Latest news with #AberystwythUniversity
Pembrokeshire Herald
4 days ago
- Health
- Pembrokeshire Herald
Bird flu outbreak confirmed in Pembrokeshire poultry
New memorandum focuses on research, education, and innovation HYWEL DDA University Health Board and Aberystwyth University have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding to extend their longstanding partnership, with a focus on improving health and well-being in communities across west Wales. The agreement commits both institutions to collaborate on a range of areas including research and development, the creation of new educational programmes, and the shared use of specialist facilities and expertise. The partnership also includes plans to boost innovation and enterprise, with the Health Board and University set to work together—and with industry—on the development of new medical devices and technologies. The organisations will explore opportunities in workforce development, education, and training. This will include student placements in non-clinical settings, fellowships and studentships, graduate training schemes, joint appointments, and the creation of new academic programmes. Aberystwyth University and Hywel Dda UHB have enjoyed a strong working relationship in recent years. This partnership is viewed as vital to addressing the evolving needs of the NHS workforce and tackling health inequalities across the region. To mark the latest step in their collaboration, Hywel Dda Chief Executive Dr Phil Kloer, Aberystwyth University Vice-Chancellor Professor Jon Timmis, and Professor Leighton Phillips, Director of Research, Innovation and Value at Hywel Dda, attended a ceremony to thank both existing and newly appointed honorary members of staff for their contribution to the partnership. Dr Kloer said: 'The signing of this memorandum builds on the long-standing relationship and good work we have jointly undertaken with Aberystwyth University. We are really pleased to be continuing this collaboration in new areas. 'I'm delighted to build on the great work of previous years and begin exploring further opportunities to improve health and well-being in our rural communities.' Professor Jon Timmis, Vice-Chancellor of Aberystwyth University, added: 'I'm very proud of the strength and depth of our ongoing partnership with the Health Board—something only possible thanks to the dedication of staff across both organisations. 'For more than 150 years, our University's teaching and research excellence has changed lives, built communities, and helped strengthen Wales. The success of our new nursing degrees is testament to this. 'As Wales's first university college, we have a proud tradition of innovation—and this partnership will remain central to our mission in the years ahead.' The impact of the collaboration has already been seen across the region, including the opening of a new Healthcare Education Centre and the discovery of biomarkers that may lead to a more accurate diagnostic test for lung cancer. Dr Leighton Phillips said: 'This new Memorandum reaffirms our commitment to working closely with Aberystwyth University for the benefit of our region. The education centre and growing research links mark the start of an exciting new chapter. 'We are also keen to connect with other major developments at the University, such as AberInnovation and Cymru Wledig LPIP—the Local Policy and Innovation Partnership for Rural Wales. 'These projects align with our newly launched Research and Development Strategic Plan, which sets out ambitious goals to increase staff development and participation in commercial research over the next five years.' Higher education is estimated to contribute around £135 million annually to the Ceredigion economy. It provides high-quality employment, attracts students and researchers from across Wales and beyond, and delivers life-changing research and training for key public sector institutions such as the Health Board.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Pitch-sized mural of Wales star Fishlock unveiled
Jess Fishlock has 154 caps and 45 international goals to her name [Football Association Wales] A mural of Wales' record-breaking goal scorer Jess Fishlock has been unveiled. The tribute, which covers the playing area of a five-a-side football pitch in Splott, Cardiff, celebrates her impact on football, equality and representation. Advertisement It is believed to be the first of its kind in Europe for a female footballer and was showcased ahead of Wales' debut in Switzerland for Euro 2025 after the team qualified for a first major tournament in their history. The mural is designed by artist Regan Gilflin, and brought to life by UNIFY, the Welsh creative studio behind My City, My Shirt and the Gary Speed mural. Fishlock - who has 162 caps and 47 international goals to her name - has been called a footballing "icon" by Wales boss Rhian Wilkinson. She made history by breaking Wales' all-time goal scoring record during her team's 2-0 win over Kosovo during the Euro 2025 qualifier. Advertisement Last year the midfielder also accepted an Honorary Fellowship from Aberystwyth University. Fishlock made history last year by breaking Wales' all-time goal scoring record [Orchard Media] Fishlock, who was born in Cardiff, said she enjoyed sports as a child but her love for football developed at a Mia Hamm soccer camp in the city during the summer holidays. She previously said: "My older sister wanted to go to the camp and my mum said for me to go along with her. "I just loved it and my mum says from that moment I was like, 'I'm not doing anything else, this is what I want to do." She played for Cardiff City Ladies FC from the age of 15 then, at 19 while playing for Wales, Fishlock was approached to move to Holland to play professionally for AZ Alkmaar. Advertisement When the Women's Super League launched in 2011, she returned to the UK and joined Bristol and that year she was named the FAW's Women's Player of the Year. In 2012 she moved to Australia and joined Melbourne Victory before making her move to the US with Seattle Reign FC. She described the levels of the National Women's Soccer League as higher due to the "sheer intensity, physicality and mentality". In 2018 she received an MBE for services to women's football and the LGBT community. Fishlock has spoken openly about her sexuality, saying her experiences growing up made her determined to be a role model in the LGBT community, especially children, after high school was "hell on earth" for her. Advertisement In 2019, she celebrated helping Lyon win the French women's league then, in April 2024, became the first Welsh player to reach 150 caps.
BBC News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Jess Fishlock mural unveiled in Cardiff for Wales star
A mural of Wales' record-breaking goal scorer Jess Fishlock has been tribute, which covers the playing area of a five-a-side football pitch in Splott, Cardiff, celebrates her impact on football, equality and is believed to be the first of its kind in Europe for a female footballer and was showcased ahead of Wales' debut in Switzerland for Euro 2025 after the team qualified for a first major tournament in their mural is designed by artist Regan Gilflin, and brought to life by UNIFY, the Welsh creative studio behind My City, My Shirt and the Gary Speed mural. Fishlock - who has 162 caps and 47 international goals to her name - has been called a footballing "icon" by Wales boss Rhian made history by breaking Wales' all-time goal scoring record during her team's 2-0 win over Kosovo during the Euro 2025 year the midfielder also accepted an Honorary Fellowship from Aberystwyth University. Fishlock, who was born in Cardiff, said she enjoyed sports as a child but her love for football developed at a Mia Hamm soccer camp in the city during the summer previously said: "My older sister wanted to go to the camp and my mum said for me to go along with her."I just loved it and my mum says from that moment I was like, 'I'm not doing anything else, this is what I want to do."She played for Cardiff City Ladies FC from the age of 15 then, at 19 while playing for Wales, Fishlock was approached to move to Holland to play professionally for AZ Alkmaar. When the Women's Super League launched in 2011, she returned to the UK and joined Bristol and that year she was named the FAW's Women's Player of the 2012 she moved to Australia and joined Melbourne Victory before making her move to the US with Seattle Reign described the levels of the National Women's Soccer League as higher due to the "sheer intensity, physicality and mentality".In 2018 she received an MBE for services to women's football and the LGBT has spoken openly about her sexuality, saying her experiences growing up made her determined to be a role model in the LGBT community, especially children, after high school was "hell on earth" for 2019, she celebrated helping Lyon win the French women's league then, in April 2024, became the first Welsh player to reach 150 caps.
New Statesman
5 days ago
- Science
- New Statesman
'Minerality' is a wine industry myth
Fifty-one years ago, I bought a bottle of Chianti. I was a nursing assistant, living in nurses' accommodation. Wages went on food, drink and books; I taught myself to cook. When the communal pans were laid aside, I opened the straw-swaddled bottle, poured the pale red wine and marvelled: every drop was sucked from Tuscan soils. It seemed incredible: we were sitting here, drinking Tuscany. Literally. Near Norwich. Gulp! This astonishment expanded. Wine (I read) possessed a thing called terroir. That meant that its sensory character was predicated on the physical milieu in which its vines grew. Those who wrote about terroir usually used it as a synonym for soil and bedrock. Wine culture has gone global in the past half-century. A critical industry now feasts on wine, like an algal bloom on a great lake. Wine websites encourage you to purchase hundreds of thousands of tasting notes – for wines you can't find, can't afford, haven't got room for and will never drink. Read them to lust and crave, and the word 'minerality' will cascade about you. According to the master of wine Justin Martindale, whose research paper examined the use of the term in more than 20,000 tasting notes written between 1976 and 2019, it was the most widely used descriptor for white wines (appearing in 19.2 per cent of the notes surveyed) and the sixth most used descriptor associated with reds. Is wine mineral soup? The emeritus Earth sciences professor Alex Maltman of Aberystwyth University has been challenging this idea for a decade (most recently in Taste the Limestone, Smell the Slate, published by Academie du Vin Library). Vines, he points out, 'are made not from the soil but from oxygen, hydrogen and carbon derived from water and the air, everything being driven by sunlight'. These light-and-air plants can do nothing at all with rock minerals, which in any case have no aroma or flavour. Vines do metabolise nutrient minerals, mostly from humus – the organic component of soil – but they don't pass directly into grape juice. Fermentation, moreover, is a transformative process: some elements are removed during it; others are added. Far from being 'mineral-laden', Maltman says, 'the actual nutrient mineral concentrations in wine are minuscule'. If you want to drink minerals, buy French Vichy Célestins or Spanish Vichy Catalan, whose dissolved bicarbonate, sodium, chloride, potassium and sulphide are the result of long residence times in subterranean aquifers. So why the constant assertions of 'minerality'? Most tasting notes are a wild metaphorical fling. Wine doesn't contain blackcurrants, cherries and vanilla, though its complex chemistry may include substances that might suggest these ingredients. Anyone who farms, gardens or hikes will know that stones and earth have an aromatic personality, especially when worked or rained on – though Maltman points out that what our noses are reacting to is organic matter on those stones or in that earth, not minerals. 'Minerality' might be a metaphor for this embrace. It might also be a way of describing those flavours in wine that don't evoke fruit itself, or the processes wine undergoes (a creaminess from lees contact, for example, or vanillin from oak). Levels of salt (sodium chloride or halite) vary in wine and are likely to come from external sources (island winds, or repeatedly irrigated land). 'Minerality' is often linked to a wine's acid profile, especially when this seems (another metaphor) to have a crystalline edge. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Most of the time, though, it's just cap-doffing and knee-bending: something writers say about wines they want to admire. I wasn't, in fact, drinking Tuscany; I was drinking something that had happened in Tuscany. Terroir isn't soil or rock, but place – and what happens there. [See also: How to do it like a movie star] Related
Pembrokeshire Herald
5 days ago
- Health
- Pembrokeshire Herald
Plaid Cymru: Wales lagging behind on vital HPV home test kits
New memorandum focuses on research, education, and innovation HYWEL DDA University Health Board and Aberystwyth University have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding to extend their longstanding partnership, with a focus on improving health and well-being in communities across west Wales. The agreement commits both institutions to collaborate on a range of areas including research and development, the creation of new educational programmes, and the shared use of specialist facilities and expertise. The partnership also includes plans to boost innovation and enterprise, with the Health Board and University set to work together—and with industry—on the development of new medical devices and technologies. The organisations will explore opportunities in workforce development, education, and training. This will include student placements in non-clinical settings, fellowships and studentships, graduate training schemes, joint appointments, and the creation of new academic programmes. Aberystwyth University and Hywel Dda UHB have enjoyed a strong working relationship in recent years. This partnership is viewed as vital to addressing the evolving needs of the NHS workforce and tackling health inequalities across the region. To mark the latest step in their collaboration, Hywel Dda Chief Executive Dr Phil Kloer, Aberystwyth University Vice-Chancellor Professor Jon Timmis, and Professor Leighton Phillips, Director of Research, Innovation and Value at Hywel Dda, attended a ceremony to thank both existing and newly appointed honorary members of staff for their contribution to the partnership. Dr Kloer said: 'The signing of this memorandum builds on the long-standing relationship and good work we have jointly undertaken with Aberystwyth University. We are really pleased to be continuing this collaboration in new areas. 'I'm delighted to build on the great work of previous years and begin exploring further opportunities to improve health and well-being in our rural communities.' Professor Jon Timmis, Vice-Chancellor of Aberystwyth University, added: 'I'm very proud of the strength and depth of our ongoing partnership with the Health Board—something only possible thanks to the dedication of staff across both organisations. 'For more than 150 years, our University's teaching and research excellence has changed lives, built communities, and helped strengthen Wales. The success of our new nursing degrees is testament to this. 'As Wales's first university college, we have a proud tradition of innovation—and this partnership will remain central to our mission in the years ahead.' The impact of the collaboration has already been seen across the region, including the opening of a new Healthcare Education Centre and the discovery of biomarkers that may lead to a more accurate diagnostic test for lung cancer. Dr Leighton Phillips said: 'This new Memorandum reaffirms our commitment to working closely with Aberystwyth University for the benefit of our region. The education centre and growing research links mark the start of an exciting new chapter. 'We are also keen to connect with other major developments at the University, such as AberInnovation and Cymru Wledig LPIP—the Local Policy and Innovation Partnership for Rural Wales. 'These projects align with our newly launched Research and Development Strategic Plan, which sets out ambitious goals to increase staff development and participation in commercial research over the next five years.' Higher education is estimated to contribute around £135 million annually to the Ceredigion economy. It provides high-quality employment, attracts students and researchers from across Wales and beyond, and delivers life-changing research and training for key public sector institutions such as the Health Board.
