News: November 2018
Adventure and Beyond: Annual North Wales Tourism Conference, 2018
As thrill seekers head to north Wales, the ‘capital’ of adventure tourism, Bangor University’s Pontio Innovation Centre and Go North Wales, co-host the annual North Wales Tourism conference in Pontio on 6 December. The title of the conference is “Adventure and Beyond”. Keynote speakers are include Lord Ellis- Thomas, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Sport, television presenter, Kate Humble, writer and public speaker, John Thackara as well as Yangtze River Walk adventurer and extreme athlete, Ash Dykes, from North Wales, who will join by video conference.
Publication date: 30 November 2018
Chemsex and PrEP reliance are fuelling a rise in syphilis among men who have sex with men
No one is entirely sure about the origins of syphilis, a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum. The first recorded outbreak in Europe appeared during the 1495 invasion of Naples , where it led to widespread disease and death, particularly among troops on the French side. Later, disbanded armies helped to spread syphilis, the “ great pox ”, across Europe, where the disease rapidly became endemic. Transmitted from person-to-person primarily through sexual contact, the first symptom of syphilis to appear is usually a small, round and painless skin ulcer, referred to as a canker, at the site of infection. This canker will eventually heal and disappear but the bacteria remain, circulating in the blood and potentially leading to severe health consequences , including heart disease, dementia and blindness. This article by Simon Bishop , Lecturer in Public Health and Primary Care, at the School of Health Sciences is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .
Publication date: 30 November 2018
How to help people with dementia retain the power of choice
Deterioration in the ability to produce complex speech or understand what people are asking, can make it difficult for people with dementia to make choices in conventional ways. It can be simple things like deciding which clothes to wear, or what to have for dinner. But when a person is in the more advanced stages of dementia, and may not be able to speak at all, it can be difficult for those caring for them to work out what their preferences would be. To help the estimated 280,000 people with dementia who are living in UK care homes, family members are often asked what their loved ones would prefer and notes are made by staff. But we know that people’s preferences can change, sometimes on a daily basis, and are hard to predict even by people who know them really well. This article by Rebecca Sharp , Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Zoe Lucock , PhD researcher at the School of Psychology is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .
Publication date: 15 November 2018
Transforming education in Wales in partnership with the Welsh Government
Welsh Government has identified the need to recruit and retain inspirational leaders in order to deliver its educational mission. As a result, a clear pathway for developing leadership from middle leaders to executive headteachers has been devised. Bangor University and University Wales Trinity Saint David’s (Yr Athrofa) won the tender to accredit the National Consortia’s Leadership programmes, with teachers having the opportunity to gain accreditation ranging from a PGCert through to a doctoral qualification.
Publication date: 15 November 2018
Poorer children priced out of learning instruments but school music programmes benefit the wider community
Years of austerity in the UK have bitten away at school budgets, and the arts have suffered heavily. Schools can no longer afford to employ teaching assistants , so it is little wonder that local authorities have cut school music funding . Schools are responsible for their own budgets, and musical instrument lessons that were traditionally subsidised by councils have been cut down in some districts . Now, the Musicians’ Union has found that children living in the poorest areas are no longer getting the exposure to music and the arts that they so often only get in school. With parents being asked to subside instrument lessons, 41% of low-income families have said that they cannot do so due to their limited household budget. This article by Eira Winrow , PhD Research Candidate and Research Project Support Officer and Rhiannon Tudor Edwards , Professor of Health Economics, at the Centre for Health Economics and Medicinces Evaluation is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .
Publication date: 13 November 2018
Bangor University involved in accreditation of National School Leadership Programme
This week’s national day for the Newly Appointed and Acting Headteachers Leadership Development Programme, which includes keynote inspirational speaker Sir John Jones, is the culmination of a term of firsts for the welsh education consortia. This is the first national leadership development programme resulting from a collaboration of all four consortia, the first to successfully achieve programme validation through Accreditation Partners Bangor University and Yr Athrofa (University of Trinity Saint David) and the very first to be successfully endorsed by the recently established National Academy for Educational Leadership (NAEL).
Publication date: 8 November 2018