News: October 2018

Shining a light on robot technology - Dr Maziar Nezhad wins sought after EPSRC Fellowship to develop micro-robots powered by light

Dr Maziar Nezhad of Bangor University and PI to NRN Project 105 has been awarded an Innovation Fellowship from EPSRC.

Publication date: 30 October 2018

Bangor University receives two Athena SWAN awards

Bangor University is delighted to announce that the recent Athena SWAN application for an Institution-level Bronze Award has been successful. Furthermore, the School of Ocean Sciences’ application for a department-level Bronze award was also successful. These awards recognise the university's commitment to tackling gender inequality in higher education.

Publication date: 25 October 2018

Prepare to be amazed by specimen collections at Brambell Natural History Museum

Brambell Natural History Museum, Bangor University will be joining museums from across the country for this year’s Welsh Museums Festival, which will be taking place from 27 October – 4 November. This wonderful annual event is an opportunity for everyone who lives in Wales, or visiting over the half term, to engage with and explore the fantastic museums we have across Wales. As ever, this year’s event will have a varied programme of events to cater for all tastes, which include exhibitions, re-enactments and workshops, through to Halloween themed activities.

Publication date: 24 October 2018

Harvesting environmental data with an app

Cambodia has one of the most rapidly developing economies on earth. The country is moving from a rural to an industrial and urban economy at great speed, but its government is also eager to be sustainable and not to lose valuable reserves of natural resources, in its drive to develop. New research by social and environmental scientists at Bangor University, (Wales, UK); New York University (USA) and a Cambodian NGO, Keosothea Nou (Society for Community Development, Cambodia), one of 13 new projects funded under the ESRC Transformative research call, will provide an overall snapshot of the country’s environmental resources, and how they are used by different individuals. This information will help the government to develop sustainable policies for the energetic country.

Publication date: 23 October 2018

More in depth data is required to reveal the true global footprint of fishing

There has been a lot of debate recently on the extent of the global fishing footprint. A recent paper claimed that fishing affects 55% of the world’s oceans. Given that many people in the developing world rely on fish as their main source of protein, and the increasing preference for luxury fish products in countries such as China, such statistics might seem plausible. This article by Michel Kaiser , Honorary Professor, School of Ocean Sciences , is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .

Publication date: 23 October 2018

Edible crabs won't cope with the effects of climate change on seawater – new study

We are only just beginning to learn how aquatic organisms will respond to climate change, and the effect that this will have on their communities and ecosystems. One way to find out more is to look at whether species will be able to compensate for changes in their environment. Particularly if they can survive any immediate fluctuations in temperature, and reductions in ocean pH brought about by increasing levels of atmospheric CO₂. This article by Nia Whiteley , Reader in Zoology (Aquatic), at the School of Natural Sciences is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .

Publication date: 23 October 2018

We tracked coral feeding habits from space to find out which reefs could be more resilient

Coral reefs are an invaluable source of food, economic revenue, and protection for millions of people worldwide . The three-dimensional structures built by corals also provide nourishment and shelter for over a quarter of all marine organisms . i,But coral populations are threatened by a multitude of local and global stressors. Rising ocean temperatures are disrupting the 210m-year-old symbiosis between corals and microscopic algae. When temperatures rise, the coral animal becomes stressed and expels its algal partners, in a process known as coral bleaching. This article by Michael D. Fox , Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California San Diego ; Andrew Frederick Johnson , Researcher at Scripps Insitution of Oceanography & Director of MarFishEco, University of California San Diego , and Gareth J. Williams , Lecturer, Marine Biology , Bangor University is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .

Publication date: 22 October 2018

Scientists can now predict coral feeding habits from space

New research has revealed that tropical corals living in more productive waters take advantage of the increased food availability and that these feeding habits can be predicted from satellites orbiting our planet.

Publication date: 18 October 2018

Opening of new Bangor University biotechnology research centre

A research centre that will discover new enzymes with the potential to transform the efficiency of biotechnology industries has just been opened in the presence of research scientists from across Europe, industry representatives and officials from the Welsh Government.

Publication date: 16 October 2018

Prestigious International Fellowship for promising young researcher

A post-doctoral researcher at Bangor University’s School of Natural Sciences , has been awarded a prestigious European Commission Horizon2020 funded Marie Sklodowska Curie Global Fellowship . The fellowship, which allows for international mobility and knowledge exchange will enable Dr Karina Marsden of Bethesda to spend two years working in The University of Melbourne, Australia, before returning to Bangor University for the final year of her research project. It was awarded following a successful joint application by Bangor and Melbourne universities.

Publication date: 15 October 2018

Are electric fences really the best way to solve human-elephant land conflicts?

Conflict between humans and elephants has reached a crisis point in Kenya. As the elephants have begun to regularly raid farms in search of food, it has become not uncommon for local people to attack and kill them in retaliation. Between 2013 and 2016 , 1,700 crop raiding incidents, 40 human deaths and 300 injuries caused by wildlife were reported in the Kajiado district alone. This article by Liudmila Osipova , PhD Researcher, Bangor University is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .

Publication date: 12 October 2018

Bangor University student reaches semi-finals of national business competition

A forestry student from Bangor University has reached the semi-finals of a national business competition run by a charity that supports student and graduate entrepreneurs. Jemima Letts, 21, has been shortlisted in the Tata Social Impact category for her business Tree Sparks , a social enterprise aiming to ignite conversation within 15-19 year olds about environmental awareness, as well as highlight that jobs within the environmental sector are viable for young people.

Publication date: 11 October 2018

High-res data offer most detailed look yet at trawl fishing footprint around the world

About a quarter of the world's seafood caught in the ocean comes from bottom trawling, a method that involves towing a net along the seabed on continental shelves and slopes to catch shrimp, cod, rockfish, sole and other kinds of bottom-dwelling fish and shellfish. The technique impacts these seafloor ecosystems, because other marine life and habitats can be unintentionally killed or disturbed as nets pass across the seafloor. A new analysis that uses high-resolution data for 24 ocean regions in Africa, Europe, North and South America and Australasia shows that only 14 percent of the overall seafloor shallower than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) is trawled. Most trawl fishing happens in this depth range along continental shelves and slopes in the world's oceans. The study focused on this depth range, covering an area of about 7.8 million square kilometers of ocean.

Publication date: 9 October 2018

Tanzania to adopt new policies to safeguard fish stocks

The Tanzanian Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries is to adopt recommendations for conserving the unique genetic diversity of tilapia for food security. The recommendations are based on the findings of research led by Prof George Turner at Bangor University's School of Natural Sciences , in collaboration with colleagues at Bristol University, the Earlham Institute at Norwich and at the Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute (Tafiri), funded by the Royal Society, the Leverhulme Trust, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Publication date: 8 October 2018

Tree Sparks goes from strength to strength

An eco-awareness company set-up by a Forestry student following a period of ill-health has been given a seal of approval from an influential business network in the region.

Publication date: 4 October 2018