Student life in Bangor

Christopher completes a family PhD hat-trick!

Christopher Stiefvater Thomas A Heritage Management graduate has completed a family hat-trick by gaining a PhD from Bangor University.

Christopher Stiefvater-Thomas from Beaumaris pursued his PhD at Bangor’s School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography, studying the historic sites of Amlwch and Parys Mountain and the plans to develop them for tourism.

In gaining his doctorate he has followed in the footsteps of his mother, Dr Patsy Thomas, who works in the University’s academic registry, and his brother Benjamin, who both have PhDs in Chemistry from Bangor.

Christopher’s late father who spent most of his career teaching physical chemistry at Bangor was also the recipient of a Doctorate from Birmingham University.

Describing his graduation, Christopher said, “Overall it is a great feeling. It is a relief to have a PhD myself so that I am not known as the stupid one in the family, even if I am a bit weird for being into history more than chemistry.”

Christopher’s PhD studies were sponsored by the Amlwch Industrial Heritage Trust, who are raising money to conserve the copper mining history of the area, which in the late 18th century was the world’s largest copper mine.

Christopher said, “The research involved studying the market for this kind of tourist attraction and I had to spend a lot of time up Parys Mountain interviewing visitors. I also travelled a great deal across the UK to visit industrial sites that have been turned into tourist attractions, but the best trip was to Sweden to research the Falun Copper mine World Heritage Site.”

Following his graduation, Christopher is now working for Menter Môn on a project to attract tourists to some of Anglesey’s Stone Age and medieval sites. He is also helping to complete the heritage centre at the Sail Loft in Amlwch Port.

He added, “Hopefully I can continue to find work in Heritage Tourism in North Wales and eventually help Anglesey make better use of its historic sites and so contribute to improving the economy."