Latest News

Tree diseases in forests: prevention is better than cure

New tree diseases are spreading to woodlands in Britain at an increasing rate causing greater damage to sustainable production of timber and the many other benefits that we get from our woods.  This is a particular concern given the Government’s commitment to a rapid increase in the area of woodland.  We don’t want to plant millions of trees that simply succumb to disease.  

Researchers in the Universities of Bangor, Strathclyde, Cambridge, Glasgow and Warwick, as well as the James Hutton Institute, have just published a full formal review of all the published evidence from around the temperate world about which options for forest management are most effective against tree diseases (Frontiers of Forestry & Global Change 3:7. doi: 10.3389/ffgc.2020.00007).  This has shown that measures taken after a pathogen has invaded a forest (such as felling diseased trees or those susceptible to infection) may only slow the spread of disease within the forest.  They rarely stop it.  Therefore, much the best approach would be to increase effective quarantine to reduce the rate of spread of new pathogens to a country or region, but this rarely seems to work.  The spores of many pathogens, such as that causing ash dieback disease, can travel far blown by the wind.

Publication date: 10 February 2020

ECB-funded Sports Science PhD awarded Best in the UK from the British Psychological Society

Cutting-edge PhD research by Leonie Webster has, not only been awarded Best PhD Thesis of 2019 from The British Psychological Society, already directly influenced and enhanced the training of professional coaches in the UK.

The School of Sport Health and Exercise Sciences (SSHES) has forged a highly effective relationship with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for in excess of a decade. In fact, despite being based in Loughborough, when the ECB want assistance with talent development and psychology related matters, they call Bangor University.

Publication date: 4 February 2020

Peer support helping to magnify the wellbeing benefits of outdoor activities

With North Wales being described as the ‘Adventure Capital of Europe’ and this year being promoted as #yearofoutdoors, we are all being encouraged to celebrate our mountains, coast and countryside and to immerse ourselves in the nation’s natural beauty and reap the benefits to our wellbeing. 

A new and exciting study from Bangor is examining whether the wellbeing benefits can be increased for certain individuals when they are supported by people facing similar challenges, or ‘peers’.

Publication date: 30 January 2020

Highlighting Cancer research at Bangor University

An event at Bangor University marks World Cancer Day on 4 February 2020.

A free event at Pontio Lecture Room 2, between 6.00 and 8.15 pm highlighting the cancer research being undertaken at Bangor University marks the 20th anniversary of World Cancer Day.  There will be a number of short talks from oncologists and university researchers followed by a question and answer session.

Publication date: 30 January 2020

Over 60 and online: New population health report finds older people in Wales actively involved in social media

Welsh over 60s are online and actively engaging in social media, and this could be an important tool for public health.

77 out of every 100 people in Wales aged 16 years and above use one or more social media platforms. 65 in that hundred people use social media on a daily basis. These insights are from a new report: Population Health in a Digital Age: Patterns in the use of social media in Wales published by Public Health Wales and Bangor University today. 

Publication date: 28 January 2020

Could willow be the answer to better lamb growth?

A Woodland Trust media release

New research has shown willow trees could be used to optimise production in lambs because it has particularly high concentrations of cobalt and zinc.

The study sampled leaves from three native deciduous species – willow, alder and oak – from three sites across the UK and analysed their mineral, energy and protein content.

Publication date: 24 January 2020

A&E waiting times worst on record – but using AI to unblock beds could be part of the solution

January is the busiest month of the year for the NHS – with patients often queuing in corridors and ambulances.

In 2019 Emergency Department waiting times in England were the worst on record, with 2000 patients waiting for more than 12 hours for a hospital bed in December. At the same time latest researchshows that over the past three years almost 5500 patients have died in emergency departments while waiting for a hospital bed.

Part of the problem is that patients who are admitted as emergencies to hospital can be really sick and unstable. So making the decision as to when they are getting better and are safe to go home (and the bed is free) is complicated and risky.

This article by Christian P Subbe, Senior Clinical Lecturer in Acute & Critical Care Medicine, School of Medical Science,s is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Publication date: 24 January 2020

Face the future – Bangor University awarded substantial grant to explore Emotional AI in our cities

As Emotional Artificial Intelligence (AI) starts to be rolled out in smart cities, a team from Bangor University has won a substantial grant to study ways in which citizens can live harmoniously with technologies that sense, learn and interact with their emotions, moods, attention and intentions.

‘Emotional AI in Cities: Cross Cultural Lessons from UK and Japan on Designing for An Ethical Life’ is a 3-year project jointly-funded by British and Japanese research councils and will be led by Andrew McStay, Professor of Digital Life at Bangor University.

Publication date: 23 January 2020

Launch of a faster age at M-SParc

A 5G research centre, which will make Wales a global leader in the technology and change how the internet works, will be officially launched at M-SParc, Bangor University’s Science Park today (23.1.20).

The Digital Signal Processing (DSP) Centre is run by professors and researchers from Bangor University, who are working on speeding up broadband, and are playing a vital role in enabling true 5G. With partners including Huawei and BT, this is global work which could be world-changing.

Publication date: 23 January 2020

Positive psychology: A New Approach to Promoting Healthy Behaviour

We have long been aware that physical inactivity, poor diet, problem alcohol use and smoking have significant long-term health implications. However, reversing lifestyle trends which ultimately result in conditions such as obesity and heart disease, is widely challenging.

These health problems significantly reduce quality and length of life for people across the globe. With this in mind, it is important to develop novel strategies which can tackle one of the most pressing public health issues of our time.

An exciting and novel approach to this issue has drawn some interesting conclusions. As part of a collaboration between the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) Public Health Team and the School of Psychology at Bangor University, a PhD research project found positive psychology – the study of strengths and virtues which help people feel mentally well – can also promote healthy behaviour.

Publication date: 22 January 2020