100 years of INTERNATIONAL POLITICS Fighting Malaria Blending Geography and Biology OLD COLLEGE Sioned Wiliam Appeal Alumna Interview Be part of our vision NEW-LOOK CONTENTS We are incredibly grateful to the many alumni who completed last 2 University News year’s survey. It was wonderful to 4 The Old College Appeal hear your suggestions and views on 6 100 years of International Politics and its contents. We hope you enjoy reading this new-look edition 8 Old Students’ Association (OSA) with its mix of news and information 9 Aber Abroad from Aber, as a complement to our 10 Fight Against Malaria popular monthly e-newsletter. 12 Interview with Sioned Wiliam It is particularly pleasing to send 16 Giving to Aber you as a bi-lingual magazine to reflect the distinctive nature of 18 Department of Aber’s bilingual community and Computer Science one of the many special reasons Welcome 4 20 Graduation, Achievements and that thousands of alumni all over Appointments the world call Aber ‘home’. Welcome to this edition of , where we share with you the latest stories and successes from Aber. 24 RAG at Aber As ever, we look forward to hearing 10 your feedback and suggestions. Like me, I trust you will have been thrilled to read that 2018 saw further recognition of the University’s high teaching standards, with Dylan Jones the institution awarded Gold in the UK Government’s Teaching [email protected] Excellence Framework and named University of the Year for Teaching Quality by The Times/Sunday Times Good University Guide for a second consecutive year. Our student satisfaction levels STAY CONNECTED were also among the highest in the UK so there is much on which to build in 2019. @aber_alumni Following hot on the heels of Geography and Earth Science’s Aberystwyth Alumni | centenary, this year marks 100 years of plant breeding at Aberystwyth Cyn-fyfyrwyr Aber as well as a century of the world’s first Department of International +44 (0) 1970 62 1568 Politics (see page 6-7). The work of our academics in these and 6 other departments continues to make a real impact in Wales and [email protected] the wider world. aber.ac.uk/alumni Scientists such as Dr Andy Hardy (see page 10-11) are helping to make further advances in the fight against some of the world’s 27 | The Magazine of Remember to keep your contact deadliest diseases; our researchers are helping to inform policy- Aberystwyth University details and preferences updated, visit making in Wales and other countries involved in promoting minority alumni.aber.ac.uk languages, and our work on climate change and food security is more important than ever. Published by: Aberystwyth University In the run up to our 150th anniversary in 2022, I am pleased to report Designed by: The Design Studio, PRIVACY POLICY UPDATED good progress on the University’s three major capital projects – the Aberystwyth University Aberystwyth Enterprise Innovation Campus, Neuadd Pantycelyn Printed by: Taylor Bloxham Ltd Our privacy statement has been and the Old College. You can read more about our plans for the updated which gives additional 18 Cover: The Old College restoration and transformation of Old College on page 4-5 as we information on the data we hold on invite you to join together in support of our fundraising appeal for you, how it is collected and processed, this unique Grade 1 listed building. what we do with that data, and your The views expressed in are those of individual authors and do not represent the rights under GDPR. You can read the We are working on detailed plans to secure support from the Heritage University other than where stated. Although new privacy statement in full here Lottery Fund, charitable trusts and government funding but we also need your help. Our ambitious proposals will safeguard the future every effort has been made to ensure the www.aber.ac.uk/en/development/ accuracy and reliability of material published, of Old College, which has stood proudly on the promenade as a data-protection the publishers accept no liability for claims symbol of the importance of higher education for all since 1872. made by contributors. I hope you will join me in supporting this crucial appeal. 12 24 Professor Elizabeth Treasure, Vice-Chancellor 1 NEWS AWARDS AND ACCOLADES Refurbished Hugh Owen Library University of the Year for The University has invested more than £1 million in a major Teaching Quality refurbishment of Level D of the iconic Hugh Owen library, Aberystwyth was named transforming the space to meet the needs of 21st century University of the Year for students. Teaching Quality in The Times Katie Miles and Professor Bryn Hubbard flying the Aber flag at drill site three and Sunday Times Good Students using Level D of the library are now able to make on the Khumbu glacier near Everest Base Camp during the 2017 expedition University Guide 2019 for an use of two new group study rooms, a variety of study spaces unprecedented second year with access to power and WiFi, more seating, a vending Mohamed Cheggaf, who works as a porter at Ice temperatures warmer than expected running. area for the purchase of refreshments and stationery, and the University, is among those to benefit from the higher rate. TEF Gold additional gender neutral toilets. The main entrance to on world’s highest glacier The University was awarded the library has also been relocated to the piazza, home to Real living wage Aberystwyth glaciologists are part of a project which has shown Aberystwyth Arts Centre and the Students’ Union. Gold in the 2018 Teaching accreditation for University that ice temperatures inside the world’s highest glacier on the Excellence and Student slopes of Mount Everest are warmer than expected. Outcomes Framework (TEF) in Aberystwyth University has been June, for delivering consistently Polar-medal holder Professor Bryn Hubbard and postgraduate outstanding teaching, learning officially accredited as a Real Living researcher Katie Miles from the Department of Geography and and outcomes for students, of Wage employer, one of 174 employers Earth Sciences travelled to Khumbu Glacier, Nepal, in 2017 and the highest quality found in in Wales who have signed up voluntarily 2018 as part of the EverDrill research project. the UK. to pay the Real Living Wage. Working at heights of up to 5,000m, the team became the first to Top for student satisfaction Professor Elizabeth Treasure, Vice- successfully drill to the base of the glacier using a specially adapted Aberystwyth was rated the top Chancellor said: “Aberystwyth car wash unit. They were also the first to record temperatures below university in Wales for overall University is one of the biggest the seasonally affected surface layer of the glacier. student satisfaction by the employers in Mid Wales, and the The measurements showed a minimum ice temperature of only National Student Survey (NSS) dedication and commitment of our -3.3 °C, with even the coldest ice being a full 2 °C warmer than 2018, outperforming the sector staff underpins the success of our in the UK and Wales in all nine the mean annual air temperature. institution. Our decision to adopt the areas covered by the NSS. Real Living Wage reflects our principles Collaborators on the EverDrill project are Dr Duncan Quincey Highest climber New volume explains the significance and values as an ethical employer.” (project leader) and Dr Evan Miles from the University of Aberystwyth University was the highest Leeds, and Dr Ann Rowan from the University of Sheffield. Both climber in the 2019 edition of The Guardian of place in Keats’s poetry Dr Quincey and Dr Rowan are alumni of the Department of University Guide, up 36 places into the A new book edited by Richard Marggraf Turley, Professor Geography and Earth Sciences. top 50 in the UK, and second position in of Romantic Literature in the Department of English and Wales. The latest league table also puts Aberystwyth 2nd in the UK for student Creative Writing, explores the significant locations across satisfaction, 3rd in the UK for satisfaction Britain which shaped the writing of the English Romantic with feedback and 6th in the UK for poet, John Keats. Aber High Sugar Grasses considered satisfaction with teaching. Writing in the introduction to Keats’s Places, Professor one of the UK’s best breakthroughs Stonewall Top 100 Marggraf Turley challenges the common view that the Pioneering Aberystwyth University research that has led to the The Workplace Equality Index published by apparent timelessness of Keats’s writing in some way production of new varieties of high sugar grasses features as Stonewall listed Aberystwyth University as one implies placelessness; claiming that in fact location and one of the UK’s 100 best breakthroughs. of the UK’s top 100 employers for inclusivity in place informed and shaped Keats’s poetry. the workplace; the 9th best employer in Wales. The work features in the UK’s Best Breakthroughs list: 100+ The volume features a collection of essays by internationally Aberystwyth was also ranked 8th best university Ways Universities Have Improved Everyday Life, compiled in the UK and 3rd in Wales. renowned Keats scholars, in which they discuss a selection by Universities UK (the umbrella group for UK universities), of places which featured in Keats’s creative life and helped in recognition of its transformational environmental and What Uni Student Choice Awards 2018 mould his authorial identity. economic benefits. The University won the The locations featured range from the claustrophobic The development of Aber High Sugar Grasses (AberHSG) for 2018 Postgraduate category in the WINNER stands of Guy’s Hospital operating theatre to the POSTGRADUATE What Uni Student Choice feeding livestock is carried out at the Institute of Biological, Awards 2018, and picked up a boneshaking interior of the Southampton mail coach; Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), which celebrates silver award in the International from Highland crags to Hampstead Heath; from crowded 2018 100 years of plant breeding in 2019.