACH ACTIVITIES

Teachers get hands-on with new BBC micro:bit at Technocamps workshop

Super Science Sunday success!

GEOFEST 2016

Up to one million BBC micro:bits have been delivered free to every year 7 student in England and Wales. The device, which is part of the BBC’s Make It Digital project, was showcased at a launch event at Swansea University through its Technocamps project.

Teachers from across South Wales were given an insight into how the handheld computer can be introduced into the classroom to provide Year 7 pupils with a tangible, engaging and enjoyable experience to begin their coding journey.

The BBC micro:bit is a pocket-sized codeable computer that allows young people to get creative with technology, whatever their level of experience, and aims to help develop a new generation of digital pioneers. 

The College of Science took its research out into the community to engage in science activities with families as part of its Super Science Sunday event for British Science Week.  A range of fun activities were on offer at the National Waterfront Museum, including animal adaptations, mighty mussels experiment, robotics and marine biology.

Primary school pupils from across Swansea were also treated to a tour of the University research vessel, the RV Noctiluca, where they got to explore the variety of beasties that live in the waters around Swansea Bay.

Geofest 2016 was a 2-week festival of walks and talks in late May and early June, held in the Fforest Fawr Geopark, a member of the recently designated UNESCO Global Geopark network.

Geraint Owen (Geography) led two guided walks, exploring limestone landscapes near Ystradfellte and the legacy of limestone quarrying in the Black Mountain, and gave a talk at the Brynaman Black Mountain Centre entitled ‘Rock of Ages: geology and landscape in the Fforest Fawr Geopark.’

The events were well attended by young and old, locals and visitors, and the walks in particular benefited from glorious weather.

Students celebrate women in Mathematics

College of Science hosts Geographical Association events

The Further Maths Support Programme Wales and the College of Science held an exciting conference on 15th March 2016 at Swansea University entitled ‘Celebrating Women in Mathematics’.

The event, organised as part of the British Science Week, was dedicated to celebrating women who have made significant contributions to Maths, Science and Engineering.

The conference showed both contemporary and historic examples of women who have made great progress in what is sometimes seen as a field dominated by men.

The College has recently hosted several events of the Swansea and District Geographical Association, part of a national organisation of geography teachers.

In December Geraint Owen (Geography) gave a talk at the university for GCSE and A level pupils on society’s response to living with natural hazards.  In April the annual Worldwise Quiz was held in the Wallace Building and won by Maesydderwen School, who now proceed to a national competition.

In May about 15 teachers attended a CPD event for training in online mapping resources suitable for a range of key stages, delivered by a representative from Ordnance Survey.  Finally, in early June, WJEC subject representative Nicky King held a networking and resource-sharing afternoon event focussed around changes to the WJEC curriculum which was attended by 12 teachers, several of whom are themselves Swansea Geography graduates.

Technoteach: Computer Science teachers rewarded for their success

Rhian Meara at the Eisteddfod

Students attend a pre-CERN workshop at Swansea

Thirteen teachers from across South Wales have become the first cohort of learners to successfully achieve the (QCF) Level 3 Certificate of Computing for Teachers as part of the year-long Technoteach CPD programme at Swansea University.

The training is part of the University’s successful Technocamps programme and has been funded by the National Science Academy through the Welsh Government to up-skill teachers to become confident and competent to deliver the computer science curriculum, as well as support the introduction of the Digital Competence Framework.

Dr Rhian Meara of the Department of Geography was interviewed by S4C about teaching children to sing the song “hey Mr Urdd” in British Sign Language during the Eisteddfod.

Rhian was also interviewed by Radio Cymru’s Taro’r Post show to discuss the BSL Scotland Act here (23 seconds in) alongside the Children’s Commissioner for Wales.

Dr Aled Isaac, Department of Physics, was also interviewed by S4C in the GwyddonLe. 

Pupils from Cyfarthfa High School attended the event in March in preparation for their once in a lifetime trip to CERN.

Pupils were able to take part part in lectures and hands-on demonstrations on the fundamentals of particle physics by Swansea Physics lecturers so that they could make the most of their amazing CERN experience - a once in a lifetime opportunity!

Scratching the surface at Pontarddulais

Geraint Owen (Geography) gave a talk earlier in the year at Pontarddulais Public Library on Scratching the Surface: geology and landscape in Pontarddulais.  This provided the geological background to a series of leaflets explaining and interpreting geology and landscape along short walks in rural areas of Swansea, which were the outcome of a project undertaken with Siwan Davies (Geography) and funded through City and County of Swansea’s Rural Development Business Plan, by the Welsh Assembly Government and European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. 

In early June Geraint led an enthusiastic group of Pontarddulais residents around one of the walks, looking at coal-bearing rocks and evidence of coal mining at Cefn Drum, north of Pontarddulais.  The event was successful, leading to an understanding of the geological setting of Pontarddulais within the South Wales Coalfield.  Some superb plant fossils were found amongst the waste material from the old Graig Merthyr colliery and the participants went away keen to explore more of the countryside from a geological point of view.

RESEARCH IN THE NEWS

EarthChar collaboration leads to first accredited Biochar product on UK market

Tiny microbes engineer own environment!

Ocean warming primary cause of Antarctic Peninsula glacier retreat

Researchers from Swansea University joined forces with Commons Vision Ltd to launch EarthChar, the UK’s first accredited biochar product, at the recent Low Carbon Swansea event, which was hosted by the Down to Earth Project.

Professor Alayne Street-Perrott, who is instrumental in leading Swansea University’s Biochar Research Team in the College of Science, said: “Our research, published in Nature Communications in 2010, showed that production and development of sustainable biochar could play a significant role in slowing global warming.

“Our team has worked very hard in partnership with Commons Vision to demonstrate the practical value of the approach, and we congratulate the company on this tremendous achievement.”

Coccolithophorids are minute planktonic microbes that drift with the ocean current. Though tiny, their presence back through geological time is evident the world over in the form of vast limestone deposits, including the white cliffs of Dover. New research has concluded that these tiny organisms are bioengineering their immediate environment in order to enhance their growth.

The research is published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B by a group of scientists, led by Professor Kevin Flynn from the College of Science at Swansea University, with colleagues from Plymouth Marine Laboratory and the Marine Biological Association.

A new study has found for the first time that ocean warming is the primary cause of retreat of glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula. The Peninsula is one of the largest current contributors to sea-level rise and this new finding will enable researchers to make better predictions of ice loss from this region.

Dr Alison Cook, who led the work at Swansea University, said:  “Scientists know that ocean warming is affecting large glaciers elsewhere on the continent, but thought that atmospheric temperatures were the primary cause of all glacier changes on the Peninsula. We now know that’s not the case."

Professor Faron Moller elected Fellow of Learned Society of Wales

Professor Stefan Doerr awarded Leverhulme Research Fellowship

Professor Faron Moller, Department of Computer Science, is one of four Swansea University academics to have been elected Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales (LSW).

Election to Fellowship is a public recognition of academic excellence, and LSW Fellowship is keenly competed. Fellows are elected following a rigorous examination of their achievements in their relevant fields.  Fellows assist the Society in its work by serving on its various committees and working groups and by representing us nationally and internationally.

During this prestigious 12-month fellowship, Professor Doerr, Department of Geography, will focus on identifying and mitigating the risk of water supply contamination resulting from wildfire in the UK, North America and Australia.

Water supply reservoirs are often located in fire prone upland areas and the highly erodible ash formed during fire can be a major threat to water quality.  The recent fires around Fort McMurray in Canada, for example, are now posing a serious threat to the sole water supply of the city.

Raiding baboons find loophole in management strategy

Professor Siwan Davies presents new series on climate change

Research as Art Competition 2016

Scientists from Swansea University are part of an international team who have shown how canny baboons living on the edge of Cape Town, South Africa, are occasionally able to get around the management strategies put in place to prevent them raiding the urban environment.

The documentary Her yr Hinsawdd, by the production company Telesgop, started on S4C on Tuesday 5th July. The series follows Professor Siwan Davies's personal journey to discover what is truly happening to our planet's climate.

Two entries from Biosciences were among the winners of this year’s Research as Art competition.

'From anonymity to personality' by Gaelle Fehlmann is a composition of field drawings of baboons illustrating subtle differences between individuals. It was one of five winning entries and got the award for "Connection with the natural world”.

Ruth Callaway’s visualisation of the fauna of Swansea Bay in ‘Mondrian meets marine biodiversity' was among nine runner-up entries.

Novel disease controls in aquaculture to deliver poverty reduction

Swansea University has been successful in attracting over £2m funding, as part of a consortium of nine research institutes and universities in India, the UK and Bangladesh, to alleviate poverty within poor farming communities in Bangladesh and India by controlling disease risk in fish and crustacean aquaculture.

New research project seeks to restore river connectivity

Scientists discover reason behind extreme global carbon cycle sink event

Swansea University is leading AMBER (Adaptive Management of Barriers in European Rivers), a 6.2 million Euro multi-disciplinary research project that will deliver the first comprehensive Atlas of river barriers across Europe and will apply adaptive barrier management to reconnect Europe’s rivers.

Professor Carlos Garcia de Leaniz, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Research said ‘Solutions for better barrier management are urgently required across Europe because many rivers are becoming increasingly fragmented due to water abstraction compounded by climate change.’

Dr Natascha Kljun from the College of Science is one of the co-authors of a report published on Nature.com that identifies the event that has caused a momentous change in global water and carbon cycles.

Dr Kljun explained: “In 2011, one of the most notable events occurred in global water and carbon cycles: ocean levels dropped by 5mm, reversing a long-term increasing trend, and carbon uptake by vegetation resulted in an enormous global land carbon sink."

“Working with a team from Australia (the University of Technology, Sydney and Flinders University, Adelaide) we have found how this event was driven by a rare superimposition of three ocean-atmosphere systems: the El Niño-Southern Oscillation in the tropical Pacific Ocean; the Indian Ocean dipole in the tropical Indian Ocean, and the southern annular mode in the Southern Ocean."

Misconceptions about trends and impacts of wildfire revealed in new research

New bio-control research could help regulate spread zika

Swansea glaciologists take part in Antarctic discovery

A new analysis of global data related to wildfire, published by the Royal Society, reveals major misconceptions about wildfire and its social and economic impacts.

Prof. Stefan Doerr and Dr Cristina Santin from the College of Science carried out a detailed analysis of global and regional data on fire occurrence, severity and its impacts on society. 

The researchers conclude: “The data available to date do not support a general increase in area burned or in fire severity for many regions of the world.   Indeed there is increasing evidence that there is overall less fire in the landscape today than there has been centuries ago, although the magnitude of this reduction still needs to be examined in more detail.”

New research published by College of Science academics has revealed an effective new bio-control in the form of fungal blastospores which could help to regulate the spread of a range of diseases such as yellow fever, dengue, Chikungunya and more recently, Zika by destroying the mosquitoes that transmit them.

Researchers from the Department of Biosciences, the State University of North Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro, and Adnan Menderes University, Turkey have found that the blastospores of the insect pathogenic Metarhizium brunneum fungus are effective in killing Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae and could be used to control the number and spread of this type of mosquito. 

An international research team led by academics from Aberystwyth and Swansea Universities has published a significant piece of research that sheds new light on one of our greatest natural phenomena. The formation of ice shelves has often been considered to provide important evidence as to how our climate has and will develop. Until recently however it has been extremely difficult to gather valuable data due to the inhospitable landscapes of the ice shelves themselves.

The team of researchers, made up largely from the Welsh universities, organised a drilling expedition to one of the largest ice shelves in the Antarctica known as Larsen C. Working with the logistical support of the British Antarctic Survey, they were able to establish a base on the shelf and carry out the work which provides vital information on the response of ice shelves to a warming climate for current and future research.

Miserable summers linked to random shifts in atlantic storm track

Research led by College of Science academics shows that European summer temperatures can be linked to random changes in the position of the storm track crossing the Atlantic.

Whilst average European temperatures, on the whole, rise and fall in response to climatic forcing factors, such as greenhouse gases, there is another factor that impacts European summer climate strongly - the position of the Atlantic storm track, which varies randomly and could lead to a mixture of cold and wet or warm and dry summers in the future, that we simply cannot predict.

Microalgal biofilms to mitigate acid mine discharges

Steve Skill, of the Department of Biosciences, has won a nationwide competition to find a sustainable solution for acid mine pollution.

Steve has developed a scalable, low cost, passive and sustainable technology solution for acid mine pollution that employs microbial consortia as microalgal biofilms and the system can be deployed in remote mine or spoil heap locations, without requiring civil engineering constructions or utility services.

TEACHING DEVELOPMENTS

College of Science staff receive outstanding teaching award

Congratulations to Dr Geraint Owen, Department of Geography, Dr Neal Harman, Department of Computer Science, and Dr Sean Walton, also from the Department of Computer Science, who were winners of this years' Excellence in Learning and Teaching Awards.

The awards are made annually to members of staff who have made an outstanding contribution to the student learning experience.

OTHER NEWS AND EVENTS

New research centre for Biomathematics launched

Professor Marcus Doel delivers keynote lecture

Professor Tim Hollowood wins prize for best paper

Swansea University has launched its latest new research project – the Centre for Biomathematics.

The Centre, based in the College of Science, provides a cross-community, interdisciplinary focus for experts from across the College of Science and beyond with interests on the interface between mathematics and biology or medicine. Its aim is to foster collaborations which are mutually interesting, leading to new developments in both fields. 

Image: Graph of a 2D probability density function of animal locations.

Professor Marcus Doel (Human Geography) delivered a keynote lecture entitled ‘Strange Cities: For a Desiring-Revolution Whilst Stirring Still’ to the 'Spaces of Desire; Remembrance and Civic Power’ symposium hosted by the School of Geography and Planning, and the Welsh School of Architecture, at Cardiff University, 30th June to 1st July, 2016.

Each year, Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical awards a Best Paper Prize to celebrate and applaud well written papers that make a significant contribution to their field.

This year, Professor Tim Hollowood(Swansea University), J Luis Miramontes (Universidad de Santiago de Compostela) and David M Schmidtt (work completed whilst at Swansea University) have been awarded a JPhysA Best Paper Prize for their article: ‘An integrable deformation of the AdS5 × S5 superstring’.

British Science Festival 2016

In September 2016, one of the UK’s most prestigious events will be hosted by Swansea University. The British Science Festival is Europe’s longest-standing national event which connects people with scientists, engineers, technologists and social scientists. First held (as the inaugural and then annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science) in 1831, the Festival has been the stage for many iconic moments in history, such as the famous debate on Darwin’s controversial theory of evolution between Thomas Huxley and the Bishop of Oxford in 1860. It also saw the first use of the word ‘scientist,’ in 1834. The annual meeting has previously been held in Swansea on four occasions: 1848; 1880; 1971 and 1990, however 2016 will be the first time that Wales has held the Festival in its current format.

Mathematics at Swansea moves up the rankings!

As well as being valued within the University, the Mathematics Department’s standing in the international community has been confirmed with the recent announcement that, yet again, Mathematics has secured a 5-star rating, and top 350 ranking, in the highly selective QS World University Rankings by subject 2015.  This ranks specific subjects in Universities world-wide with an overall score based on academic reputation, employer reputation and research impact.

This achievement is recognition of the excellent international reputation of the Mathematics Department in research, and of the meticulous care that our lecturers show to students and their learning experience.

Swansea Mathematics has also been ranked in the QS Top 25 departments in the UK.

Particle physicists organise two summer conferences

Media's Mapping Impulse

Dr Alla Silkina talks at phycology workshop

This summer, members of the particle physics theory group are involved in the organisation of two major international conferences taking place in the UK.

The 34th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2016) will commence at Southampton University on July 24 and is co-organised by Biagio Lucini (Maths) and Gert Aarts (Physics).

Immediately afterwards, the 14th International workshop on QCD in eXtreme conditions (XQCD 2016) takes place at Plymouth University. This meeting, with over 70 participants, is co-organised by Simon Hands (Physics), with Gert serving on the International Advisory Committee.

 Professors David Clarke and Marcus Doel (Human Geography) participated in the 'Media’s Mapping Impulse’ international symposium held at the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany in June. The symposium brought together 30 scholars from around the world to debate the fraught relationship between cartography, geospatial technologies, and locative media on the one hand, and new and traditional media forms such as social media, mobile apps, television, film, and music, on the other hand.

Dr Alla Silkina successfully presented a talk entitled “Novel production-process technologies for a range of high value pigments from microalgae” at the Phyconet Applied Phycology Workshop. The workshop took place in the 2016 Protistology-UK Spring Meeting between 6-8th April 2016 at Bournemouth University in Dorset.

Mathematics Scholarships available from September 2017

Dr Richard Smith invited to speak in Bogota

The Department of Mathematics plans to offer scholarships worth up to a total of £3000 for students starting their university studies in September 2017. The prizes will be awarded on the basis of a competitive two and a half hour examination to be taken during Spring 2017. If you would like to take the exam, make Swansea one of your choices on your UCAS form. Details of the scholarship exam will be announced here.

In March 2016, 32 students sat the scholarship exam for 2016/2017 entry with five offers made.

Dr Richard Smith, of the Department of Geography, was invited to talk at a conference in Bogota. He presented his latest research “Unravelling control in the global economy” at the National University of Colombia on 12th April.

Science Research Hub

In line with the University’s substantial growth over recent years, departments have been through a restructuring process to ensure seamless operations across both campuses.  As part of the restructure, four new College Research Hubs were established in the summer of 2015 (Arts, Humanities & Law Hub; Bay Hub; Life Science Hub; Science Hub).    

The Science Hub is physically located at College level, supporting the needs of the College of Science.  It is populated by knowledgeable professional services staff from REIS, PSPU & Finance (Procurement) with a wealth of knowledge and experience of working in collaboration with external stakeholders such as business partners and research sponsors.

New home for Department of Mathematics

From September 2018, Mathematics will be moving to the Computational Foundry, a state of the art purpose built facility in the Swansea University Bay Campus that will provide an ideal environment for the professional development and success of researchers and students alike. It will be home to a thriving community of mathematically and computationally minded students who will shape the future of our society.

The move of Mathematics to the Bay Campus reaffirms the central place of the Department in Swansea University's strategy for becoming a Top 200 University world-wide. Mathematics was among the first academic departments to be established in the University, nearly one hundred years ago, and remains among the most important. 

The proximity to Computer Science, Engineering and the School of Management will provide new and exciting opportunities for developing the directions alongside consolidated strengths.

Seaweed farm installed in Pembroke Dock

Geography Professor honoured with special issue of journal

Dr Richard Unsworth invited to speak at National Seagrass Conference of India

This April a brand new seaweed farm was installed in Pembroke Dock by marine biologists from Swansea University.

This new facility is part of the EPSRC funded Macrobiocrude project (Durham University lead; Swansea University PI: Pr. Kevin J. Flynn; Swansea University Project Management: Fleuriane Fernandes). The 100 metre double longline structure will sustain kelp cultivation for the following years and the cultivated biomass will be mainly used for research on ensilage processes, a conservation method of organic material.

Professor Alayne Street-Perrott, of the Department of Geography, has been honoured by former students and current colleagues with the publication of a special issue of the Journal of Quaternary Science.

The issue is entitled ‘Quaternary palaeoenvironmental proxies and processes – papers in honour of Professor Alayne Street-Perrott.’

Dr Richard Unsworth, of the Department of Biosciences, was invited to give a plenary talk this month in new Delhi at the 1st National Seagrass Conference of India.

He spoke about how seagrass meadows provide support for community food security and poverty alleviation throughout the Indo-Pacific region.

For further details on any item reported above, please contact the member of staff concerned, or email Nicola Jones