Delivering Science for Wales 2017

Science for Wales 2017


Cover: False-colour representation of a Gravitational Wave pattern from binary rotating masses. Credit: Numerical – relativistic Simulation: S. Ossokine, A. Buonanno (Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics). Scientific Visualization: W. Benger (Airborne Hydro Mapping GmbH). The Gravitational Physics Group at Cardiff University helped in the first detection of Gravitational Waves – at 9:51am GMT on 14 September 2015.

Print ISBN 978-1-78859-764-7Digital ISBN 978-1-78859-762-3© Crown copyright 2017WG33146

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Index

Ministerial Foreword Ken Skates AM, Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport ii

Introduction Professor Julie Williams, Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales 1

Executive summary 3

Chapter 1 How Science benefits Wales 8

Chapter 2 The rationale for developing our strategic approach 12

Chapter 3 Building on research strengths and increasing capacity 18

Chapter 4 Strengths, emerging strengths and impact in research 40

Chapter 5 Women in science in Wales 58

Chapter 6 Engaging the next generation 64

Chapter 7 Science across the Welsh Government 74

Chapter 8 Conclusions, way forward and recommendations 78

Annex 1 NSA 2015 programmes in detail 83

Annex 2 Welsh Strategic Awards for Capital Equipment 86

Annex 3 Research Income of Higher Education Institutions in Wales 2015-16 87

Annex 4 List of acronyms 89

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Ministerial Foreword

The First Minister launched Science for Wales – the Welsh Government’s guiding document for growing science and research for Wales’ economic and social benefit, back in March 2012. We have reported on the considerable and pleasing progress made each year since.

This 2017 report now takes stock of overall progress made toward the goals it set out. Showcasing some exceptional awards made, it looks at impact so far and at delivery through the Sêr Cymru programme across Wales, which continues into 2018 and beyond. I have been pleased to see both considerable accomplishment and grant capture. I note also that the programme has attracted considerable interest and praise from beyond Wales. The ‘Star’ researchers recruited through it and the coordinated research networks established by our universities, have already brought many millions of additional grant income to Wales.

Scientific research makes an invaluable contribution to the Welsh economy, with our Universities bringing nearly half of all expenditure on research and development into Wales. Over four fifths of published research outputs come from them. Universities are significant economic actors in their own communities and represent over £400 million of export earnings, through research earnings and overseas students.

Whilst we rightly celebrate these strengths in Wales’ universities, the report cautions about a continuing lack of research capacity. Several targeted pieces of research, published after Science for Wales, quantified and detailed our shortfall of academic researchers. This shortfall has resulted in Wales, with some excellent, indeed, world-leading academics, still not winning the proportionate share of competitively-awarded research funding that it should. The Sêr Cymru programme had started to address this and a second phase

has been added, in light of this research, to increase capacity further through bringing in many excellent earlier career researchers. This phase is just getting going in 2017. The report points up areas where we need continued effort and where gaps still remain in building up science capacity, so we can remove our deficit completely.

Equally important has been the response to the calls in Science for Wales for a modern, engaging curriculum and robust and relevant science qualifications. Since 2012, we have seen a wholesale review of our curriculum arrangements, and work is now underway with a network of Pioneer Schools to develop a specific ‘Areas of Learning and Experience’ in science and technology and in maths and numeracy. We also have new GCSE and A-level qualifications in all the STEM subjects coming on-stream, some of which reported for the first time this summer. This is crucial to address our future skill needs, particularly as we meet the challenges emerging from BrExit – for Wales and for the wider UK. The Welsh Government is wholly committed to enabling people to develop the skills they need to get the jobs they want. That encompasses our future STEM skill needs, including the higher-level skills which can lead to stimulating and well paid work in research and in technical businesses and industries. Wales benefits from growth and prosperity in the Welsh economy and such businesses play a key part in making and keeping us competitive and collaborative in a challenging time for the UK as a whole. Innovative products, processes and services and developments from cutting-edge research all provide opportunities both to preserve and expand existing markets and to move out to find new ones in a post-BrExit world.

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The National Science Academy (NSA) has, throughout the period of Science for Wales, played an invaluable role funding programmes across Wales to engage and enthuse our children and young people about the fun, challenge and interesting potential careers which studying STEM subjects can bring. They are working on an exciting expansion of this mission, as this report goes to publication.

Also covered are efforts to address a long-standing and damaging loss of STEM talent. Girls and women are not pursuing the study of many science subjects and then suffer shortfalls in recruitment, retention and promotion in science-related research and hi-tech. businesses. A Welsh Government commissioned independent report on this issue: Talented Women for a Successful Wales made 33 recommendations. All have been accepted by the Welsh Government and a Ministerially-chaired Board has now been set up, consisting of appropriate Ministers and prominent and influential external representatives, to oversee progress on these recommendations.

Our outgoing Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales, Professor Julie Williams, was a catalyst for getting the ‘Talented Women..’ report commissioned and published. To her, we owe also the additional multi-million elements of Sêr Cymru, developed to bring in additional excellent stars and earlier career researchers, building on current strengths and developing new ones. She also oversaw a review of the NSA’s strategy for investment, which brought more focus for its limited funding, to address issues of particular concern. I would like to thank her for all her contributions.

The report concludes by evaluating our strategic approach, taking into account the impacts of the intervention we have undertaken, benefits delivered and identified

gaps in provision. We face challenging times and so alignment to the Welsh Government’s Programme for Government and the new Prosperity for All strategy which underpins it, is crucial. Several areas of science activity provide good examples of the collaborative, cross portfolio way we need everyone to adopt to allow delivery with diminishing resources. It looks forward to take account of the challenges posed by BrExit and the importance of making and maintaining international collaboration in research and in technology. Forthcoming influences for the science and research landscape in Wales are considered. These include implications from proposals in Professor Ellen Hazelkorn’s 2016 Post-compulsory education review and Professor Graeme Reid’s (University College, London) on-going work to identify current research and innovation strengths, outlining how they can be developed to increase engagement and economic growth, supporting business, communities and Government effectively. We are determined to see highly effective engagement between universities, industry and the NHS and social care to drive economic growth through applied research and innovation. I look forward to working with the new Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales from 2018 on these important issues, with such potential to help our economy to thrive.

Ken Skates AM Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport

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Introduction

Science for Wales has been a guiding document for over five years now. So, as I come to the end of my term as Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales, I felt it would be useful to not only take stock of the pleasing progress we have made but also to point to areas where we need to continue our current efforts and look to the future.

Economically, Wales is increasingly reliant on ingenuity and a knowledge-based economy. Excellence in research, in both discovery and applied science will be an important component of future economic success. Wales would also benefit from a more co-ordinated pathway between research, innovation and industry/commerce. We are a small nation, where our agility could be of advantage in achieving our full potential.

We are fortunate that scientific research in Wales has been shown to punch above its weight on many occasions. It makes a genuine impact on the global stage. We point to some great exemplars of world-leading research right here – including our Sêr Cymru Research chairs and their teams. We should be proud of that but still remain determined to continue to build on strengths, boosting successful teams and building new ones in areas of research of benefit to Wales and the wider world.

Our original Sêr Cymru programme, is now nearing its planned end date in 2018. The researchers recruited through it and the networks that coordinate research across Wales established by the investment made, have brought in the region of £67.1 million in additional grant income to Wales. The latest phase of Sêr Cymru is still at an early stage but already has brought in a number of talented researchers, earlier in their careers, to support and augment existing strengths and to start to develop

teams in new areas identified as being of strategic importance to Wales.

We have recruited over 190 Research Fellows and PhDs through Sêr Cymru, including 4 Re-capturing Talent Fellows, to build on our current research strengths. We have also attracted 7 Rising stars and 11 Star Research chairs with their teams to Wales, supporting strategically important areas, including compound semi-conductors (CS); nuclear and green energy; life sciences and climate change.

Equally pleasing have been the developments in the world of education, where the calls in Science for Wales for a modern, engaging curriculum and robust and relevant science qualifications have been addressed. A major transformation of the wider curriculum, which includes specific ‘Areas of learning and experience’ in science and technology and in maths and numeracy is now bedding in. New GCSEs and A-Levels are now being taught. Plans to bring greater professional support and training to our teachers are also underway through National Networks of Excellence in pedagogy for both Maths and now for Science. Through chairing an internal Welsh Government group, I have had oversight of these developments as they relate to science, technology and maths. I have also overseen the National Science Academy, which is playing an invaluable role by funding programmes across Wales to enthuse our children and young people about the fun, challenge and interesting potential careers which studying STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Medicine) subjects can bring. Some £2.7 million grant funding over several years, currently backs 20 excellent programmes (detailed in Annex 1). Approaching 200,000 pupils will benefit as well as nearly 3000 teachers. We are currently working up an

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exciting EU funding application to allow further engagement work, aiming at a substantial increase in the number of children in Wales taking triple science GCSE.

Talented Women for a Successful Wales was the output of an expert group, warmly accepted by the Welsh Government. I had established it to suggest remedies to the worrying loss of talent from girls and women not pursuing the study of science subjects and then not being recruited, retained and promoted in science-related research.

It is also heartening to recognise that Wales’ research has considerable impact both here and globally. Indeed, researchers based in Wales outperformed many of their UK counterparts in the last Research Excellence Framework (REF) assessment. I look forward to watching this develop further in the future.

As Chief Scientific Adviser, I have been greatly involved in developing these exciting and necessary programmes. I have also had input into science-related advice on a range of topics, on subjects as varied as zoonotic diseases; zero-energy buildings and climate change. Still, in all aspects of my work in this role, I have welcomed the support and collaboration of people inside and outside Government, without whom such progress would not have been achieved.

Finally, I would like to extend my thanks to two important groups of people who have given great help to me and to the Welsh Government through my time as Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales. The Sêr Cymru Independent Evaluation Panel, chaired by Dr Wendy Ewart has been a key factor in advancing the Sêr Cymru fellowships, Rising stars and recent Star Research chairs. The Science Advisory Council for Wales, chaired by Professor Robin Williams has provided

invaluable advice and guidance over the years. I am grateful to the two leaders of my support team of officials – Chris Hale and Robert Hoyle. Thanks also to Delyth Morgan, Richard Rossington, Tracey Welland, Russell Williams and the rest of my team.

Professor Julie William CBE FMedSci FLSW Former Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales September 2013 to September 2017

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Executive summary

Science for Wales has been a guiding document across the Welsh Government for over five years. This report takes stock of the progress made towards the goals originally set out, while showcasing some of the exceptional awards that have been made and looking at the impact of the Sêr Cymru Programme in Wales thus far.

It is important to consider the valuable contribution to the Welsh economy; health care; life-style and public policy that is being made. Welsh universities bring in nearly half of all expenditure on research and development in Wales. They are responsible for 84 per cent of all Wales’ published research outputs. Including Welsh hospitals in this calculation, the figure increases to 92 per cent, with 8 per cent coming from the commercial sector. In terms of economic impact, the higher education sector’s international revenue of £218 million, together with the estimated £195 million off-campus expenditure of international students, represents a total of £413 million of export earnings.

The Sêr Cymru programme has two main strands of activity: i.) securing truly world-class academics as Sêr Cymru Research chairs/‘Stars’, Rising stars and Research Fellows based within Wales; and ii.) establishing National Research Networks (NRNs) to bring together academic teams across institutions working in three broad ‘grand challenge areas’. These areas were identified both for their strength in academic departments in Wales and for their potential for commercial exploitation of research outcomes by businesses in and for Wales. Both strands of activity aim to build around current strengths and develop new research capacity.

The original Sêr Cymru programme is now nearing its planned end date, in 2018. The researchers recruited through it and the networks that coordinate research across Wales, established by the investment, have brought some £67.1 million so far in additional grant income to Wales. We have attracted 11 Research chairs and their teams:

• Professor Yves Barde, Sêr Cymru Research Chair in Life Sciences and Health at Cardiff University, continues work on the biology of his celebrated discovery, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) – essential to brain function. He has much interest and collaboration with the bioscience industry.

• Professor Andrew Barron is at Swansea University, developing Energy Safety Research Institute (ESRI). As Sêr Cymru Research Chair in Low Carbon, Energy and Environment, his interests are in nanotechnology applied to fundamental problems in energy research, Professor Barron’s research has many industrial collaborators.

• Professor James Durrant, Sêr Cymru Research Chair in Solar Energy at Swansea University is leading ‘Sêr Solar’. With £7 million in funding, this is establishing a research cluster focused on the development of low cost, large area photovoltaic technologies. Based at SPECIFIC, with collaborations including his team at Imperial College London, the aim is a solar energy research centre delivering world-leading scientific research, growing a new printed solar manufacturing industry.

• Professor Diana Huffaker, Sêr Cymru Research Chair in Advanced Materials and Devices at Cardiff University who has also assumed the role as Director of Cardiff University’s Institute for Compound Semiconductors (ICS). Her arrival in

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Cardiff has been a crucial component in the development of the Compound Semiconductor Catapult Centre, which is to receive £50 million of UK funding. ICS will feed research outputs to the Compound Semiconductor Centre (CSC), a profit-making joint commercialisation venture between Cardiff University and IQE. This will all go to developing Europe’s fifth specialist semiconductor cluster in South Wales – the first in compound semiconductors.

• Professor Paul Meredith has been at Swansea University since May 2017, continuing his ground-breaking work on sustainable advanced materials, chiefly for energy applications. He brings his great international experience in academic and industrial research, innovation and start-up companies in both Australia and the USA.

• Professor Bill Lee and another world leading nuclear scientist are to move to Bangor University to establish a world leading capability in Nuclear Engineering there, arising from to the Wylfa Newydd development in Anglesey – Bangor University Energy Institute. Professor Lee has made seminal contributions in many aspects of ceramics, including recently developing novel waste forms for difficult radionuclide-containing wastes and advanced ceramic fuels for next generation fission reactors.

• The Cardiff University Translational Drug Discovery Centre will see University of Sussex’s successful Drug Discovery Centre transform Wales’s ability to translate fundamental discoveries in disease processes into new drugs. Leading this will be Medicinal chemist Professor Simon Ward, an international expert with extensive senior experience at Glaxo SmithKline and Professor John Atack

(to lead the Biology programme) who has extensive pharmaceutical company experience and outstanding success in drug discovery in academia.

• Professor Peter Ghazal, internationally-respected Systems Immunologist, is coming to Cardiff University from his present base in Edinburgh. He is a leader in multidisciplinary translational research, for example, linking engineering with genomics. He has impressive commercialisation credentials.

• Professor Richard Lucas is an internationally renowned researcher with expertise in quantifying and understanding the response of terrestrial ecosystems and environments to change, including that associated with climatic variation, through integration of remote sensing data from various sources. He will take up the Aberystwyth University Chair in Earth Observation.

• The Fellowship elements of Sêr Cymru are still at a relatively early stage but the potential can be clearly identified, with a number of talented researchers being supported and more under consideration. We have three ‘Rising stars’ coming into post, all at Swansea University – Dr Sudhagar Pitchaimuthu working on photcatalysts and coatings; Dr Spyridon Theofilopoulos, working on aspects of the metabolism which may affect Parkinson’s Disease and Dr Ardalan Armin researching next generation semiconductors. A further four, one female and three male, have been approved by the panel and their applications are progressing. We have around 100 fellows in post in research universities and having offers made to them. Among these there is one Recapturing Talent Fellow in post and a further three, two female and one male,

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having offers considered. Sêr Cymru has also created and invested in three National Research Networks (NRNs) in broad ‘grand challenge’ areas’ where Wales has a clear strength or strengths. Engineering Research Network Wales (The NRN for Advanced Engineering and Materials) and the Low Carbon, Energy and Environment NRN. The third, the Life Sciences Research Network Wales (LSRNW) supports world-class science within Wales. Just some of the outputs are the development of new therapeutic treatments, which tackle issues such as wound healing and anti-scarring treatments. LSRNW has brought in £7.6 million of research funding into Wales.

Equally important has been the response to the calls in Science for Wales for a modern, engaging curriculum and robust and relevant science qualifications. A major transformation of the wider curriculum, which now includes specific ‘Areas of learning and experience’, both in science and technology and in maths and numeracy, is now bedding in. Through the Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales’ involvement, as chair of an internal Welsh Government group, there has been oversight of these, as they relate to science, technology and maths. It is critical we are proactive in taking steps now, to address the future skill needs, particularly the higher skills in science, as we look to address the challenges emerging from Brexit, not just for Wales but the UK as a whole.

The National Science Academy or NSA is a further feature of the work falling under Science for Wales. It has been playing an invaluable role by funding programmes across Wales to enthuse our children and young people about the fun, challenge and interesting potential careers which studying STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering,

Maths and Medicine) can bring. First set up in 2010 to promote the take up of STEM at all levels, via STEM enrichment and engagement activities. It is still the Welsh Government’s main vehicle for encouraging participation through these activities. To date, it has delivered over 1,000 STEM enrichment activities to over 132,000 school pupils. Following a strategic review, the NSA STEM Enrichment Strategic Plan 2015-18 was published. This reduced the number of programmes supported but sharpened focus on needs. NSA is now particularly aimed at children aged between 7-14 and at reaching under-represented groups, especially girls in some science subjects. An innovative phase is currently being developed, to further encourage interest and take up of STEMM studies among 11-14 year olds across Wales.

Tackling a long-standing concern over the loss of talent to Wales, from girls and women not pursuing the study of science subjects, has been a focus since 2014, together with the lack of recruitment, retention and promotion of women in science-related research and industry. Through our efforts, we have facilitated the establishment of an expert group, who produced the report Talented Women for a Successful Wales. Its 33 recommendations, set out wide-ranging actions for many areas, to address this issue. All recommendations have been accepted by the Welsh Government. The Minister for Skills and Science has convened a Board, made up of other Ministers and with prominent external representatives, to oversee progress on delivery of the recommendations.

We round out the report with a brief overview of the methods used within the Welsh Government to supply the best advice, on policy for science and on particular science-related issues, including the Science

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Advisory Council for Wales. This distinguished and knowledgeable group greatly assist the Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales in providing advice to our Ministers and Cabinet.

There is significant effort within the Welsh Government to work across portfolios, pooling knowledge and expertise to help develop and support strategic initiatives. Life Sciences provides a good example of this practice, through the formation of the Expert Committee on Life Sciences and Health. This has senior representation at official level, allowing for coordination of activity, giving consideration to Ministerial priorities. It supports Ministers through advice and evidence, to aid formation of policy and decisions.

Going forward, it is essential we take account of the impacts of the interventions undertaken so far. Many of these are strategic investments, based on research excellence and commercial potential, such as those in precision medicine, thermo-hydraulic nuclear and compound semi-conductors. We need to take in the benefits delivered, any remaining gaps identified and the continued alignment to Wales’ current Programme for Government, Taking Wales Forward. It is also critical to consider the challenges posed by Brexit; to identify opportunities within the Hazelkorn Review and to consider recommendations resulting from the work being undertaken by Professor Graeme Reid of UCL. He has been commissioned by Ministers to identify current research and innovation strengths in Wales and to outline how these strengths can be developed, to enable them to continue to support business, communities and Government effectively in the future.

While we can learn a lot from reflecting on accomplishments since 2012 and better understand both our strengths and

weaknesses, we must plan for the future. This includes building on the proactive efforts to work in collaboration with policy teams across the Welsh Government, as well as with external partners – both academic and industry representatives. Science has a fundamental role to play in supporting the step-changes needed. It does this by creating a better and healthier environment; by helping to realise benefits to human health in respect to preventative Medicine, diagnosis and treatment and by furthering economic and commercial opportunities. Strengthening collaboration, in Wales, in the UK and across the world our scientists must foster partnerships in research and its application, to take Wales forward, prosperously and sustainably.

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Credit: Cardiff University.

Chapter 1 – How science benefits Wales

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Science already plays an important part in many aspects of our lives and has the potential to transform the economy, health and social care and the natural environment of Wales. Excellent science and research also builds the international reputation and standing of our nation.

Wales is no longer reliant on coal-mining or large scale manufacturing to support its economy, so more than ever we must build on our ideas and ingenuity for a knowledge based economy. Excellence in research, balanced across both discovery and applied research, is an important component of future economic success. We would benefit from a more co-ordinated pathway between research, innovation and industry/commerce. We are a small nation: we can’t succeed at everything and, therefore, we need strategic focus and agility to achieve our full potential.

In 2008, the Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust and Academy of Medical Science’s came together to produce the report Medical Research: What’s It Worth?1 This established that a one pound increase in public spending on biomedical and health research will increase private pharmaceutical industry R&D (Research & Development) spending by £2.20 to £5.10 in the UK. The UK economy then earns respectively a return equivalent to an extra £1.10 to £2.50 per annum of GDP after this. This gives a social rate of return from the total investment (public and private) resulting from that initial one pound of public or charitable investment of 30 per cent, in perpetuity.

Then in 2014, The Economic Significance of the UK Science Base (Haskel, Hughes & Bascavusoglu-Moreau2) further supported these points. It showed the importance of

1 https://www.mrc.ac.uk/publications/browse/medical-research-whats-it-worth/2 http://www.sciencecampaign.org.uk/resource/UKScienceBase.html

scientific and technical research to the UK Economy. Universities which receive public research funding create additional research in the private sector, better enabling businesses to take up and commercialise the findings of more public-sector research, which benefits the overall economy of the UK – a virtuous circle.

Successful universities also tend to receive larger allocations of Quality Related Research (QR) Funding that they can use to fund essential core research infrastructure including salaries, equipment and match funding for other awards. Such Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) win more competitively awarded research funding from the research councils and tend then to bring in more research income from charitable, business and other external sources. The report by Haskel and colleagues also showed that public and private research expenditure is complementary. They are not substitutes for each other in the drive to enhance the UK’s productivity.

It is often overlooked that simply building a successful research group produces significant regional economic benefit in its own right. The funding of research is one of the most competitive and robust areas of activity undertaken in any walk of life. Each research funding grant is assessed independently by experts in their respective fields. Funds successfully won support high quality jobs, equipment and accommodation, which further supports the broader local economy. For example, in 2013, the 220 academic researchers at the School of Medicine at Cardiff University produced 500 research posts from their success at winning competitive research funding in the region

https://www.mrc.ac.uk/publications/browse/medical-research-whats-it-worth/

http://www.sciencecampaign.org.uk/resource/UKScienceBase.html

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of £220 million3. This is replicated in other departments and Universities across Wales creating and sustaining thousands of jobs each year.

Welsh universities bring in nearly half of all expenditure on research and development in Wales and are responsible for 84 per cent of all Wales’ published research outputs. If we include Welsh hospitals in this calculation, the figure increases to 92 per cent with 8 per cent coming from the commercial sector. In terms of economic impact, the higher education sector’s international revenue of £218 million, together with the estimated £195 million off-campus expenditure of international students, represents a total of £413 million of export earnings4. This is clearly a very important contribution to the Welsh economy.

One example of this comes from a recent report from Cardiff University5. This institution as a whole, together with the expenditure of its international students and students from the rest of the UK, generated 13,355 jobs in Wales. This was equivalent to nearly 1 per cent of all 2013 Welsh employment (Total Welsh Workplace employment in 2013 stood at 1,350,800). The University generated £518 million of Wales GVA (direct plus secondary). The total combined impact on Wales GVA of the University and its students came to £696 million. This was equivalent to 1.34 per cent of all 2013 Wales GVA. (Total Wales GVA in 2013 was £52.07 billion (StatsWales, 20146).

3 http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/university-medical-research-adds-220m-2493749?service=responsive4 http://www.uniswales.ac.uk/wp/media/2013-June-The-Economic-Impact-of-Higher-Education-in-Wales1.pdf5 https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/108179/Economic-Impact-of-Cardiff-University-February-2015.pdf6 https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue7 https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/graduatesintheuklabourmarket/2013-11-198 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/293635/bis-14-p188-innovation-report-2014-revised.pdf

In the year 2011–12, universities in Wales had a total combined impact of £3.6 billion.

Their total combined impact on FTE jobs was 39,000. Welsh universities, together with their students, generated Welsh GVA of over £1.9 billion, equivalent to 4 per cent of total 2011 Welsh GVA. We can note how Wales performs well in UK terms when it comes to research income compared to research outputs, efficiency and impact (see chapter 2 below).

STEM jobs are well paid, too. An Office for National Statistics article on graduate earnings, from 20137, showed that the average gross annual salaries for graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics or STEM subjects are markedly higher than for most other subjects. We expect this higher employability and higher salary to continue, as the UK economy moves towards having more science and technology-related businesses. Science jobs are beneficial to Wales in their own right – they tend to be higher paid and relatively sustainable and long-term. STEMM graduates pay more tax, because they earn 20 per cent more on average (Institute of Education, 2011) and around 20 per cent of the UK workforce is employed in science and engineering roles. This was approximately 5.8 million people in 2011.

Analysis in 2014, by the then UK Department of Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS)8 demonstrated that growth in innovative

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/university-medical-research-adds-220m-2493749?se

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/university-medical-research-adds-220m-2493749?se

http://www.uniswales.ac.uk/wp/media/2013-June-The-Economic-Impact-of-Higher-Education-in-Wales1.pdf

https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/108179/Economic-Impact-of-Cardiff-University-February-2015.pdf

https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/108179/Economic-Impact-of-Cardiff-University-February-2015.pdf

https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/graduatesintheuklabourmarket/2013-11-19

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/graduatesintheuklabourmarket/2013-11-19

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/293635/bis-14-p188-innovation-report-2014-revised.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/293635/bis-14-p188-innovation-report-2014-revised.pdf

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firms across the UK starts with the hiring of more STEM graduates, followed by increased R&D spending, resulting in new products to market and higher sales growth. Wales, as with other parts of the UK, needs its share of 1.28 million new science, engineering and technology professionals and technicians needed by 2020. Failure to meet this could cost the UK £27 billion a year9.

The vision of what we needed to achieve, as set out by the Welsh Government in 2012 was for a strong and dynamic science base, essential for the economic welfare and national development of Wales. Several successful examples of scientific strengths were referenced but also pointed out was a clear need for more steps to co-ordinate and boost such activity. The wish was not only to make Wales’ science and engineering strengths work to bring prestige to and interest in Wales, but also to bring more tangible benefits. These could include:

• economic growth;

• investment in people, jobs and companies;

• a better standard of living and health for all our citizens – prosperity for all;

• helping to increase inward investment into the country;

• Wales playing a full role in the world beyond its border;

• bringing more young people into STEM study and related careers;

• world-leading contributions in important areas such as environmental sustainability, climate change, energy, food and water security, medical, physical and biological research and high-level technology and digital development.

9 http://engineeringforgrowth.org.uk/skills-and-diversity/

Such ambitions remain as the background to and rationale for ongoing and future actions and programme elements.

http://engineeringforgrowth.org.uk/skills-and-diversity/

Group of Sêr Cymru 2 Fellows. Credit: Welsh Government.

Chapter 2 – The rationale for developing

our strategic approach

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Professor John Harries, our Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales from 2010 to early 2013, was responsible for working up the document adopted by the Welsh Government as its first comprehensive policy for science and research. This was launched in March 2012 by the First Minister for Wales. Professor Harries had noted that, for several decades, Wales had not succeeded in gaining its proportionate percentage of the UK Research Council and other competitively-awarded funding by comparison with its UK population share (4.9 per cent). It had improved a little from the 1990s but remained at about the 3.3 per cent level. Science for Wales pointed to building blocks in place but declared that improvement was required across a range of areas. Investment in the science base in Wales was needed to make it stronger, so that it was

10 http://www.ref.ac.uk/panels/unitsofassessment/

more competitive, while retaining a focus on Wales’ existing strengths in academia, business and industry.

In 2013, Professor Julie Williams was appointed to the role of Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales. The publication of the Research Excellence Framework or REF followed in 2014. This started to give more accurate and up to date data on excellence in many research areas. Table 1 below gives examples of Welsh Universities research groups ranked in the top 10 in the UK for their REF unit of assessments (UoA)10:

Welsh Universities also received strong scores in the new ‘research impact’ measures as shown in Tables 2 and 3 below and discussed more fully in chapter 4, confirming the contribution that the Welsh HE sector makes to the economy, society and culture of Wales.

Table 1: Scientific Research Excellence as measured in REF 2014 – UK Ranking: Cardiff University 6th, Swansea University 26th.

UK Ranking

Category University

1 Civil & Construction Engineering Cardiff

2Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing & Pharmacy

Swansea

2 Psychology, Psychiatry & Neuroscience Cardiff

3 Sociology Cardiff

4=Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing & Pharmacy

Cardiff

5= Education Cardiff

6 Physics Cardiff

7= General Engineering Cardiff

7= Sports & Exercise Sciences, Leisure & Tourism Cardiff Met. & Bangor

8 Clinical Medicine Cardiff

8 Earth Systems & Environmental Sciences Swansea

9 Chemistry Cardiff

http://www.ref.ac.uk/panels/unitsofassessment/

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Table 2: Comparison of Welsh HEI impact assessments compared with the UK.

Impact4* %

3* %

2* %

1* %

u/c %

Wales 49 37 10 3 1

UK 44 40 13 2 1

In 2013, a report prepared by Elsevier for Higher Education Wales (now known as University Wales), the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) and the Welsh Government11 considered the Welsh research base when compared to the other UK constituent countries (Scotland, England and Northern Ireland) and research countries of comparable size (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway and New Zealand). It tracked investment in and performance of, the Welsh research system in an international setting, combining a variety of indicators to present a multifaceted view of the Welsh comparative performance in research as well as the trends that may affect its future position. The report12 found that Wales has 0.14 per cent of the world’s researchers but managed to produce twice as many publications as expected (0.3 per cent). It produced five times the number top 1 per cent highest cited articles (0.7 per cent) and six times the number of all references to journal publications with patents at 0.85 per cent.

Wales’ research results in a field-weighted citation impact (FWCI) was 58 per cent, above the world average. Our researchers also punch well above their weight in terms of research income when compared to research outputs (Wales 0.65, UK average

11 https://www.elsevier.com/research-intelligence/resource-library/international-comparative-performance-of-the-welsh-research-base-201312 http://www.uniswales.ac.uk/wp/media/2013-June-The-Economic-Impact-of-Higher-Education-in-Wales1.pdf13 https://www.lfhe.ac.uk/en/research-resources/research-hub/2015-research/the-case-for-growing-stemm-research-capacity-in-wales.cfm?utm_source=research&utm_campaign=halligan

0.59), efficiency (most efficient part of the UK in converting Gross (Domestic) Expenditure on R&D (GERD) into publications, as well as in impact. Specifically, we have the highest level of start-ups and spin-offs at 0.319 per unit GERD with the highest level of IP disclosures.

Importantly, as we face future challenges, Welsh researchers collaborate internationally more frequently than those in other UK constituents. They have the highest percentage of collaborations with academics from outside their region of any part of the UK, at 60 per cent.

From all this it becomes clear that the issue in Wales was not one of quality but of research capacity. This was first noted by Professor Robin Williams who suggested that Wales had an issue with a low number of researchers applying to the more highly-funded research councils, such as the Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPSRC) and Medical (MRC) Research Councils. More extensive research by Professor Peter Halligan and Dr Louise Bright, The Case for Growing STEMM Research Capacity in Wales (February 2015, Leadership Foundation for Higher Education13) then set out the extent of the problem. It brought confirmation from other evidence that our universities had not secured their expected percentage of competitively-awarded research funding for some years. Halligan and Bright, however, explained that it was not a consequence of any lack of quality but rather, because of a long-standing shortfall of 646 researchers – 621 of them in science, technology, engineering, maths ands medicine (STEMM) subjects. 646 equates to the 4.3 per cent

https://www.elsevier.com/research-intelligence/resource-library/international-comparative-performance-of-the-welsh-research-base-2013

https://www.elsevier.com/research-intelligence/resource-library/international-comparative-performance-of-the-welsh-research-base-2013

http://www.uniswales.ac.uk/wp/media/2013-June-The-Economic-Impact-of-Higher-Education-in-Wales1.pdf

https://www.lfhe.ac.uk/en/research-resources/research-hub/2015-research/the-case-for-growing-stemm-research-capacity-in-wales.cfm?utm_source=research&utm_campaign=halligan

https://www.lfhe.ac.uk/en/research-resources/research-hub/2015-research/the-case-for-growing-stemm-research-capacity-in-wales.cfm?utm_source=research&utm_campaign=halligan

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-0.5 per cent below population (4.8 per cent) in Table 4 below. 621 then represents 96 per cent of the 646 total.

Table 3: Impact in Wales: UK ranking in REF research impact terms by unit of assessment 49 per cent rated 4*; 86 per cent 3 or 4* (above UK average).

Research Impact Ranking

Category University/ies

1 Psychology, psychiatry & neuroscience Swansea joint 1st

1 Civil & construction engineering Cardiff 1st

1 General engineering Cardiff joint 1st

1 Architecture, built environment & planning Cardiff joint 1st

2 Allied health professions Cardiff

2 Sociology Cardiff

2 Modern languages and linguistics Bangor

4 Chemistry Cardiff joint 4th

5 Physics Cardiff

5 Sport & exercise science, Leisure & tourism Swansea

6 Psychology, psychiatry & neuroscience Cardiff

6 Agriculture, veterinary & food scienceAberystwyth/Bangor

joint submission

6 Sport & exercise sciences, leisure & tourismCardiff Met./Bangor

joint submission

7 Clinical medicine Cardiff

7 General engineering Swansea

8 Biological sciences Cardiff

8Geography, environmental studies & archaeology

Swansea

9 Biological sciences Bangor joint 9th

9Geography, environmental studies & archaeology

Aberystwyth

9 Education Cardiff

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Table 4: Number of staff (FTEs – R and T&R) as a proportion of total in UK HEIs and country population, 2012/13 (‘Table 7’ in Halligan & Bright).

UK nationResearcher

(FTE)% of UK R&T and R staff

UK nation pop % (est mid-

2012)/disparity

% of UK RC income 2012/13 (HEFCW method

using HESA data)

England 103,518 83.1% (84%) -0.9 79.9%

Scotland 13,386 10.7% (8.3%) +2.4 15.7%

Northern Ireland

2,326 1.9% (2.9% ) -1.0 1.3%

Wales 5,399 4.3% (4.8%) -0.5 3.0%

UK 124,629 100% (100%) (~100%)

Table 5: Capacity shortfall in Welsh HEIs related to research council performance, 2012/13 Bold text below indicates the large STEMM resourced councils (‘Table 9’ in Halligan & Bright).

UK research council

Subject/disciplines

Wales % of UK RC income

2012/13 Wales staff deficit

(FTEs)

BIS 2012/13 Total UK % funding allocation

(Dec 2010)

AHRC 4.3% 3.6%

BBSRC Biosciences 4.9% -0.59 (62) 13.9%

EPSRC

Electric and computer

engineering Mechanical engineering

Maths

2.6%

-1.9 (65)

-2.2 (78)

-2.4% (75)

29.1%

ESRC 3.6% 5.9%

MRC Medical 2.0% -1.29 (242) 21.2%

NERC 4.9% 11.5%

STFC (Core and Cross facility)

Physics 2.7% -2.1 (84) 9.7%

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They found large deficits in clinical medicine; biosciences; physics; electrical and computer engineering; mechanical, aero and production engineering and maths. These fields are exactly those that tend to gain funding from the high-spending MRC and EPSRC.

Thus the full Sêr Cymru Programme emerged. Its aims are to build upon current research strengths and to extend the research base at a high level, focussing on excellence. Sêr Cymru Star Research chairs, Rising stars, Fellows, and National Research Networks build on our current research strengths and Sêr Cymru stars extend our research themes in strategic areas including compound semi-conductors, green energy and nuclear power, nanotechnologies, precision agriculture, drug discovery and animal and human diseases. As well as supporting research excellence, Sêr Cymru has acted strategically, for example, in both the areas of compound semi-conductors and nuclear energy, Welsh industry had the established strengths or planned developments. Sêr Cymru investments in research support these areas in a complementary manner. Indeed, the dual strengths of industry and research supported success in obtaining the first catapult to be established in Wales – the Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwji37_4_b_VAhXqAMAKHZu8Cp8QFggtMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcsa.catapult.org.uk%2F&usg=AFQjCNFeiP-CyvZ9Mv2d_ztxZ2lCp_9zzg

Credit: Cardiff University.

Chapter 3 – Building on research strengths

and increasing capacity

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The Sêr Cymru programme was developed to build on current research strengths and to bring new research capacity to Wales to achieve our full potential and is funded by an overall £100 million investment by the Welsh Government with the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales’ £11.2 million all of which is match funded by the Welsh Higher Education Institutions. We are delighted that, with business and higher education partners, we won one of the largest grants from the EU’s Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND scheme at some €9. 5 million. This grows significantly to close to €24.1 million with match-funding. Welsh Government-led partners also secured £23 million ERDF funding from WEFO Structural Funds for the other elements of Sêr Cymru introduced from 2015 (£39 million, with match funding).

Since inception in late 2013, we are pleased to say that the early Sêr Cymru programme is producing significant results for Wales. Combined, the NRNs and Star Research chairs have brought £67.1 million (as at June 2017) of competitive research funding into Wales. The programme has also supported the appointments of some 161 Post-doctoral researchers and 159 PhD/EngD students in Wales. Their research outputs have demonstrated Welsh excellence on the international scientific stage and they have proved able to address problems and policy issues close to home, by inputting expert advice and evidence. Examples include work by Swansea University researchers relevant to disease in the cockle fisheries in the Burry Inlet in Carmarthenshire; research advice about tidal lagoons; de-carbonisation and TB in cattle, amongst others.

The original programme Sêr Cymru, comprising NRNs and four Star Research chairs is now nearing its planned end date, in 2018. The researchers recruited through

it and the networks that coordinate research across Wales, established by the investment, have brought many millions of additional grant income to Wales. Through this report we point to some great examples of world-leading research in Wales. Sêr Cymru has also created and invested in three National Research Networks (NRNs) in broad ‘grand challenge’ areas’ where Wales has a clear strength or strengths. Engineering Research Network Wales (The NRN for Advanced Engineering and Materials) and the Low Carbon, Energy and Environment NRN The third, the Life Sciences Research Network Wales (LSRNW) supports world-class science within Wales. Just some of the outputs are the development of new therapeutic treatments, which tackle issues such as wound healing and anti-scarring treatments. LSRNW has brought in £7.6 million of research funding into Wales.

To date, the latest element of Sêr Cymru has made around 120 offers. These include 92 fellowships, 7 Rising stars, 4 Recapturing talent fellowships and the 7 Star Research chairs featured above. The value of the awards is in the region of £40 million. The awards are distributed amongst Cardiff University (40 awards) Swansea University (37), Aberystwyth University (12), Bangor University (9) and University of South Wales (2). The topics of research cover Life Sciences and Health; Advanced engineering and materials; Low Carbon and the Environment as well as ICT and the Digital economy and many of the projects are interdisciplinary in nature.

Sêr Cymru is not planned as a short-term solution, despite some quick wins. It can take a decade to build and fine-tune a successful research team, so it is crucial that both we and our partners in higher education maintain our effort.

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The following pages aim to highlight some of the successes so far.

Sêr Cymru Research chairs / ‘Stars’

The Sêr Cymru Programme has attracted 11 world renowned scientists from around the globe to set up their research groups in Wales. Those awards made early on in the programme are now quite well established.

Professor Yves Barde, the first appointment, he has had a long and distinguished academic career in Switzerland and moved from the Biozentrum at the University of Basel to assume the Sêr Cymru Research Chair in September 2013. Since his appointment to his Sêr Cymru Research Chair in Life Sciences and Health at Cardiff University he has rapidly assembled a talented team including 2 lecturers, who both were awarded Wellcome Trust Seed awards. Last year, post-doctoral fellow Hayley Dingsdale, previously at Duke University, was awarded one of the first Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Fellowship and also joined the Barde group. Meanwhile strong links have been developed with the pharmaceutical as well as biotechnology industry, including Novartis, Zebra Biologics and Boehringer Ingelheim with deals of £350,000 to help funding projects of common interest. All relate to the biology of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and reflect the growing interest for this growth factor, previously discovered and characterized by Yves Barde and his colleagues. BDNF is known to be essential for brain function. In addition to understanding BDNF’s role in various conditions including neurodegeneration, the Barde group is also exploring the potential of using BDNF as a biomarker. This follows their recent discovery that in human cells of the hematopoietic system express the gene according to a pattern similar to neurons. He was a key

partner in a successful bid for £1.2 million of Welsh Government Health and Care Research Wales funding. So far, he is directly responsible for £711,117 of research income brought into Wales. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2017.

Professor James Durrant, as Sêr Cymru Research Chair in Advanced Materials and Materials at Swansea University, is leading ‘Sêr Cymru Solar’. With £7 million funding this is establishing a research cluster focused on the development of low cost, large area photovoltaic technologies. Based at SPECIFIC, with strong external collaborations including the solar research program at Imperial College London, it is co-directed by Professor Dave Worsley and Professor Jenny Nelson. The overall aim of the Sêr Solar team is to create a solar energy research centre to deliver world leading scientific research and to support the growth of a new printed solar manufacturing industry. In the 2017 elections, he too was made a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Pictures 1 & 2: Professor Yves Barde, Cardiff University and Professor James Durrant, Swansea University & Imperial College, London.

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Picture 3: International attendees at the International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics 2016 (HOPV) listen to Dr Trystan Watson of SPECIFIC.

The research outputs have been significant, totalling 58 journal papers and 76 conference papers. Professor Durrant has assembled a team with 6 Post-doctoral researchers and 40 PhD and EngD students. He has secured for Wales around £23.5 million (£14.8 million EPSRC as the major contributor), with a further £16 million under consideration in competitive research income. As the research develops, a number of new staff have been added to the senior members of the Sêr Solar project as Sêr Cymru Fellowships. Also, three leading Photovoltaics (PV) academics are moving to Swansea. Professor Stuart Irvine is an expert in CdTe PV (Cadmium telluride), Professor Paul Meredith on device physics (from Australia –the fifth Sêr Cymru Research Chair – see below) and Professor Peter Holliman (synthetic chemistry). The start of a new Chemistry Department in Swansea is exciting and will also extend the potential for both staff career development and interdisciplinary research.

Professor Diana Huffaker, since her autumn 2015 arrival as Sêr Cymru Research Chair in Advanced Materials and Devices at Cardiff University, has been setting up her laboratory and recruiting a very strong team. Wales, like Professor Huffaker, is particularly strong in compound semiconductors – through research at the Universities, particularly Cardiff University but also by the presence of a Wales-based world-leading company in the growth of high specification semiconductor layers – IQE plc in St. Mellons, Cardiff.

Picture 4: Professor Diana Huffaker, Cardiff University.

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Picture 5: Professor Diana Huffaker and her research team.

Professor Huffaker has also assumed the role as Director of Cardiff University’s Institute for Compound Semiconductors (ICS) and made substantial progress towards creating a world-class semiconductor research and user facility. This focuses on both fundamental science and device development, building on pre-existing Cardiff University strengths in optoelectronics, semiconductor devices and materials. Working in collaboration with IQE, this laboratory will explore novel growth methods and material combinations – translational research not as conveniently undertaken in industry. Professor Huffaker’s arrival in Cardiff is a crucial component for the development of the Compound Semiconductor Catapult Centre. This was announced by Innovate UK in January 2016 – with £50 million funding over several years and led from Wales. The ICS will feed the outputs of research to the Compound Semiconductor Centre (CSC), a profit-making joint venture between Cardiff University

and IQE designed to commercialise research into products, processes and services for CS and the developing CS Catapult centre to aid product development and economic generation. These developments have their challenges and real outputs will take some time to materialise. All of this goes towards building Europe’s fifth specialist semiconductor cluster in South Wales – the first leading on compound semiconductors.

Professor Huffaker has brought into Wales some £13.6 million of research income so far. She has appointed a strong team of researchers that have already demonstrated the ability to attract further research funding, with three members of the team awarded Sêr Cymru Fellowships.

Professor Andrew Barron is established as Sêr Cymru Research Chair in Low Carbon, Energy and Environment at Swansea University. He and his team are in the new Swansea Bay Science and Innovation Campus research facilities, working on energy systems resilience.

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His interest in nanotechnology applied to fundamental problems in energy research has him working presently to increase the efficiency and safety of unconventional-gas exploration and extraction, facilitating a large-scale international collaboration on hydrophobic materials. He leads the developing Energy Safety Research Institute (ESRI). ESRI is concentrating University expertise in such energy fields as petroleum and chemical processing, particularly in terms of computational science (rock fracture modelling and ‘fracking’) and corrosion, with a unique focus on the safety issues around development and expansion of existing energy processes, as well as the safe deployment and integration of new ‘green energy’ technologies. Professor Barron’s research has long attracted partners in industry and academia and the Institute is supported by industry sponsors, such as BP. ESRI agreements have been signed with Universiti Brunei Darussalam and Universiti Malaysia Pahang. It is a constituent member of the Global Energy Safety Institute (founded in Houston, Texas in 2011) as well as being a sister Institute of the Energy and Environmental Systems Institute at Rice University, Houston and an associate of the National Corrosion Research Centre at Texas A&M (supported by BP in North America). Other research areas include marine energy, nuclear, tidal, crisis management and more novel areas such as PV and nanotechnolog.

To date, Professor Barron has recruited 24 Postdoctoral and PhD researchers, including several Sêr Cymru fellows and the first Sêr Cymru Recapturing talent fellow, Dr Ewa Kazimierska. He has also brought £6.63 million research income into Wales.

The second phase of funding of Star Research chairs has enabled the support of the following researchers, who are just

beginning or about to begin establishing their research activity in Wales:

Professor Paul Meredith was the fifth Sêr Cymru Research Chair but the first supported through the newer Sêr Cymru elements, started in 2015. He will continue his world-renowned research through an award entitled ‘Science and Engineering Research: Sustainable Advanced Materials program application’ in Swansea University, that started in May 2017. Professor Meredith has significant international experience in academic and industrial research, innovation and start-up companies in both Australia and the USA and a strong track record in policy engagement in science and the energy sector. He will be a real asset to Wales and to our growing strength in energy-related research.

Pictures 6 & 7: Professor Andrew Barron, Swansea University and Professor Paul Meredith, Swansea University.

Bangor University Energy Institute

Through an application to the Sêr Cymru programme, Bangor University is to establish a world leading capability in Nuclear Engineering, which establishes north Wales as a global centre, delivering international partnerships and opportunity from a rich mix of existing and new talent. Their Sêr Cymru funding will support the appointment of two Research Professors:

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Professor Bill Lee is currently an Imperial College London Professor, in the Department of Materials and Centre for Nuclear Engineering. He has made seminal contributions across a broad range of ceramics with impact over a range of commercial sectors including in metals manufacture (development of in situ refractories for corrosion protection), in communication (development of microwave dielectric and other electroceramics), in glass/ceramic manufacture including in improved understanding of clays, clay-based ceramics and whitewares and, recently, in the energy sector (specifically nuclear where he has developed novel wasteforms for difficult radionuclide-containing wastes and advanced ceramic fuels for next generation fission reactors including accident tolerant fuels under development).

Picture 8: Professor Bill Lee, coming to Bangor University.

Cardiff University Translational Drug Discovery Centre

This investment will make possible the relocation of the highly successful University of Sussex Drug Discovery Centre to Cardiff and will transform Wales’s ability to translate fundamental discoveries in disease processes into new drugs. The Centre will unlock significant translational potential across the breadth of Wales’s biomedical research

community and act as the epicentre of a broad based (regional and national) centre for drug discovery.

The two Research Professors involved in this research, who moved from industry to academia around.4 years ago, are exceptionally well placed to deliver on this vision:

Professor Simon Ward is an acknowledged international expert in Medicinal Chemistry who has had extensive senior experience at Glaxo SmithKline, including leading the Medicinal Chemistry programmes in the UK at Harlow and Stevenage, during which time he played a key role in bringing a number of drug therapies to the clinic.

Professor John Atack has extensive experience in industry and outstanding success in drug discovery in an academic setting. He has held a number of senior scientific and management positions whist at Merck Sharp & Dohme and Janssen in the UK, USA and Europe and is now, with Professor Ward, a Director of the Sussex Drug Discovery Centre where he leads the Biology programme.

Picture 9: Professors Simon Ward & John Atack, coming to Cardiff University.

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Cardiff University Chair in System Medicine

Professor Peter Ghazal is an internationally respected Systems Immunologist from the University of Edinburgh who leads a major research programme in viral infection and neonatal sepsis, with both basic cellular and translational arms, funded by RCUK, EU and Wellcome Trust. He has been at the forefront of multidisciplinary translational research for several years, establishing a vibrant inter- and multi-disciplinary Centre that directly linked engineering with genomics. Professor Ghazal has also led IP generation, forming three start-up companies at the interface of engineering and biology, attracting many tens of millions of private inward investment, generating over 100 jobs in the private sector.

Pictures 10 & 11: Professor Peter Ghazel, coming to Cardiff University and Professor Richard Lucas, Aberystwyth University.

Aberystwyth University Chair in Earth Observation

Professor Richard Lucas is an internationally renowned researcher with expertise in quantifying and understanding the response of terrestrial ecosystems and environments to change, including that associated with climatic variation, through integration of remote sensing data from various sources. Professor Lucas has developed a range of

techniques for retrieving information on the state and dynamnics of terrestrial vegetation and his current research is focusing on better understanding of the impacts of human-induced and natural change on a diversity of ecosystems. His research is also establishing how time-series of optical and radar remote sensing data can be used to restore previously lost or degraded ecosystems for the benefit of biodiversity conservation and carbon preservation and sequestration. He will be retuning to Aberytwyth from research in Australia, at the University of New South Wales.

National Research Networks

The Low Carbon, Energy and Environment Research Network Wales (LCEE) includes researchers from the Universities of Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff, South Wales and Swansea, as well as the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Bangor (CEH – funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, NERC), the British Geological Survey and the Met. Office. Four themes are being used to organise their research effort:

1. Sustainable intensification of agriculture and aquaculture (to improve food security within environmental and spatial constraints, while maintaining other ecosystem services.

2. Low carbon energy pathways – looking at the boundaries of viability,

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spatial-specificity, socio-economic and environmental impacts of low carbon energy pathways from biomass, waste streams, wind and marine technology in an interdisciplinary context.

3. Developing the bio economy through social, economic and technological modelling.

4. The impacts and mitigation of climate change and human activity.

These overlap with a number of research clusters: Aqua Wales; Cleaner Cows; Climate-Smart Grass Geo-Carb Cymru Multi-Land; Plants and Architecture, Quotient. The LCEE link below explains these in more detail.

Picture 12: Resilcoast PhD student Davide de Battisti (Swansea University) during field work in the marsh. Credit: Jordi Pagès.

Since its inception the LCEE NRN, which is directed by Professor David Thomas, a Marine biologist at Bangor University, has now recruited 24 Post-Doctoral researchers and 12 PhD students across Wales and brought in £4.457 million in research income. An example of the research work undertaken

by the NRN-LCEE includes the Resilcoast Research Cluster which studies the role and resilience of highly dynamic salt marsh systems in providing societal benefits such as flood protection, recreational space, grazing land and habitats for wildlife.

The scientists from Cardiff, Bangor, Swansea, Plymouth, CEH, Natural Resources Wales and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research are using historical data, field experiments and in-depth reviews of shoreline management policy to identify key factors influencing the distribution of salt marshes. Their work will be used by coastal managers to maximise the use of salt marshes in protecting coastlines and other benefits to society.

Picture 13: Resilcoast PhD student Mollie Duggan-Edwards (Bangor University) during field work in the marsh. Credit: Mollie Duggan-Edwards.

For more information about the NRN LCEE, please visit the website: http://www.nrn-lcee.ac.uk.

http://www.nrn-lcee.ac.uk

http://www.nrn-lcee.ac.uk

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The Life Sciences Research Network Wales (LSRNW) supports world class science within Wales to develop new therapeutic treatments in areas of unmet medical and veterinary need. This network, under its present Directors, Dr Andrea Brancale (Scientific) and Professor John Chester (Clinical), bring together academics at Cardiff, Swansea, Aberystwyth and Bangor Universities and aims to develop further long term research capacity within the Life Sciences.

Picture 14: Dr Tracey Martin, Cancer Metastasis Platform, Cardiff University, talking to the then Health Minister, Mark Drakeford. Credit: Cardiff University.

The Network has launched 13 competitive funding calls for PhD studentships, postdoctoral and platform technology projects and awarded a total of 125 projects.

The LSRNW has brought in £7.6 million in research income into Wales.

Picture 15: Left to right: Dr Robert Steadman (Wales Kidney Research Unit, Cardiff University); Jordanna Dally, Dr Ryan Moseley (School of Dentistry, Cardiff University) Credit: Cardiff University.

LSRNW funding has also contributed significantly to the development of work at Cardiff University’s School of Dentistry, which is evaluating the anti-scarring properties and the underlying mechanisms of action of natural compounds (epoxy-tiglianes),occurring within seeds of the Fontain’s Blushwood Tree, indigenous to the Queensland Tropical Rainforest, Australia. This Network PhD studentship has resulted in the filing of several patents and a further 2 years postdoctoral funding (£252,000) from the Australian industrial partner, Qbiotics Ltd. to extend this work further. The ultimate aim is to develop epoxy-tigliane compounds as novel pharmaceutical therapies against abnormal wound healing and excessive scarring in skin and other tissues. Chronic wounds and excessive scarring (fibrosis) in skin are both major

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causes of patient morbidity. These pose significant social, economic and clinical challenges to healthcare services worldwide, compounded by current acceptance that existing therapies are largely unsatisfactory in treating these conditions. This work aims to develop epoxy-tiglianes as novel chronic wound and dermal fibrosis therapies, thereby addressing the inadequacies associated with current treatments.

Platform technology grant funding has enabled academics from across Wales to access free expertise and equipment at other Welsh Higher Education Institutions. These platforms have proved to be highly successful and have led to a significant increase in the number of pan-Wales proposals submitted, leading to a some £542,000 in leveraged research funding. They have also secured over 100 new collaborations with academia and industry, both within the UK and internationally. A selection of these platforms have demonstrated real commercial viability. Business options for their sustainability in supporting drug discovery activities from academia and the private sector are currently being explored.

Engineering Research Network Wales is the title under which the Advanced Engineering and Materials (AdEM) Network operates. It aims to be a transformative alliance to enhance fundamental and applied research across Wales, for the broad areas of research

it covers. Outcomes are along similar lines to the other networks, namely an increased number of objectively world-class researchers delivered by strategic collaborations, greater success in competitive grant capture, with more extensive close working with industry. They encompass three broad research areas:

• materials and innovative manufacturing processes;

• novel modelling techniques;

• advanced sensors and devices.

Together, these broadly cover identified strategic research themes which line up with potential funding from EPSRC and EU on their priorities. Their research can be applied across several industrial sectors.

The Network supports 62 projects across Wales in which 42 postgraduate students and over 100 researchers work in close co-operation with 71 industrial partners.

Picture 16: Energy research on photo-voltaic cells, sodium-based battery storage and nanocomposite electrical conductors is working towards sustainable, low-carbon power. Credit: ERNW.

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AdEM has generated £10.1 million of research into Wales. It is developing engineering and technology solutions to ensure a secure, prosperous and healthy future for people in Wales. Medical devices and sensors programmes are developing diagnostic tests capable of detecting disease at the molecular level. Energy research on photo-voltaic cells, sodium-based battery storage and nanocomposite electrical conductors is working towards sustainable, low-carbon power. To help create jobs and increase economic activity AdEM are working closely with our nation’s leading commercial enterprises to build the world-leading manufacturing base in CS technologies, referred to above in relation to Professor Huffaker. These technologies sit at the heart of our data-driven world, underpinning the internet, mobile phones and smart devices.

Picture 17: Research on medical devices and sensors programmes are developing diagnostic tests capable of detecting disease at the molecular level. Credit: ERNW.

The AdEM network also acts as an advocate and promoter for Engineering in Wales, organising a distinguished lecturer series, training future generations of engineers and technologists and presenting their

cutting-edge work to the public through science fairs, schools programmes and at the National Eisteddfod.

All three NRNs are now well-established. The majority of their funding (which runs through to 2018) has been deployed to their research programmes. Collectively, even though their programmes are only somewhat over halfway through, the networks have brought approximately £22.6 million of competitively-won research grant funding into Wales.

Sêr Cymru rising stars and fellows

In a novel approach and working with the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO), we are also able to support further strands of research activity within the programme. Again working with higher education and business, the Welsh Government applied to WEFO for European Regional Development Fund or ERDF Structural Funds support. This, with required match-funding, provides for the rest of the latest elements of Sêr Cymru – the fellowship programmes. WEFO described this grant of some £23 million as a ‘backbone’ project for them. Match-funding from the employing university, Welsh Government and HEFCW provides around £39 million. This synergistic use of separate European funding sources (Horizon 2020 and European Regional Development Fund) has brought praise from the European Commission, for its innovative approach. It enables us to offer the following:

ê Sêr Cymru Rising Star Fellowships are prestigious and highly competitive positions, to attract the very best ‘rising stars’ of academic research – the next generation of research leaders. These are five-year fellowship packages, each funded at £0.2 million per year. To date, 7 Rising Star fellowships have been offered – featured below.

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Figure 1: Analysis of Sêr Cymru Early career researchers, by area of activity & interdisciplinarity.

ê Sêr Cymru COFUND Research Fellowships are aimed at candidates of truly exceptional quality. They are typically some three to five years on from their PhD. There is no national or geographical constraint, provided they come from outside the UK to work in Wales. Funding is for three years. A final total of some 90 of such fellowships is projected. To date, in the region of 64 COFUND fellowships have been offered.

We noted above how this was the largest grant yet made from this fund at around €9.5 million (up to €24.1 million with match funding).

ê Sêr Cymru ERDF Fellowships are intended to provide parallel support to the COFUND fellowships scheme. They are open to excellent researchers with 3 – 5 years postdoctoral experience but do not have the transnational mobility criterion required for COFUND. Fellows who apply for these 3 year positions can be from anywhere in the world, including the UK. To date, in the region of 40 ERDF supported fellowships have been offered.We feature some of these two types of Fellowships below.

ê Recapturing Research Talent is a strand designed to provide support for up to

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12 researchers returning to work following a career break. The aim is to start to address the ‘brain-drain’ of researchers, many of them women, who take such career breaks, for childcare or otherwise. They often then find it hard to break back into active research careers. We need that talent. To date, one Recapturing talent fellow is in post and another three such fellowships are being offered – featured more fully below.

Three of these four fellows are female. Their research work will be in energy materials; sustaining bee populations by winter feed to increase resistance to infections; computer analysis and handling of big data and X-Ray tomography for testing and imaging in manufacturing.

Pictures 18, 19 & 20: Dr. Sudhagar Pitchaimuthu, Dr Spyridon Theofilopoulos and Dr Ardalan Armin.

Rising stars

Dr. Sudhagar Pitchaimuthu has worked in Hanyang University, South Korea and then at University of Jaume I, Spain, before moving to the Photocatalytic Research Center, Tokyo University of Science, Noda, Japan. Coming to Swansea University he will now be leading the Multifunctional photocatalyst and coating research group. Their work is associated closely with SPECIFIC research centre in Swansea’s College of Engineering. He is pioneering novel nanostructured multifunctional materials and coatings.

Dr Spyridon Theofilopoulos worked as a postdoctoral scientist in the Biomedical Research Foundation, Athens and lectured in the School of Medicine at the University of Thessaly, Greece. From 2007 he joined the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm in Molecular Neurobiology. His award is to join Swansea University to work on cholesterol metabolites in dopamine neuron development and their role in Parkinson’s disease diagnosis and therapy. He will bring novel expertise and collaborations to the University, which has had no Parkinson’s Disease researcher before.

Dr Ardalan Armin was awarded a Sêr Cymru II Rising Star fellowship for work on next-generation semiconductors for photodetectors and optoelectronics’. Moving from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, he brings to Swansea University an outstanding track record of scientific and industrial research, with many top peer-reviewed journal articles. He is highly cited. Dr Armin works in optics, organic optoelectronics, and the physics of organohalide perovskites. He has focused on electro-optical and transport physics, seeking new concepts and improved performance from devices such as solar cells and photodetectors. He has an excellent track record in industrial research / production and commercialisation.

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A further four Rising stars have been recommended for support by the Sêr Cymru Independent Evaluation Panel and are now likely to be offered a fellowship in the near future. One woman and three men, they have extremely strong track records in research and will lead studies around a novel socio-ecological interdisciplinary approach to freshwater resource for infrastructure management and conservation; the sensory basis of fish movement; how the brain encodes spatial memory for the better understanding of dementias and photonics and lasers for semiconductor applications.

Pictures 21 & 22: Dr Catrin Williams, Cardiff University and Dr Karen Cameron, Aberystwyth University.

Sêr Cymru Fellows

Dr Catrin Williams, Cardiff University is a multidisciplinary researcher. Her Fellowship spans the STEM subjects, and aims to address a fundamental biophysical question: how do electromagnetic fields interact with biological systems? Ubiquitous microwave-based technologies are widespread but not thoroughly understood at the biological molecular. She will study bioluminescent bacteria, breast cancer and cardiac stem cells. Dr Williams was recently named in the UK’s Top 50 Women in Engineering under 35 years old. This list, compiled by The Daily Telegraph with the Women’s Engineering

Society (WES) selected these from more than 500 nominations.

Dr Karen Cameron, Aberystwyth University is a glacial microbial ecologist. Her COFUND fellowship, considers how microbiota on the surfaces of glaciers contribute towards surface ice darkening. This leads to enhanced glacial melt, an event which contributes towards sea level rise, threatening the resources, lifestyles and lives of humanity worldwide.

Pictures 23 & 24: Dr Rachel Paterson, Cardiff University and Dr Shirin Alexander, Swansea University.

Dr Rachel Paterson, Cardiff University is an ecological parasitologist, investigating how the environment shapes interactions between parasites and their hosts. She has led research in New Zealand, Argentina and Norway. Her current research assesses the combined effects of climate change and anthropogenic stress on fish-parasite dynamics. This research will increase understanding of multiple stressor impacts on freshwater ecosystems, through study of the Arctic Charr (declining in Welsh freshwater habitats), and improve environmental management policies by enhanced prediction of environmental change impacts.

Dr Shirin Alexander, Swansea University received her PhD in physical chemistry from

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Bristol University. Her principal research interest is in colloids, surface chemistry, materials, and polymers. Postdoctoral work at Bristol in the Surfactant Research group developing a range of Low Surface Energy Materials or LSEMs. She is now researching material chemistry – combining LSEMs with metal oxide nanoparticles. This will produce novel green (fluorine-free) superhydrophobic (waterproof) surfaces. Applications for these include protective and anti-fouling coatings; environmental and biomedical applications. Many current superhydrophobic materials contain toxins.

Pictures 25 & 26: Dr Lars Markesteijn, Bangor University and Dr Darrick Evensen, Cardiff University.

Dr Lars Markesteijn, Bangor University, fascinated by biodiversity, has chiefly worked on biologically complex tropical forest ecosystems. His special interest is density-dependent mortality and negative density dependence, as mediated by plant natural enemies and how it affects regeneration of tropical plants. He looks too at physiological plant responses to limiting resources, resource competition and tolerance to environmental change. This COFUND fellowship looks at ‘Plant-soil feedbacks; unearthing the mechanisms of successional tree species turnover in tropical forest’. It is an ongoing collaboration with the

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), Bangor University and the Multi-land project of the Welsh National Research Network for Low Carbon Energy and Environment (NRN-LCEE). He will base this research on Panama.

Dr Darrick Evensen, Cardiff University is an environmental social-psychologist, researching public perceptions of and reactions to controversial energy and environment issues. Previous research was on shale gas and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the United States and Canada. This Fellowship allows for an in-depth examination of: (1) what the Welsh public know and feel about unconventional gas development, via fracking (2) how and why they believe this would affect them, if it were to occur and (3) such views, contextualised alongside perspectives on the future of energy production and consumption. Stakeholder interaction, interviews and public surveys in Wales and comparator nations with a similar history of extractive development will enable the research. He plans to explore particularly how previous experience with resource extraction in Wales affects views about future energy development.

Sêr Cymru Recapturing Talent Fellows

Dr Ewa Kazimierska, mentioned above as being part of Professor Barron’s team at Swansea University, is the first Fellow appointed under this ‘Recapturing Talent’ strand. She is an electrochemist, interested in materials science and engineering. Her research focuses on energy applications – using electrochemistry as a tool for creating the energy materials of the future. She is working towards development of the next generation of electrical power transmission materials. After a seven-year career break, she will be investigating approaches for the integration of carbon materials in

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metals aiming to develop ultraconductive copper-carbon nanotube composites. Electrochemical; spectroscopic and imaging techniques will be instrumental in achieving this goal, including materials design; preparation, and testing. This research is of strategic importance for Wales since ultraconductive wires have the potential to revolutionise power transmission and distribution with significant energy savings.

Picture 27: Dr Ewa Kazimierska. Credit: Dr Kazimierska.

A further three applicants for such fellows have been recommended by the Sêr Cymru Independent Evaluation Panel for funding. Offers are likely to be made soon. Two female and one male, their research looks at algorithms for manipulating ‘big data’; work around improving the health and survival of bees and X-Ray imaging for manufacturing uses.

There is one additional and different element, which accompanied these fellowship schemes:

ê Welsh strategic awards for capital equipment directly funded by £1.7 million from the Welsh Government. In April 2015, universities in Wales were invited to bid for capital funding, providing a coherent plan for use of the equipment for use in research in any part of the academic disciplines

encompassed by STEMM (STEM with Medicine added) – a single piece or and/or many smaller pieces. The total request for funding was to be between £50, 000 and half a million pounds. 42 applications were reviewed by our then newly-appointed Independent Evaluation Panel (see below) and the successful proposals are listed at Annex 2.

Picture 28: Professor Julie Williams, Julie James AM and Professor Paul Meredith with some of the first group of earlier career fellows appointed through Sêr Cymru. Credit: Welsh Government.

Researchers supported through Sêr Cymru come from prestigious institutions in the US, such as Harvard, MIT, CalTech, University of California, Irvine, Duke University Medical Centre, UC Davis Centre for Neuroscience; in Europe (e.g. École Normale Supérieure and University of Montpellier, France; University of Bern, Switzerland; Universität Bremen, Germany) and further afield, including The University of Queensland, Australia and the Universities of Beijing and Shenzhen, China. The distribution of applicants is represented in the map at Figure 2.

On Monday 27 February 2017, the Minister for Skills and Science hosted a Sêr Cymru celebration event, in the Millennium Centre. The initial round of fellows were welcomed and the considerable achievements secured

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by the wider Sêr Cymru scheme were celebrated, before an invited audience, including senior academics and Welsh Assembly Members.

Picture 29: Julie James AM meeting early career researchers at a Sêr Cymru event in February 2017.

The huge range of high quality research being undertaken was showcased.

Videos of the event can be found at:

English no subtitles

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jdqfre6pscgl91h/S per centC3%AAr%20Cymru%20V3%20English.mp4?dl=0

English subtitles

https://www.dropbox.com/s/d1xtpa0i2vqz7lm/S%C3%AAr%20Cymru%20ENG%20V3%20Subtitled.mp4?dl=0

Figure 2: Location of successful Sêr Cymru applicants at time of proposal submission.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jdqfre6pscgl91h/S%C3%AAr%20Cymru%20V3%20English. https://www.dropbox.com/s/jdqfre6pscgl91h/S%C3%AAr%20Cymru%20V3%20English.mp4 mp4







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Table 6: Comparison – gaps identified Halligan & Bright 2014, with researchers appointed through Sêr Cymru elements 2015+.

Gaps in researchers identified

in 2014

Destination Department

Number appointed through rounds 1, 2 and 3 of Sêr Cymru Fellowships element

Percentage of identified gap

filled (%)

242 Clinical Medicine*† 14 5.8

84 Physics 8 9.5

78Mechanical, Aeronautical and Production Engineering†

37 47.4

76 Maths 6 7.9

65Electrical And Computer Engineering

7 10.8

62 Biosciences 18 29.0

0 Chemistry 5

0Earth and Ocean Science/Geography

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* includes pharmacy and psychology † includes 2 Star Research chairs in 1 package

Governance for Sêr Cymru’s more recent elements ensures effective scrutiny of bids to choose the best, in terms of research excellence. An Independent Evaluation Panel (IEP) operates like the research board of a UK Research Council, with equivalent checks and safeguards. Scientific decisions are made on excellence, decided from peer review and IEP consideration. Recruited through an open and transparent competition, with robust arrangements for any conflict of interest, the IEP is chaired by Dr. Wendy Ewart MBE, an independent Biomedicine Consultant and former Deputy CEO of the Medical Research Council. Their recommendations are passed for agreement by a Programme Beneficiary Board, chaired by Professor Julie Williams, as Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales. This is made up of senior representatives from universities in Wales (Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research or equivalent), with HEFCW and other funding representation. Finally, there is

a small group – the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) Oversight Group. Members must have experience of sitting on ethical review panels and/or expertise in equality and diversity issues. They will oversee the management of these matters, receiving annual reports on the way RRI has been addressed at both programme and individual fellowship level. Appointment is in train now, again through an open and transparent competition.

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Independent Evaluation Panel Members

Picture 30: Left to right: Professor David Toll, Durham University, Civil Engineering; Professor Nigel John University of Chester, Computer Science; Professor Xiao Yun Xu, Imperial College, London, Biofluid Mechanics; Andris Bankovskis, Independent Energy Consultant: Dr Wendy Ewart MBE, Independent Consultant in Biomedicine, (Chair); Professor Nigel Brown OBE, Emeritus Professor Edinburgh University, Molecular Microbiology; Professor Marlene Sinclair, University of Ulster, Midwifery Research; Professor Rob Beynon, University of Liverpool, Biochemistry; Professor Graham Davies, Emeritus Professor UNSW, Australia, Micro-electric mechanical systems; Professor Sir John Enderby, Emeritus Professor University of Bristol, Physicist. Not pictured here – Professor Peter McGuffin, Emeritus Professor KCL, Psychiatrist and geneticist; Professor Alan Palmer, Entrepreneur and Visiting Professor (UCL & Reading University), Neurodegenerative Disorders; Professor Wayne Powell, Principal and Chief Executive Scotlandís Rural College (SRUC), Edinburgh; Professor Christina Victor, Brunel University, Public Health.

At this point it is important to acknowledge the valuable input from the Science Advisory Council for Wales (SACW), the distinguished advisory body to the CSAW, which helps shape, review and monitor science policy in Wales. Now chaired by Professor Robin Williams, former Vice-chancellor of Swansea University, they meet twice a year. The Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales is most grateful for their counsel and would like to thank them all.

Science Advisory Council for Wales

1. Professor Robin Williams CBE Former Vice Chancellor, Swansea University, CHAIR of SACW

2. Mr Kevin Bygate Director Business Development and CEO, SPECIFIC

3. Professor Laurence Eaves CBE Professor of Physics, University of Nottingham

4. Professor Bridget Emmett Head of Bangor Site, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

5. Dr Wendy Ewart MBE Chair Independent Evaluation Panel, Sêr Cymru

6. Professor Chris Gaskell CBE Former Vice Chancellor, Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester

7. Professor Peter Halligan Chief Executive, The Learned Society of Wales

8. Professor Tim Jones Provost & Vice-Principal, University of Birmingham

9. Dr David Owen OBE Chair of Advisory Board, Wales Life Science Bridging Fund

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10. Professor Ole Petersen CBE MRC Professor of Bioscience, Cardiff University

11. Professor Dame Jean Thomas DBE Professor Emeritus of Macromolecular Biochemistry, Cambridge University

12. Professor Christine Williams OBE Professor of Human Nutrition Animal Dairy & Food Chain Sciences, University of Reading

13. Professor Richard Davies Vice Chancellor, Swansea University

14. Professor John Hughes Vice Chancellor, Bangor University

15. Professor Chris Thomas Pro Vice Chancellor, Aberystwyth University

16. Professor Colin Riordan Vice Chancellor, Cardiff University

1

7

13

2

8

14

3

9

15

4

10

16

5

11

6

12

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Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) Ozone Exposure Solardomes. Credit: Low Carbon Energy and Environment NRN.

Chapter 4 – Strengths, emerging strengths

and research impact

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At the end of 2016, the Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales sought to gather information on the present and potential future research landscape in Wales by inviting comments and opinions from the Higher Education sector and by visiting the institutions herself. The following cases are not intended to be an exhaustive list but an illustration of selected research strengths and emerging areas.

Discovery or basic research

Whilst the vast majority of the research featured here has clear applications, it should be remembered that there is an important place for work that is simply driven by curiosity. There are many examples of such work, over time, producing disruptive technologies and widely applied practical solutions to real-world problems.

• We featured, in a past Annual Report on Science for Wales, the important role played by researchers in the Gravitational Physics Group at Cardiff University in the first ever detection of gravitational waves in September 2015. They formed part of an alliance of some 950 scientists, from universities all over the world, who make up the LIGO Scientific Collaboration or LSC. Now they have again helped in what is only the third occurrence of gravitational waves detected. The detection was made on January 4, 2017 This latest observation confirms the existence of a pair of giant black holes with masses 20 and 30 times the mass of our Sun. Once merged, the resulting black hole had a mass of around 49 times that of our Sun and lost the energy equivalent of 2 solar mass to gravitational waves – detected at two LIGO detectors in the USA. The recent detection is also the farthest yet, with the black holes being some 3 billion light-years away from Earth (the first two detections

were 1.3 and 1.4 billion light-years away). It gives crucial new information about how black holes form and interact.

Picture 31: Dr Emily Shephard of Swansea University, working with Andean Condors.Credit: Dr Shepherd/Swansea University.

• The Swansea Laboratory for Animal Movement (SLAM) researches animal movement in its broadest sense, using individual-based approaches to examine the role of the environment in structuring the properties of animal movements and distributions. SLAM specializes in obtaining data using novel technologies which allows access information from particularly intractable species. One of these projects studies Andean condors, which are among the heaviest flying birds. As a consequence, they are limited in

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their ability to use powered flight. Instead they cover hundreds of kilometres using updraughts. The SLAM project examines the extent to which they are limited by the availability of rising air, using ‘Daily Diary’ loggers to reconstruct their flight paths in fine detail and quantify when and where they fly and how much it costs them in energy. Dr Emily Shepherd has won a highly competitive European Research Council (ERC) grant for this work.

Energy & Climate Change

• Based in Swansea University, SPECIFIC (Sustainable Product Engineering Centre for Innovative Functional Industrial Coatings) aims to address the challenge of low carbon electricity and heat by enabling buildings to generate, store and release their own energy, in one system, using only the energy from the sun. SPECIFIC is an innovative, academic and industrial consortium, led by Swansea University with BASF; NSG Pilkington; Tata Steel and Cardiff University, as strategic partners to share expertise in functional coatings; energy storage; technology scale-up; business development and commercial know-how.

• Its research teams work on the next generation of solar technologies, improving performance and enabling manufacture at scale and its building-integration team is already building full-scale demonstrators using existing technologies to prove the innovative concept works and to test it thoroughly.

• SPECIFIC has a long term vision to transform the world of energy and construction that will enable the wider adoption of low carbon buildings with thousands of jobs and enhanced value in the construction supply chain. Its flagship demonstrator is the Active Classroom,

which has been constructed on site at Swansea University’s Bay Campus. The Active Classroom is powered by the sun and has been constructed using the latest generate, store and release technologies, developed by SPECIFIC and partners.

Picture 32: The Active Classroom demonstrator Credit: SPECIFIC.

• Wrexham Glyndwr is developing an in line system for spraying thin film photovoltaics, which could have the potential to complement other initiatives in this area.

• Related to this, Cardiff University’s School of Architecture has developed the SOLCER house. The SOLCER House is capable of exporting more energy to the national electricity grid than it uses, in an attempt to meet tough new targets for zero carbon housing. The SOLCER House’s unique design combines, for the first time, renewable energy supply, thermal and electrical energy storage and reduced energy demand; to create an energy positive house. The house is situated on the site of Cenin Renewables Ltd. in Pyle, near Bridgend.

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Picture 33: The SOLCER house demonstrator Credit: Cardiff University School of Architecture.

• Cardiff University’s Energy Systems Research Institute already has access to a number of energy systems demonstrators and large scale facilities to undertake systems and infrastructure R&D. These include the SOLCER House as mentioned above, the RCUK Power Systems simulator, the National Grid Centre and the Gas Turbine Research Centre.

• In addition, it has recently launched the European funded FLEXIS project with partners at Swansea University, University of South Wales, Aberystwyth University and Bangor University. The FLEXIS project will focus on developing flexible energy systems, which is an urgent priority in energy generation and supply. ‘Flexibility’ refers to the ability to modify generation and/or consumption patterns. It will make a significant economic impact through supporting and developing internationally renowned research in this area and more specifically through new technologies and new jobs that will follow. All of the research to be performed will focus on and be applied at a Welsh ‘place based’ demonstrator. This demonstrator is to be in the Port Talbot area, based at the Tata steel works.

• The University of South Wales’ (USW) impressive Sustainable Energy Research Centre (SERC) brings together leaders from biology, engineering, chemistry and physics, united in a single academic team combining their resources and skills in order to meet the energy security and environmental challenges of the new millennium. SERC undertakes research with strong industrial focus in a number of areas, including anaerobic digestion; analytical technology; bioelectrochemical systems; bio-hydrogen and bio-methane production; hydrogen energy; hydrogen vehicles and re-fuelling; biopolymer production; modelling and control; nano-materials and waste water treatment.

• SERC has set up a collaboration with Riversimple and the engineering firm Presreg, to develop a ’hydrogen container manifold and regulators’ for use on cars of the future. This will allow components to be manufactured in the UK rather than being imported, helping to create a local supply chain for fuel-cell powertrains. In addition the University’s Hydrogen Centre in Baglan Bay will be used to re-fuel two new hydrogen powered vehicles, belonging to Mid and West Wales Fire Service.

• Related research in USW includes: development of electrolytic hydrogen systems to achieve grid- scale electricity storage to perform balancing functions; Hydrogen to Heat – high temperature electrolysis to capture waste heat and optimise water-splitting efficiency; novel materials for the production and storage of renewable hydrogen; dynamics of electricity system balancing via hydrogen capture and injection to the natural gas grid and amplification and purification of hydrogen, from industrial waste streams (especially steel and semi-conductor industries).

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• Aberystwyth’s Earth Observation Laboratory focusses on advancing the use and integration of ground, airborne and space-borne remote sensing data for better understanding the direct and indirect impacts of anthropogenically-induced and natural climate change on ecosystems and environments. Its research is worldwide and covers a diversity of environments from tropical rainforests and mangroves to high-altitude glaciers.

• It is noteworthy that Wales has more steep water-capture areas which could be exploited for hydro energy schemes, as well as an extensive coastline, with areas well-suited to further tidal energy programmes.

Precision medicine

• Bangor University is home to the Bangor North West Cancer Research Institute. Members of the Institute use a range of model systems and state of the art technologies to research various aspects of carcinogenesis; cancer diagnostics and treatment. One of its aims is to translate research findings into the clinic, to improve the treatment of cancer patients. For this purpose, Bangor is increasingly collaborating with clinicians in Wales and in Liverpool.

• Cardiff University undertakes significant cancer research with strengths in the fields of tumour and environment; drug discovery; development and delivery; personalised cancer genetics; clinical trials and drug/radiotherapy combinations. Cancer Stem cells are also being investigated in Cardiff by researchers in the European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute and the Life Sciences and Health NRN, using organoid models. Organoids are derived from stem cells and grown in a laboratory. They are clusters of cells

that grow into minute versions of organs. They display the three-dimensional characteristics and physiology of real organs, offering unique possibilities for medical research, focused on drug discovery and personalised medicine. Linked to this, Cardiff-based life sciences company Cellesce is continuing to develop its organoid research (started by employees of Bath and Cardiff Universities), thanks to a recent six-figure funding round led by Finance Wales.

• Bangor University’s School of Chemistry is undertaking interdisciplinary research to develop natural and synthetic polymers for pharmaceutical health care – drugs and wound healing applications. Increasing the efficiency and decreasing the side effects of cancer drugs is also being looked at. For example, providing intense local concentrations of drugs, i.e. targeted drug delivery. Impressive research is also taking place surrounding sensors for cancer that detect and isolate stem cells in real time.

• Cardiff University School of Pharmacy’s basic through to clinical research approach is helping to develop new and improved therapies and diagnostics toward health and welfare benefits. They are doing this by using computer-aided drug design and the development of molecular modelling software and anti-cancer drug design in a variety of tumour types (e.g. breast, pancreatic, gynaecological, prostate) with strategies including nucleotide prodrugs (‘Protides’); anti-tubulin agents; enyzme inhibitors (e.g. CYP450s, oestrone sulphatase); inhibitors to peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs); apoptosis modifiers; inhibitors of Protein-Protein interactions; E3 ubiquitin ligases.

• Future opportunities with particular reference to Industrial Strategy Challenge

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Fund lie around a unifying cancer research strategy for Wales, including the CUICR Centre and optimal alignment with NHS, proton beam therapy, the Drug Development Unit, Genomics for Precision Medicine and emerging themes around brain tumour imaging, prevention and early diagnosis.

• Cardiff University’s Systems Immunity Research Institute provides an internationally competitive research environment that fosters mentorship and encourages interdisciplinary collaboration between academia and industry. Its research provides a holistic view of chronic disease progression, the control of infection and mechanisms that determine an effective immune response. Its current priority areas are: Immuno psychiatry, understanding the immune, inflammatory and infectious places in brain disease; Infection, stopping infection becoming sepsis; and Systems inflammation, using mathematical modelling for patient diagnosis for chronic and multiple organ inflammation.

• Inked to infection, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and this is one of the greatest health threats to humans and animals. Academics in Wales have had a long association with investigating AMR and examples from Cardiff University range from the creation of novel anti-biofilm chemistries on the surfaces of biomaterials to generate colonisation resistant materials through to studying the genetics of resistance. The establishment of the Welsh Antimicrobial Resistance Programme run by Public Health Wales that aims to minimise mortality and morbidity and maintain efficacy of antimicrobial agents has also been a significant step made by Welsh Government.

• Cardiff University has an integrated environment for neuroscience and mental health research which makes Wales a global player in this area with the potential to integrate this research closely with industry and translational applications. The MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (MRC CNGG) in Cardiff brings together world-leading researchers to investigate the major causes of mental health problems. Established in 2009, they are Wales’ first MRC Centre and the largest psychiatric genetics group in the UK. They use clinical, genomic, statistical and bioinformatic expertise to tackle the challenges posed by psychiatric, neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders, with the aim of informing better diagnosis and treatment for the future. Cardiff has been a leading group in identifying over 150 genes which affect people’s susceptibility to developing disorders such as schizophrenia; depression; Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Further research is also taking place on drug delivery to specific structures of the brain for example in tackling Huntington’s disease.

• The recently established Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff University is designed to address the significant health challenge posed by rising cases of Dementia in the UK and further afield. As one of six UK centres, the research centre in Wales will focus on taking forward their genetic findings to understand disease mechanisms and design new treatments. It will form an integral part of the UK.

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Picture 34: Brain scan image of a patient with Alzheimerís disease. © Alzheimer’s Disease Education and Referral Center, a service of the National Institute on Aging.

• Cardiff University also has CUBRIC, which is a world class brain imaging facility with state-of-the art methods development and extensive facilities for clinical imaging and trials. Housing a combination of neuroimaging equipment unique within Europe, CUBRIC continues to further its world-leading research, which has already established Cardiff University as one of the UK’s top three Universities for Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience.

• Cardiff Metropolitan University has related research on cell replacement related to Huntington’s disease and is working with Cardiff University on aspects of this research, along with a partner in the EU. A further project investigates the development of sensory textiles for people with dementia to comfort, soothe, engage and stimulate people in late stage of the disease. Bangor University is home to the Dementia Services Development Centre where research themes include wellbeing in later life; living with dementia; psychosocial interventions in

dementia and creative arts and dementia. IBERS at Aberystwyth University is using its expertise to undertake research into sustainable daffodil-derived galanthamine production in the uplands to help develop more cost effective, plant-based sources for a drug for treating Alzheimer’s disease.

• Swansea University Medical School’s research includes the antenatal determinants of immune function and early life programming of disease and looking of new ways to tackle arrhythmia by refining, re-appropriating and re-purposing existing drugs. It has strong links with industry and has space for companies within the school. An example of a success of this kind is the development of a low cost heart pump through a spin out company, CALON.

Picture 35: Calon Cardio’s company logo. Credit: Calon Cardio.

• Research in Cardiff Metropolitan University is enabling the prediction of injury in competitive sport and how stress responses may play a part in this, as well as investigating the impact of concussion on subsequent injury risk. In parallel, Bangor undertakes research on the psychology of elite performance; health and wellbeing and the impact of extreme environments on humans. Sports scientists at Swansea University are looking at the effect of force on human performance and the rate at which one type of energy is converted into another is an area of research.

• Related research is also being carried out at Bangor University on health problems around overconsumption. This can include

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addiction; gambling; food; and internet behaviours. They are looking at how risk factors get turned into symptoms. In contrast, Swansea University research is looking at infant nutrition and the psychology of breastfeeding, alongside promoting breastfeeding to improve infant health.

• Cardiff University is developing a Social Science Research Park (SPARK). The aim there is to develop innovative solutions to societal problems through collaborative research activity. New opportunities lie around place-based industrial and innovation policies and new ways of working and bringing together social and computer science with data-rich government and public services, for example.

Food and water

• Over 75 per cent of the biomass we use in the UK is imported. UK-grown bioenergy crops would shorten supply chains, assist with balance of trade payments for energy and help the rural economy. The research team at Aberystwyth University’s Institute for Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) is working with industrial partner Terravesta Assured Energy Crops to develop optimised and profitable home-grown bioenergy crops. With the future of upland farming facing considerable challenges, biomass development on a large scale may become a viable option. IBERS is developing planting and agronomy systems for Miscanthus (Asian Elephant Grass) seeds, working on harvesting and processing technologies. The aim is to maximise quantity and quality of the harvested material, breeding new Miscanthus hybrids that are optimised for UK and European climate and soil types. They are also demonstrating best

practice in international negotiations, regarding the licensing of genetic resources and benefit- sharing with originating countries. The Miscanthus breeding programme at IBERS delivers both to UK and international efforts to provide sustainable, renewable bioenergy through the production of varieties with high net energy yields per hectare that are cheap to establish, harvest and process.

• IBERS is also undertaking research into maximising carbon capture and drainage, mapping bioinformatics with geoinformatics and biorefining. Furthermore, research here is looking at improved soil health to increase the resilience of grasslands to ensure a sustainable future for grassland agriculture and combat climate change. It is also looking at enhancing coastal defences to encourage marine biodiversity and developing high sugar grasses (HSG) for improved livestock production and greenhouse gas mitigation and working with industry to bring new varieties to market.

• Another aspect of IBERS research is focussed towards developing new varieties of oats. These have healthier properties and are better adapted to environmental and climate change. These are developing new pearl millet varieties with health benefits, which can still grow in difficult conditions and produce sufficient yields. Alongside this they are researching particular biomarkers, to move towards a personalised approach to treating patients with chronic conditions impacted by diet, including sarcopenia, frailty and chronic kidney disease.

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Picture 36: Harvesting an experimental Oat variety Credit: IBERS at Aberystwyth University.

• IBERS research teams are also using their expertise in the microbial system of the rumen to identify new antimicrobial compounds and working with biotech companies to test their effectiveness and in future bring them to market.

• BEACON+, funded by ERDF, is a partnership between Aberystwyth, Bangor and Swansea Universities, working in the field of conversion of biomass into bio-based products. BEACON+ helps Welsh businesses develop new ways of converting feed stocks, such as rye grass, oats and Miscanthus, amongst others and waste streams into products which have applications in the pharmaceutical, fine chemicals, fuel and cosmetic industries. It is anticipated that some of the novel technologies developed by Bangor University researchers will be launched on the market jointly with BEACON+.

• Bangor University also runs the national training programme for soil science, which

is called STARS. Funded work has come from China around agricultural nitrogen use and there is potential to provide further technical advice to countries like China on environmental management issues, as well as policy advice internally to Wales.

• Interesting work on sensor technology for bee tracking is taking place in Bangor University. Bumblebees and honey bees, along with butterflies, moths and hoverflies perform much of the pollination that is essential for us to grow food. Through an interdisciplinary collaboration, tiny transmitters are being developed to monitor bee movements and help increase our knowledge of where and how bees move and die outside the hive in a variety of landscapes, providing critical information in evaluating the impact of modern agricultural techniques.

Picture 37: Bumblebee. Dohduhdah/ Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain.

• Working with Swansea and Aberystwyth University, Bangor leads the EU-funded SEACAMS project. This can provide

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technical expertise on marine industry relevant areas, including geological resources and technology; marine physics; coastal zone management; environmental quality assessment; sustainable resource development; catchments; marine ecosystems and design engineering.

• Exploring the biochemical ecology of the land/marine interface is an area of emerging research importance. Several Welsh universities and the NERC-funded Centre for Ecology and Hydrology or CEH site in Bangor could play a major role in this area measuring and modelling the movement of carbon; organic and inorganic pollutants; human pathogens; antimicrobials organisms, their effects on issues such as water quality or shellfish harvesting. Growing a sustainable fishing industry is also a focus at Bangor’s Centre for Applied Marine Sciences (CAMS), which aims to increase the impact of marine research. CAMS links academic research to real-world applications.

• The work here will also help us understand more about tidal lagoons, where we can optimise their efficiency, while protecting the environment and marine wild life. This is work that holds significant potential for Wales and beyond. The impact of marine developments is also being studied. Again this will be of national and potentially international, significance. Bangor works with companies in Wales, the UK and internationally on marine related research.

• Cardiff University’s Water Research Institute is looking at grand challenges for water, including integrated catchment management; addressing global change risks and smart and safe waters, using an interdisciplinary approach and integration with stakeholders.

• Its emerging research areas include water for people and ecosystems solutions, developing DNA tools for bio-monitoring and developing digital tools for a green economy. This research is applicable in an industrial context where companies are affected by water quality or quantity.

New technologies

• The use of biomolecules in industrial processes is a rapidly expanding area. A recent report to the UK Government from the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation and Growth Team estimated that the global market for industrial biotechnology could range between £150 billion to £360 billion by 2025, with a share for the UK market of between £4 billion to £12 billion. Bangor University has recently acquired world-leading expertise in developing novel enzymes. Future research will explore extremophiles, to identify; isolate and exploit enzymes for industrial processes and to fabricate chips for mass screening of enzymes This will be taken through to industrial application, particularly targeted at bio-technology industries. Bacteria that survive in the world’s harshest conditions produce enzymes that could be perfect for use in industrial processes, thanks to their ability to withstand high temperatures, high pressure and high salt environments. Enzymes are used for synthesis of fine chemicals, for biodegradable biopolymers and new materials. They are used in washing detergents, food and feed, ‘green’ herbicides; biofuels and drugs. The ‘white biotechnology’, i.e. the utilisation of living microorganisms and their enzymes for new added value or bulk products, with lower energy consumption and/or higher biodegradability and lower waste generation. Indeed these ideas complement the established strengths

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Wales has in chemical catalysis research at Cardiff University, described next.

• Catalysis enables chemical reactions to go faster, with better selectivity and at a lower energy cost resulting in cleaner, more economical and more sustainable processes. These attributes put catalysis at the heart of most industrial and biological processes. Cardiff University is improving the understanding of catalysis, developing new catalytic processes with industry and promoting the use of catalysis as a sustainable 21st Century technology through its Catalysis Institute. Most recently, an international group of scientists led by researchers at the Institute has unlocked the secret of a gold-based catalyst that is used in the manufacturing of PVC (polyvinyl chloride), the world’s third-most widely used plastic. The Cardiff University team found that gold offers an alternative to the environmentally harmful and toxic mercury catalyst traditionally used in industry. This has now been commercialised by leading chemicals company Johnson Matthey and is currently in production at a purpose-built reactor in Shanghai, China.

• Other industrial challenges that the Institute is involved in include selective oxidisation, biorenewables, Catalytic Routes to Intermediates for Sustainable Processes (CRISP) and photocatalysis. The Cardiff Catalysis Institute works with a number of internationally leading and recognised partners in fields such as the automotive, fuel and chemical manufacturing industries and have helped develop and refine a range of processes through combinations of conventional and innovative methods.

• At Bangor University, recent research has led to the world leading breakthrough of

using spider silk in the development of ‘superlenses’ to increase the magnification of microscopes, which has great potential for commercial exploitation. This is the first time that a naturally-occurring biological material has been used as a superlens. These lenses could be used for seeing and viewing previously ‘invisible’ structures, including engineered nano-structures and biological micro-structures as well as, potentially, native germs and viruses.

• Bangor University also hosts research into the design and fabrication of nano-photonic and nano-optomechanical chips for light generation, routing and detection where applications include optical communications, chemical sensing, navigational sensing and self driving cars.

• Swansea University’s current research interests include additive manufacturing, specifically powder-bed Additive Layer Manufacturing, using equipment manufactured by Renishaw which allows virtual design, testing and optimisation of components. Research is also taking place into alloy selection and development for materials such as bulk metallic glasses, lead-free solders and thermoelectric materials.

• Further activities in Swansea with a strong industrial focus include those in the area of materials testing and understanding why materials fail. The university has a globally unique test facility that enables work on a number of areas, including corrosions fatigue assessment; developing testing standards; shaft alloy development; gear steel development; and landing gear corrosion resistance. In this the University is working with organisations such as Rolls Royce; Cambridge University; Airbus and McLaren Racing.

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• At Wrexham Glyndwr University, experts are working on the rapid manufacturing of composites, critical for the next generation of aircraft and in developing microwave technology, as an alternative to conventional autoclave technology. Researchers have been using microwaves to cure composites for some years but have yet to develop robust processes that could be used by industry to make geometrically complex parts, as opposed to flat panels.

• Swansea’s Advanced Imaging of Materials Facility (AIM) and Research Group is a £10 million facility supported by EPSRC, Welsh Government, WEFO and over 20 international companies. It undertakes advanced imaging, microscopy; 3-D x-ray imaging and imaging to understand the nano properties of materials. It works across biosciences; earth sciences; space science; medicine; archaeology; materials science and engineering. AIM has collaborators across the UK and across the world, including at Cambridge, Berkeley and Auckland Universities and the University of Houston.

• Swansea’s College of Science is undertaking cutting edge research into Sustainable Advanced Materials. The three proposed activity areas are: Materials and Device Physics; Optoelectronics Device Scaling; and Bioelectronics.

• The University of South Wales’ Sustainable Energy Research Centre or SERC is looking at ways of turning waste such as sewage and food waste into biodegradable packaging for consumer goods. USW will be developing ways of producing hydrogen and volatile fatty acids (VFAs) from food waste and sludge from urban wastewater. The VFAs that are produced will provide the feedstock for the next

step in the process and the production of the new bio-products. These products will have a high market value, with positive impacts on the environment, economy and employment.

• At Wrexham Glyndwr, research and development of remotely operated vehicles into nuclear environments including electrical optimisation of aerials and antennae and algorithms; interfaces for computers; network algorithms; routing and optimising digital interfaces is all taking place. Researchers at Glyndwr have also carried out world-class research in developing mirrors for the European Extra Large telescope.

• Aberystwyth University has a strong robotics group with research taking place into biologically inspired robotics and control; space robotics; visual navigation; mapping; field robotics and the only humanoid robot in the UK.

Future areas of activity in new material in Wales could include self-healing structures; applications of quantum, terahertz and CS techniques to areas of growth around advanced materials. These could include condensed materials, including magnetic materials; functional inorganic materials; graphene and carbon nano-technology materials for energy applications, which would in turn include photonic and polymeric materials.

Smart data

• Swansea University has developed the SAIL database which supports a large scale data infrastructure to support research. This provides a platform to answer questions about public health and medicine and society more generally. SAIL harvests data from all corners of Welsh public life. It holds around 20 billion data recordings on the Welsh population and has supported

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over £250 million of research studies. Organisations from around the world have sought the advice of the University in developing their own databases. The data has significant potential to support future research studies. Cardiff Data Innovation Research Institute is a new research institute that will foster collaborations to develop solutions to data analysis and data management problems and initiate research in data science. The institute will focus on three key research areas:

– computational social science – focused on social media analytics due to the recent availability of ‘big social data’ from platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare;

– biological and medical science, where there is a wide variety of uses and applications – including extraction of information from data sets, without compromising privacy and confidentiality; interpreting large data sets into reliable and understandable mathematical models; genome mapping; MRI scanning; drug trialling; maintaining public health records and modelling protein structures;

– computational science and engineering – focused on finding solutions to problems which include the analysis and reduction of data sets to help produce efficient manufacturing; sustainable and climate friendly development; providing secure manufacturing environments; preventing digital and intellectual property crime.

• With its excellent relationship with its NHS, Wales is well-placed to bring together extensive health; genomic; educational and social media data to provide an unprecedented platform for research on diseases; treatment response and to

performance of smart clinical trials in the future.

• The Fovolab in Cardiff Metropolitan University employs innovative methods from art and science to investigate the nature of visual perception and how it can be utilised to construct novel software. For hundreds of years culture has relied on the principles of linear perspective to represent the visual world but this fails to capture key aspects of visual experience. Alternative methods of depicting visual space, many of which have been developed by artists, are more accurate. There are many potential innovative commercial applications for this new approach to visualising space, including medical imaging; simulation and training; defence rescue; aviation; photography and cinematography.

Picture 38: Cardiff Met. University’s Fovolab demonstration Credit: Cardiff Metropolitan University.

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Social Sciences

• Professor Nick Pigeon at Cardiff University’s School of Psychology is at the forefront on work to study how people react to to energy technologies, climate change risks, and new technologies associated with these. This work is vital if we are to ensure the maximum take-up of these new technologies for domestic, transport and business uses.

• Since 2008, the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data & Methods (WISERD), a collaboration between the Universities of Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff, South Wales and Swansea, has grown the quantity of quality social science research in Wales, particularly through externally-funded research projects, with many projects being collaborative both between WISERD institutions and across disciplines and research areas Their social science research infrastructure has strengthened the evidence base for policy development, in areas as diverse as policing, education and housing.

Research Impact

In June 2017, a new study14 by the Policy Institute at King’s College London, revealed how research undertaken at Wales’s universities produces profound changes and benefits, both regionally and internationally, despite its being a small country with relatively few higher education institutions. This report was commissioned as an independent review by the Learned Society of Wales to capture evidence to better understand, promote and communicate the contribution made by academic research originating from Wales’s universities. In REF 2014, Wales submitted 273 case studies,

14 Impacts of academic research from Welsh Universities (2014) by Kirstie Hewlett & Saba Hinrichs-Krapels of Kings College, London, for the Learned Society of Wales

4 per cent of the UK total and these case studies were the evidence used to provide the key findings of the report.

Figure 3: ‘Figure 8’ reproduced from Impacts of academic research from Welsh Universities (2014) by Kirstie Hewlett & Saba Hinrichs-Krapels, of Kings College, London, commissioned the Learned Society of Wales. Credit: the authors.

The reputation of Wales as a small, clever country was backed up by this publication and the practical benefits of the research carried out here were demonstrated. Some of the publications key findings included:

• The impact of Welsh research showed considerable interdisciplinarity. For example, case studies from 20 out of a possible 36 disciplinary areas contributed to the topic ‘Informing government policy’ and 12 different research disciplines to ‘Business and industry’.

• Local beneficiaries of research in Wales included SMEs, policymakers, the third sector, education and creative industries.

• Researchers in Wales employed a wide range of activities to translate the impact from their research, from disseminating

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research findings to non-academic audiences; to developing a product or service; through to offering training or changing Government policy.

• The King’s report showed there was a relatively even distribution of case studies from universities in Wales submitted across the four main REF disciplinary panels (Life Sciences; Engineering and Physical Sciences; Social Sciences and Arts and Humanities) but the list below highlights the breadth, depth and reach of Welsh research achieving impact in a measurable way in STEMM related areas:

– A new evidence-based treatment guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of acquired haemophilia A or AHA;

– Colorectal cancer – identification of the first recessive gene – MUTYH – to improve the management of familial disease;

– Prostate Cancer – new drug in clinical trials and a new standard of care;

– Breast Cancer Surgery – improved biopsy and training improved standard of care;

– Breast feeding – rates improved by evidence based guidelines;

– Reducing antibiotic prescriptions – to help contain increase in antimicrobial resistance;

– Most powerful antiviral agent against shingles – new drug developed;

– Better dialysis – better outcomes for patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis;

– Improving life care in Down’s syndrome – bettering eye care and learning potential;

– New varieties of rice for 5 million households – improve livelihoods of millions of people in India and Nepal;

– New form of Maize GM-6 – brings £55 million benefits to hundreds of thousands of farmers in India;

– Novel types of Oat – improved grain composition and changed retail and consumers habit for the benefit of human and animal health;

– Space age camera technology – used for precision agriculture;

– 3D printing reconstructive surgery – improving lives and reducing cost to the NHS and tax payers;

– New DNA forensic tools – improving fisheries management and reducing wildlife crime;

– Reforming school food – influencing international food policies;

– Improving data security – working with Hewlett Packard to mitigate data security risks;

– Flood hydrodynamics predictions – modelling flooding hazards and water quality;

– High level nuclear waste disposal – engineering the solutions;

– Practical wave form engineering – reshaping current communications;

– Most effective school based smoking prevention programme – introduced in national strategy documents and recommended by NICE;

– Ultra precision computer controlled polishing and metrology – contributed to the ESO European Extremely Large Telescope project;

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– Antimatter: from Hollywood to CERN – improving the understanding of antimatter in children and the wider population;

– Computations aerodynamic design – bringing significant economic benefit to the aerospace industry;

– Materials Characterisation – designing efficient and safe Rolls Royce Gas turbine engines.

Conclusions

Science and research activities are important to delivery of elements of the Welsh Government’s Taking Wales Forward programme for government. The ‘Prosperity for All’ element is seeking well-paid, stimulating work for people in Wales. Our work to support science and research in our Universities and other research centres across Wales and to boost capacity will deliver just such posts. There are relatively well-paid research positions, with a raft of supportive posts around them, as well as service-providing jobs, related to the wider operation of universities. Wales’ universities are important economic actors in their own right. Excellence in our universities; their help to business and the ready supply of technically-skilled staff are significant factors influencing inward investment decisions by technology companies too. The presence of strong and proactive universities has been an important factor in City Deals, such as that for Swansea Bay and the Cardiff Capital Region.

In the preceding chapters, our investment in areas of research with particular significance to Wales, such as compound semiconductors; nuclear power and drug discovery, clearly shows the benefits of supporting and enhancing areas of strength, such as those in the above list. The strategy has not just been about increasing support but also

about building those emerging or niche areas that require extra investment to reach their potential. It will be important to continue that support going forward. For example, the Life sciences sector in Wales is home to more than 360 companies, with £2 billion turnover and more than 11,000 employees. Companies with expertise in medical technology; regenerative medicine; diagnostics; pharmaceutical services; wound healing; e-health and neuroscience are based here. Even though Wales had reduced capacity in its research workforce, nevertheless it achieved higher than UK average for impact case studies submitted to REF 2014.

Figure 4 Opposite: ‘Table 5’ reproduced from Impacts of academic research from Welsh Universities (2014) by Kirstie Hewlett & Saba Hinrichs-Krapels of Kings College, London, commissioned the Learned Society of Wales. (Number of case studies submitted to REF 2014 by HEIs in Wales. The disciplines with the relatively greatest submissions within each panel have been highlighted in bold.) Credit: the authors.

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Panel Unit of AssessmentNo. Case Studies

% Total

A

1 Clinical Medicine 7 2.56%

2 Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care 3 1.10%

3 Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy 21 7.69%

4 Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience 17 6.23%

5 Biological Sciences 5 1.83%

6 Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science 10 3.66%

B

7 Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences 9 3.30%

8 Chemistry 4 1.47%

9 Physics 8 2.93%

10 Mathematical Sciences 9 3.30%

11 Computer Science and Informatics 14 5.13%

12 Aeronautical, Mechanical, Chemical and Manufacturing Engineering 0 0.00%

13 Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials 4 1.47%

14 Civil and Construction Engineering 2 0.73%

15 General Engineering 16 5.86%

C

16 Architecture, Built Environment and Planning 6 2.20%

17 Geography, Environmental Studies and Archaeology 13 4.76%

18 Economics and Econometrics 0 0.00%

19 Business and Management Studies 21 7.69%

20 Law 11 4.03%

21 Politics and International Studies 8 2.93%

22 Social Work and Social Policy 4 1.47%

23 Sociology 4 1.47%

24 Anthropology and Development Studies 0 0.00%

25 Education 3 1.10%

26 Sport and Exercise Sciences, Leisure and Tourism 9 3.30%

D

27 Area Studies 0 0.00%

28 Modern Languages and Linguistics 15 5.49%

29 English Language and Literature 12 4.40%

30 History 11 4.03%

31 Classics 2 0.73%

32 Philosophy 2 0.73%

33 Theology and Religious Studies 1 0.37%

34 Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory 5 1.83%

35 Music, Drama, Dance and Performing Arts 11 4.03%

36Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management

6 2.20%

273 100%

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Figure 5: ‘Figure 6a’ reproduced from Impacts of academic research from Welsh Universities (2014) by Kirstie Hewlett & Saba Hinrichs-Krapels, of Kings College, London, commissioned the Learned Society of Wales. Credit: ‘Soapbox’ Agency for the authors.

Science for Wales 2017Credit: Cardiff University.

Chapter 5 – Women in Science in Wales

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STEM skills are now crucially important. In a world dominated by technology and increased automation we need to have these skills to compete in and engage with a fast-moving global economy. Shortage of STEM skills in Wales, the UK and globally, means we need more people to study STEM subjects, follow technical apprenticeships and take up what are well-paid and interesting jobs. Given that we know girls outperform boys across most GCSE subjects, especially so in STEM subjects, it makes no sense that more boys overall go on to study STEM subjects after school than girls – shown in Figure 6. Consequently, only one in five STEM jobs in the UK are filled by women (2016 figures from WISE Campaign). Latest figures for Wales show that the proportion of women working in key sectors – including construction, life sciences or ICT, is lower than 10 years ago.

Figure 6: The STEM Education Pipelines Credit: WISE Campaign (November 2016).

Companies in Wales simply cannot afford not to use the skills and talent of our whole population. STEM-related professions being among the higher paying ones, a significant reason for the male-female pay divide is STEM graduates earning £250,000 more than the average over their lifetime and being mostly male. This troubling position led Professor Julie Williams, as CSAW, to take

action to champion women’s progress in STEM education and careers in Wales.

She started by commissioning an independent group of experts to examine the problem and make recommendations to improve things. The group was co-chaired by Professor Karen Holford (now Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Cardiff University) and Professor Hilary Lappin-Scott (Senior Pro Vice-Chancellor, Swansea University). Reporting in March 2016 they put forward 33 wide-ranging recommendations this their report to the Welsh Government, Talented Women for a Successful Wales, to:

• make the study of STEM subjects relevant and rewarding for girls;

• recruit more women into STEM;

• retain women in the STEM workforce;

• encourage women into leadership roles in their chosen career.

The recommendations are addressed to bodies in both the private and public sector in Wales. For example, in education, teachers and leaders in education are recommended to ensure teaching of science is improved by training of ‘out of field’ secondary science teachers and giving all primary teachers exposure to key STEM principles so they can teach with more confidence about STEM basics. Apprentices should be mentored where they are in a gender atypical sector or occupation. Businesses are in need of further advice on equality and diversity and, specifically on how to attract, retain and support women in the STEM workforce. They should follow best practice in retaining female staff after career breaks. There are six recommendations addressed to our universities – both as employers of female staff and as actors in STEM engagement activities to schools and the wider community. Pleasingly, all universities

http://gov.wales/docs/det/report/160308-women-in-science-en.pdf

http://gov.wales/docs/det/report/160308-women-in-science-en.pdf

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in Wales (including the Open University in Wales) have formally welcomed and accepted the recommendations too and are working to take them forward.

Of the 33 recommendations, only two are made directly for the Welsh Government. One concerning the wider provision of high-quality childcare, now sees the Welsh Government moving towards making the most generous child-care offer across the UK. 30 hours a week for 48 weeks for many working parents of three and four year-olds across Wales will help keep more women in science careers. The other is more wide-ranging ‘The Welsh Government should make the achievement of improved gender balance, in STEM subjects and STEM-related training, a theme in appropriate educational policies and programmes for: teacher training; curriculum reform; careers advice; apprenticeships; Further education funding; Higher education funding, where these concern the delivery of STEM subjects.’ The steps already being taken to implement this are set out in the next chapter on STEM education and engagement.

The Welsh Government, in January 2017, accepted all the recommendations in the report, subject only to minor changes. To help make the recommendations a reality, Julie James, as Minister for Skills and Science, has now established a Ministerial ‘Women in STEM’ Board, which she chaired at its first meeting in mid-September 2017. Membership is made up both of Ministers with policy interests in developing the recommendations and a number of senior representatives from stakeholder organisations who have experience of promoting this vital agenda. There is also a corresponding official-level working group, which has already begun to meet.

WISE – the UK campaign for gender balance in science, technology and engineering responded enthusiastically to the report’s publication. They organised, with partners from business, academia and the Welsh Government, the ‘WISE Celebration of Talented Women in Wales’ event. This highly successful gathering in The Senedd of the National Assembly for Wales, on Monday 13 March 2017, started to tackle the lack of women in STEM in Wales. Sponsored by Julie James, Minister for Skills and Science, it was attended by WISE’s patron HRH The Princess Royal.

Picture 39: The Deputy Lord Mayor of Cardiff, Councillor Georgina Phillips; Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant for South Glamorgan, Mrs. Morfudd Meredith; The Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales, Professor Julie Williams; Welsh Government Minister for Skills and Science, Julie James and HRH The Princess Royal on the front row of the ‘WISE Celebration of Talented Women in Wales’ event in the Senedd, Cardiff. Pledges from audience members are held up, in support of women in STEM. Credit WISE Campaig.

The Minister said:

“This event, marking International Women’s Day, is a call to action to accelerate gender parity in our scientific, technology and

https://www.wisecampaign.org.uk/conference/wise-celebration-of-talented-women-in-wales

https://www.wisecampaign.org.uk/conference/wise-celebration-of-talented-women-in-wales

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engineering workforce in Wales. All the arguments point to the benefits a more balanced workforce will bring; increasing productivity and making the work environment a better, more equal place. It is 2017; we shouldn’t need to be having these discussions. The unfortunate reality is that with only a small proportion of the STEM workforce being female, we urgently need to take action to address the imbalance.”

Picture 40: Professor Julie Williams chairs a panel discussion with industry leaders, on the business benefits of gender balanced teams at the WISE Celebration of Talented Women in Wales’ event. The panel featured Helen Wollaston, Chief Executive of WISE; La-Chun Lindsay, Managing Director of GE Aviation Wales; Sharon James, Global Head of R&D for Reckitt Benckiser; Helen Samuels, Engineering Director at Network Rail; Chris Jones, Chief Executive of Welsh Water. Credit: WISE Campaign.

50 school girls from eight secondary schools in Wales attended, where they were able to meet The Princess Royal and hear from young female role models working in STEM fields about their work. Trudy Norris-Grey,

Chair of WISE, shared her inspiring personal story – of going from being an “ordinary girl from Swansea” to her present role as a Director with Microsoft: “Women are a huge untapped talent pool and my ambition is to ensure that girls and young women have the information and support to play a full and equal part in contributing to their and our country’s prosperity and success”.

At the event, over 250 attendees took a pledge of commitment to action, to make a difference in their respective sectors and organisations. The event received extensive media coverage, trending on Twitter, at hashtag #STEMWales. WISE’s Chief Executive, Helen Wollaston, said it was a “tribute to the National Assembly for Wales for being the first of the UK Parliaments to host an event for the WISE campaign”.

Steady progress is being made, with strands of Welsh Government work already underway to help improve the gender balance in STEM education and careers in Wales. In June 2017 the Chief Executives of Chwarae Teg, WISE and senior academics at Cardiff University, many of whom were involved in the drafting of the report, came together to consider how they might best work to complement the Welsh Government’s Women in STEM programme. This group has begun to consider how to create a delivery programme supporting educators and employers to recruit, retain and progress women in STEM in Wales. They will be working closely with the Women in STEM Board, to help take their contribution forward.

Large engineering companies in Wales (Airbus, Ford and Raytheon) backed by our Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Sector Team, run successful schemes to encourage girls to consider careers in engineering. Airbus, an active WISE member,

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is funded by Welsh Government to run an all-girls Industrial Cadets scheme. Their scheme involves over 70 female students aged 12-14. They work in small teams to tackle a three-month industrial challenge, under the mentorship of Airbus female role models.

Our National Science Academy (NSA) funds STEM outreach activities across Wales for children, their parents and teachers and, as a priority, funds activities to enthuse girls about STEM. NSA funds ‘Girls into STEM’ and the ‘Formula One in Schools Challenge’ to design, build and test a miniature Formula One car with this in mind. Chapter 6 has more detail on the NSA’s activities.

An innovative approach, taken by the Sêr Cymru Low Carbon, Energy and Environment National Research Network (featured above) is their Returning Fellowship Scheme. This facilitates a return to research from maternity/ paternity/ adoption/ health-related or caring leave, with bursaries up to £20,000 to allow this. The Fellow agrees to produce a minimum of one peer reviewed publication and a minimum of one research bid over £250,000 as a Principal Investigator (PI) to RCUK or EU funding sources, before 30 June 2018.

LCEE’s approach reflects the similar key strand of the Sêr Cymru programme. Recapturing Talent fellowships, also aiming to address the loss of research talent through career breaks, which make it hard to resume a research career. Through our Sêr Cymru programme to allow those who have moved out of a research career a chance to rebuild a track record of research and publication, to restart their life in science research. Such awards are frequently made after a break for childcare and we expect most awards to be made to female applicants. The aim is to fund twelve such fellowships.

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Chapter 6 – Engaging the next generation

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Science for Wales 2017Credit: for Welsh Government.

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STEM education and training

Science for Wales did not make detailed calls on the education system for science subjects in Wales. In outline, Science for Wales called for a position where ‘our curricula for STEM subjects are in the vanguard of modern, challenging curricula for the students of Wales’ and for respected and robust qualifications. It sought to address a decline in take-up of science subjects at GCSE. The numbers of candidates taking these GCSE subjects has, in fact, increased in recent years. Too many schools in Wales were directing children into BTEC Science study. This qualification (and taking a single subject Science GCSE) effectively closed off the possibility of more advanced science study. In 2015 the Welsh Government announced that soon BTEC qualifications, while not forbidden (as there may be some children for whom they remain appropriate), would not count towards school performance metrics, so that working with students to take the single subject (Biology, Chemistry, Physics), double award Science and (only if truly appropriate) single award GCSE, was to be encouraged. Already we are seeing the transition from BTEC entries towards our new suite of science GCSEs, which will be awarded for the first time next year.

Picture 41: The First Minister discusses their project with pupils from Brynteg School at the 2017 Big Bang Fair South Wales. Credit: Colorfoto for Engineering Education Scheme Wales (EESW)/STEM Cymru.

Since its March 2016 publication, ‘Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in Education and Training: A delivery plan for Wales’ has been directing our actions to promote science learning in schools. It sets out a range of current and proposed initiatives, to enhance our young people’s experience of STEM study.

The importance of increasing the number of girls in STEM is highlighted throughout the plan, implementing in large part the chief recommendation to Welsh Government on STEM education in Talented Women for a Successful Wales. The Welsh Government’s Education Directorate is prioritising girls’ progression in maths, physics and computing where numbers have been particularly low. (For many years the average number of girls following Physics Advanced Level has been stubbornly low, at around 20 per cent). The Directorate has made gender balance in STEM education a condition of grant funding. More is needed to understand the issues affecting girls’ progression in STEM and how practice in schools can have a positive impact. This is being addressed as part of the wider programme of education reform.

Picture 42: Girls from Llangatock School building the Institute of Civil Engineers scale suspension bridge at the 2017 Big Bang Fair South Wales. Credit Colorfoto for EESW/STEM Cymru.

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The STEM in education plan sets out the rationale for what it is undertaking. It explains how it will show progress – using key indicators. It then details the actions to deliver increased uptake and development of STEM skills, through evolution of teaching and learning. This is often through the major curriculum and qualifications reforms already in train, making them comparable with the best in the UK and beyond. It also propounds a revised strategic approach to supporting curriculum enrichment activity. To develop teachers’ and support staff’s skills and knowledge, there is a new national approach to professional learning encompassing the education workforce, and providing access to fit-for-purpose bilingual teaching resources. The plan notes that these structural changes are being put in place but their efficacy will be limited, unless and until there is also a notable shift in the perception of STEM. We have to see a shake up and challenge to often deep-rooted societal stereotypes. There are actions seeking to do these things.

The rationale for the plan, besides the 2012 call in Science for Wales, arose from Qualified for Life: an education improvement plan. Its statement ‘learners in Wales will enjoy teaching and learning that inspires them to succeed, in an education community that works cooperatively and aspires to be great, where the potential of every child and young person is actively developed.’ set the standard for subsequent actions. A Curriculum for Wales, a curriculum for life followed. It showed how we intended to bring Professor Graham Donaldson’s recommendations set out in his Successful Futures report to fruition. It includes the four purposes for the curriculum in Wales to ensure all children and young people develop as: (i.) ambitious, capable learners, ready to learn throughout their lives (ii.) enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full

part in life and work (iii.) ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world (iv.) healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.

STEM skills and knowledge are vital components in much of this. Curriculum design from early years, to the end of compulsory education and into sixth-form, further education college and higher education, will allow for STEM related subjects and the scientific method which underpins them to be taught consistently and incrementally, building towards the aim of using STEM skills and research to contribute to a prosperous Wales. We have a range of evidence that STEM qualifications and skills, especially at a higher level, can lead to well-paid and stimulating work roles. In any event, we all need an understanding of scientific issues, at a more basic level, to allow us to make informed decisions in everyday life where science plays an increasing part from digital technologies through to personalised medical treatments. We want to see STEM-qualified students going on to sustainable careers in technology industries and in research in Wales. Welsh Government commitments for more and better jobs and growth, requiring a highly skilled workforce, were set out in the Policy Statement on Skills and in the subsequent Skills Implementation Plan. We are developing a skills system for Wales to support this and our wider economy in a sustainable way. This includes the higher-level skills required by most STEM related industries.

http://gov.wales/topics/educationandskills/allsectorpolicies/qualified-for-life-an-educational-improvement-plan/?lang=en

http://gov.wales/topics/educationandskills/allsectorpolicies/qualified-for-life-an-educational-improvement-plan/?lang=en

http://gov.wales/topics/educationandskills/schoolshome/curriculum-for-wales-curriculum-for-life/?lang=en

http://gov.wales/topics/educationandskills/schoolshome/curriculum-for-wales-curriculum-for-life/?lang=en

http://gov.wales/docs/dcells/publications/150225-successful-futures-en.pdf

http://gov.wales/docs/dcells/publications/150225-successful-futures-en.pdf

http://gov.wales/topics/educationandskills/skillsandtraining/policy-statement-on-skills/?lang=en

http://gov.wales/topics/educationandskills/skillsandtraining/policy-statement-on-skills/skills-implementation-plan/?lang=en

http://gov.wales/topics/educationandskills/skillsandtraining/policy-statement-on-skills/skills-implementation-plan/?lang=en

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Picture 43: Science stand from Ysgol Glan-y-Mor School, Burry Port. Mrs Sue Quirk from the school won the 2016 Joan Sjøvoll STEM Leadership Award – recognising her vision and dedication in driving forward the STEM agenda in the school. Credit Colorfoto for EESW/STEM Cymru.

A network of Pioneer Schools are now working on the content and structure of the new curriculum to ensure it is developed effectively. This includes areas of Learning Experience (AoLES) for Science and Technology and for Mathematics and Numeracy which are the focus of our concerns.

A parallel development, which is also affecting STEM subject teaching, is the Digital Competence Framework (DCF). As an integral part of the new curriculum, Digital Competence will, in line with Literacy and Numeracy, be a cross-cutting responsibility, to be developed across the curriculum. The DCF was fast-tracked for introduction in September 2016 and provides a range of classroom task ideas for teachers. It is being supported through a curriculum mapping tool, helping schools to track how the DCF is being delivered; and a self-assessment tool, which enables teachers to assess their skills and confidence in delivering elements of the DCF and to identify their professional learning needs.

A key related development was the launch in June of the Welsh Government’s Cracking the Code Plan, setting out the approach to enhancing the network of code clubs in Wales. The Plan is supported by £1.3m over 4 years and sets out how we will work with the Regional Education Consortia, colleges, universities, business, industry and the third sector to expand code clubs in Wales.

Professor Julie Williams chaired an internal group, the ‘STEM in Education Group’. This is a vehicle for collaboration and information-sharing with Education, Economy and infrastructure and Science officials, on curriculum; qualifications; teacher professional development; careers; schools marketing and the NSA. Meeting quarterly. It has formal oversight of the STEM in Education Delivery Plan.

Picture 44: Pupils from Cynffig School with their project at the 2017 Big Bang Fair South Wales. Credit Colorfoto for EESW/STEM Cymru.

More recently, our investment in new National Networks for Excellence in Mathematics and then in Science and Technology will enhance support for teachers

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to develop their skills in maths and numeracy and science and technology respectively and improve the way pupils experience the subjects in the classroom. Schools can achieve these aims through work with scientific and technological departments of universities, with our four education consortia, further education and other stakeholders – to learn from the best practice available. They are drawing together cutting-edge knowledge for teaching practice for all of compulsory education and through to 18 years, while coordinating the development and delivery of recognised teacher professional development. The networks should improve pupils’ experience and enable schools to work together to develop courses, teaching resources and class-based research.

Picture 45: A first group of Physics teachers from Wales visiting CERN, near Geneva in February 2015. Credit: for Welsh Government.

As was said above, there is strong interest in and rationale for promoting the study of STEM subjects by girls in subjects, where take up has historically been low such as Physics and Computer Science. For example, a 2015 Institute of Physics Stimulating Physics Network programme was expanded up from 12 to 48 schools across Wales. This trained secondary school physics teachers in gender-

inclusive teaching methods, alongside girls, in those schools accessing specific enrichment activity, encouraging their progression to A-level physics. This is an approach proven to work. We also fund Technocamps, to deliver computer coding workshops to pupils and teachers, including specific workshops to engage and motivate girls.

A cause for concern and reason behind some of our actions to improve science and numeracy teaching and learning arose from results by Wales-based pupils in PISA. The Programme for International Students Assessment is a survey of educational achievement run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) since 2000. It assesses the knowledge and skills of fifteen-year olds in participating schools, by testing competence to address real life challenges in reading, mathematics and science every three years. PISA does not aim to test mastery of curriculum subjects but is more about understanding of technique and problem solving. Each three-yearly round features one of the three subject areas. In 2012 it was mathematical literacy and in 2015 scientific literacy.

Picture 46: Pupils from Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg with their project at the 2017 Big Bang Fair South Wales. Credit Colorfoto for EESW/STEM Cymru.

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PISA 2015 results in Science, released in 2016, point to an emerging pattern. It appears that our deficit is most likely caused wholly by those that score at the highest levels (PISA level 4 and above) not achieving their full potential. This seems to be true for all three measurement themes: reading, maths and science. In future, we should focus more on challenging the more able children in our education system to achieve their full potential, while stretching those who are gaining passes at GCSE to achieve higher.

Table 7: Percentage of Students at each PISA proficiency level in Science, UK, 2015.

National Science Academy (NSA)

STEM engagement sits alongside and supports our reform of formal education. The NSA operates under the CSAW, within the Minister for Skills and Science portfolio. It was first set up in present form during 2010, predating the Science for Wales strategy, with the aim of promoting the take-up of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects at all levels, via STEM enrichment activities. It remains the Welsh Government’s main vehicle for encouraging participation in Science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) study and careers. The Welsh Government has long been keen that children, their parents, guardians and carers should experience what science is all about, so they can make informed decisions on the subjects that children will study. It operates by supporting

STEM outreach or informal learning activities, through giving grants for activities targeting children, young people, teachers, parents and guardians, to engage and increase the future workforce of scientists and engineers.

Picture 47: Members of winning Team Falcon Force from Lllanrug School run their Formula 1 in Schools car. Credit: Colorfoto for EESW/STEM Cymru.

The NSA works chiefly through a competitively-awarded grant scheme, selecting a portfolio of projects against clear criteria. Most applications have received expert external review. Since 2012, over the course of two successive Autumn grant rounds (2012 and 2013) the NSA had awarded more than £4.4 million grant funding to over 50 projects. This has enabled delivery of a range of over 1,000 STEM enrichment activities. This has resulted in the delivery STEM enrichment activities. They have, between them, attracted over 132,000 school pupils. This funding has also facilitated Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for over 1,300 teachers. Other notable achievements from this funding is NSA support for professional learning (communicating research) to over 57 researchers, coupled with a 100 per cent subsidy. This resulted in delivery and awarding of over 4,500 British Science Association CREST Awards to pupils across Wales. This result means that a higher

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percentage of students in Wales have been awarded a CREST Award, compared with other parts of the UK. Over the course of these rounds, NSA managed to achieve a reduction in the unit cost of its interventions from £20.33 to £13.78. Further cost reductions, as a result of economies of scale, are expected over the course of the 2015-18 grant programme, provided quality is not compromised.

The Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales requested a strategic review, before the next grant round and in July 2015 the NSA published The National Science Academy STEM enrichment Strategic Plan 2015-18. This set out refined priorities and informed the grant call launched at that time, for funding through to 2018. Designed to deliver as much as possible with the Welsh Government’s limited funding, the priorities are:

• supporting projects which target children aged 7-14 and their parents/guardians;

• supporting projects that seek to break down barriers to studying STEM subjects, especially subjects where girls are underrepresented; and

• providing long-term stability for programmes seen to be performing well.

As a result, NSA has now reduced the number of programmes supported but sharpened their focus, while maintaining investment. Nine proposals satisfied independent expert assessment and were given grant funding of some £873,000. In addition, a previous identified group of nine projects from the earlier rounds, all of which had demonstrated clear added value, were funded with £1.38 million, on to a maximum 3 year delivery period. This £2.2 million total of NSA grant funding has enabled a range of targeted STEM enrichment outreach activities. Most are pan Wales and free at

the point of delivery. The programmes cover a range of engagement methods. All are stimulating and enthuse children, exposing them to the fascinating world of science, hoping to induce further enquiry and study.

NSA officials are members of a UK-wide National Public Engagement Forum for STEM. This exists to foster closer collaboration between STEM-related organisations, in setting a consistent UK-wide agenda for STEM enrichment across the sector. Additional benefits expected from the Forum are better evidence to support advocacy, development of a more systematic evaluation approach, prioritising topics and identifying gaps.

NSA also has a remit to encourage communication and best practice among the STEM engagement community in Wales. Its resources do not allow for a great deal of activity but to facilitate this NSA has organised two well-received workshop events, bringing a wide range of organisations together to share experience and hear about best practice in March 2014 and September 2016. They intend to continue these at intervals, since the STEM engagement community has shown that it values them.

The Formula 1 in Schools programme (F1 in Schools) has run across the UK and abroad for some years now. Open to teams of 11-19 year olds from all secondary schools in Wales and facilitated by EESW with funding assistance from NSA and the EU ESF. Wales saw a major success in the 2016 competition The Welsh winning team, Team ‘Tachyon’ made up of four girls in Year 9 at Denbigh High School – Amy Martin, Holly Roberts, Katie Rowlands Williams and Jessica Briody-Hughes, won through to the international final in Singapore They won four of the six awards, at their North Wales heats in a

http://gov.wales/docs/det/publications/150701-nsa-strategy-en.pdf

http://gov.wales/docs/det/publications/150701-nsa-strategy-en.pdf

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closely-fought and high-profile competition They were an unusually young team to win and are a real inspiration to other pupils across Wales.

Picture 48: F1 in Schools winners 2016 – Team Tachyon from Denbigh High School. Credit: Colorfoto for EESW/STEM Cymru.

Pleasingly, the next year another all-girl F1 in Schools team from Wales also won thorough. Team ‘Falcon Force’ from Ysgol Brynrefail School, Llanrug – Eleanor Edwards-Jones, Anna Whiteside Thomas, Beca Jones, Jess Pritchard, Tesni Smith and Elin Worth, will go on to compete in the World Finals.

The NSA is not a ‘quick fix’ and operates within a cumulative context, requiring realistic expectations taking into account both the challenges associated with STEM enrichment and resources available to the NSA.

Picture 49: F1 in Schools winners 2017 – Team Falcon Force from Llanrug School. Credit: Colorfoto for EESW/STEM Cymru.

Many influencing factors such as parents, teachers and the media that can potentially inspire students to engage with STEM building upon provisional existing high performing subjects delivery models.

Since 2012, including the 2015 Grant awards with the two rounds above, there has more than £4.4 million has been invested, which has funded nearly 70 projects, delivering over 1,000 STEM enrichment activities, experienced or to be experienced by over 132,000 students/participants, as well as CPD events for over 1,300 teachers. Over and above this NSA funding enabled professional learning (communicating research) to over 57 researchers, including 41 female researchers.

NSA is now planning for a step-change in its support, with a bid to the European Structural Fund (ESF), which has the Welsh European Funding Office working title of ‘Tri Sci Cymru’.

A bid under Priority Axis 3: Youth Employment and Attainment (for 11-19 years) is being prepared, with the specific objective of increasing the take up of and attainment levels in STEM subjects among 11-14 year olds – the age at which children decide what they will go on to study. Key aspects of the project bid are:

• Encouraging STEM take-up, through more pupils at the current Key Stage 4 undertaking (and achieving) STEM qualifications – allowing progression to further academic and vocational study in STEM.

• Operation within the West, North Wales and Valleys areas.

• A total Operation cost of £7.5 million.

• NSA match funding contribution of £2.25 million, with ESF input of £5.25 million.

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• A delivery model that is collaborative and strategically developed, led by the NSA, working with Cardiff, Swansea, Aberystwyth and Bangor Universities and the Institute of Physics in delivering a strategic targeted programme of intensive STEM enrichment activities.

• The operation will target cohorts of 11-14 year old pupils, sourced from up to 30 schools, engaging up to 3,000 pupils using a basket of measures to identify the schools – e.g. low participation rates.

• STEM enrichment activities will include interactive ‘hands-on’ experiments; STEM related inquiry based activities; roadshows; STEM related career awareness, including addressing gender stereotyping and bias in STEM subjects/careers; demonstrations; virtual reality shows and more.

• The operation aims to increase ‘Science Capital’ – encouraging the consideration and value of STEM – affording life enhancing opportunities including STEM related careers.

Picture 50: The highly popular BEP (Bridgend Engine Plant) Ford Saturday Club’s 2016 students and instructors with the Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales, Professor Julie Williams. The Welsh Government is to sponsor the club for three years. Credit: Ford Saturday Club.

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Exciting job Geneticists, Environmental Scientists, Chemists, Engineers, Nurses,Skilled Technicians, Marine Biologists,Textile Technologists,Doctors, Accountants, Designers,Skilled Construction Trades, STEM Teachers, Therapists,Computer programmers

What can I earn?Salaries vary dependingon experience and location.

Some examples:

Do I need Welshlanguage skills?

7

10 2

What is STEM?Can you see yourself designing a wind turbine or building the next Airbus; developingnew drugs or a high performance textile; or maybe, filming the next Doctor Who?

Chartered Accountant £45 - 62kDoctor £28 - 101kSystems Developer £24 - 46kMarine Biologist £22 - 47kNuclear Engineer £22 - 42kQualified Teacher £22 - 37kWind Farm Technician £19 - 33kNursing £18 - 47kGraphic Designer £18 - 35kAnimal Technologist £15 - 28kVehicle Mechanic £15 - 27k

Spotlight on

STEMScience, Technology, Engineering and Maths

opportunities

www.careerswales.com

0800 028 4844

[email protected]

/careerswales

@JobsCW

@careerswales

MediaCreative IndustriesHealth & Social CareFinance

Advanced Materials& ManufacturingLife SciencesEngineeringHigh tech & global industries

High demand for Welsh skills

Low demand for Welsh skills

1 in 5 new jobs in the UK by 2022, will be STEM jobs.

Why study STEM?

Source: Working futures 2012-2022

11,000IT & TelecommunicationProfessionals

8,000 Engineers

4,500 Scientists

4,300 Science& Engineering Technicians

25,000Nurses

20,000 Health

Professionals

19,000 Accountants

& Finance Roles

17,000 Construction

& Building Roles

By 2022 Wales needs . . .

Fastest growing STEM jobs of the future

Source: Working futures 2012-2022

Doctors, Opticians& Dentists 34%

32%

25%

25%

24%

22%

20%

18%

16%

7%

1%

Paramedics, medical& Dental technicians

Nurses & Midwives

Media Professionals

Therapists

Accountants& Finance Managers

Scientists

EngineeringProfessionals

IT & TelecommunicationProfessionals

Construction& Building Trades

Financeadministration roles

£

Wales needs STEM skills at all levels. Interested?

Speak to your

Teacher about

how you can have

a Career in

STEM

Find out more

about STEM on

careerswales

.com Search for apprenticeshipsoncareerswales.com

Search forcourses on careerswales.com

This poster is also available in Welsh

£

Figure 7: A Spotlight on STEM poster on careers and earnings for schools from the Focus on Science Campaign, which ended in 2017. Credit: Welsh Government.

Japanese Larch Disease (Phyophthora Ramorum) in a Forest near Neath. Credit: Natural Resources Wales.

Chapter 7 – Science across Government

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The wide remit of the Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales means that the CSAW and her supporting team already work across a broader range of both Welsh Government and non-devolved policy areas than many others. As such, they can immediately make a valuable contribution to supporting the Taking Wales Forward agenda. The Welsh Government is looking to work differently and far more collaboratively, to deliver the policies and programmes which make up Taking Wales Forward. The principles set out in the Well Being of Future Generations Act 2015 already demand more cohesive and collaborative work. The aim, supportive of ‘Prosperity for All’, in the Prosperous and Secure pillar, of supporting the delivery of better jobs and creating an environment to help people to take up opportunities is at the heart of most work the CSAW team do, although the boosting of research capacity also plays a strong part under ‘Ambitious and Learning’.

Chief Scientific Adviser’s Division (CSAD), the team supporting the CSAW’s, work has put programmes in place to promote a proactive and collaborative approach to help exploit opportunities across portfolios and Departments. This is done through using all available expertise, inside and outside the Welsh Government. Our approach helps remove barriers and takes a step change approach to producing solutions to meet Welsh needs, now and in the future. Ensuring that all are aware of each others actions and programmes, means that synergies are identified and exploited and duplication and wasted effort eliminated. This is in line with the approach under the four strands underpinning delivery of the Welsh Government’s Taking Wales Forward programme – United and Connected; Healthy and Active; Learning and Ambitious and Prosperous and Secure.

Picture 51: Professor Julie Williams, CSAW, visits the Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire.

Our Sêr Cymru programme with its world-class Research chairs; pan-Wales coordinating research networks and fellowships for able researchers is building strengths in areas of existing excellence and developing emerging strengths. This in turn increases research capacity in our universities, helping them to win more competitively-awarded funding and bring this and other funding into Wales. The approach was developed from evidence of the clear need to expand capacity. A significant element of the research here addresses issues in the field of low carbon, energy and the environment, developing knowledge for Wales’ emerging green economy and helping find ways to reduce the harmful emissions generated in Wales. Delivery of more and better jobs is assisted by this programme and associated activity, presenting Wales as a place where science, research and technical innovation are supported and done well. We are actively encouraging and promoting opportunities for taking research by some of these leading academics through to the market and are working with Welsh Government innovation, sectoral and regional teams to take this forward.

Since 2013 the Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales has been chairing an oversight and discussion group focused on education in STEM subjects. Although she oversees the

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NSA, with its support for STEM engagement beyond the formal curriculum, the other matters which the group oversees are wholly within Education or Skills Departments. Representatives of support teams for technical industrial sectors (Advanced manufacturing and materials; Life Sciences and ICT) as well as of careers and skills, schools curriculum and qualifications all attend. The group receives reports on progress in the STEM in Education Delivery Plan, for which Education staff have lead responsibility for delivery, while the CSAW’s team are located within the Economy area of the Welsh Government.

In similar terms, Ministers recently required closer collaboration and cooperation between the different areas of the Welsh Government who engage with and support life sciences and health activity. The CSAW has established, with all senior colleagues with interests in this field, a coordinating group: the Expert Committee on Life Sciences and Health (ExCoLSH). Colleagues from Health Technology and Innovation, the Life Sciences Sector team, Health and Care Research Wales and NHS Wales, as well as Business Innovation and Chief Scientific Adviser’s Division (CSAD) staff regularly attend.

Following the acceptance of recommendations in the Talented Women for A Successful Wales report, Julie James has established a Women in STEM Group, which she will chair. The Chief Scientific Adviser’s Division provides the secretariat for this group as well as leading the supporting internal officials’ group.

The link with science advice and advisers at a UK level is of considerable value and importance. Most of the money available for scientific and other research is distributed on a UK-wide basis. The Chief Scientific

Adviser for Wales engagement with the UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser (GCSA); with research council and Innovate UK leads is important to Wales. Meetings of fellow Chief Scientific Advisers – both from UK Departments and Agencies and with those from other devolved administrations are very useful for gathering intelligence and sharing experience of common problems and opportunities.

Consideration is being given, as part the of the Welsh Government’s Wylfa Newydd Nuclear Programme, on creating a UK National Research facility in North Wales as a major legacy activity of the Programme. Discussions are being held between WG officials and the UK Government’s Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on a potential joint collaboration on funding which, if successful, should lead to a major UK nuclear research facility being sited on Anglesey.

Staff from the Chief Scientific Adviser’s team, with North Wales regional and Energy sector officials are working with the UK BEIS Department. Based on the new Wylfd Newydd nuclear power station on Anglesey, they are developing innovative nuclear research facilities, planning for a cluster of expertise over the next 20 years. ABWR (Advanced Boiling Water Reactor) technology, to be used for Wylfa Newydd, is attracting UK-wide interest in a research and testing facility for this and related nuclear technologies. Bangor University are applying to establish such a thermal hydraulics research centre. Much Energy policy is non-devolved, so the UK BEIS Department leads on tendering, working with the present Innovate UK. Senior staff from the Chief Scientific Adviser’s Division are actively involved in review and decision activities for the Digital Reactor Design theme (including

77


a thermal hydraulics component). Feasibility studies will follow.

We said earlier that to build research strength and help our knowledge economy, aiding Wales’ wider prosperity, Innovation and Chief Scientific Adviser’s officials have worked to attract to Wales the lead centre for a UK-wide Catapult for Compound Semiconductors. Professor Huffaker’s appointment to a post in Wales under the Sêr Cymru programme is a critical factor in our securing this prestigious centre to work with industry on the latest developments in CS technologies.

The CSAD has undertaken a study of the research capacity that can be mobilised in support of the steel industry in Wales. We continue looking at ways to support at Port Talbot and other plants in South Wales, through research to promote new products and processes.

Science advice to allow Ministers and officials access to the latest and best scientific data and research, on a given topic, is a vital part of the Chief Scientific Adviser’s role. Established mechanisms exist for areas such as public health and animal health and environmental matters, with in-house expertise in Government and within Natural Resources Wales. This and other fields require access sometimes to more developmental research. The Chief Scientific Adviser’s team have helped look into disease in Cockle beds; GM crop science and a number of other fields, as required. Use is made of expertise among our academic community, particularly those associated with Welsh Government programmes, such as Sêr Cymru. The CSAW regularly meets other scientific leads (such as the Chief Veterinary Officer and Chief Medical Officer) bilaterally and through a Senior Science Strategy Group, meetings at intervals.

Prosperity for All: the national strategyTaking Wales Forward

Chapter 8 – Conclusions, Way Forward

and Recommendations


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A globallyresponsible

Wales

A Wales of vibrant culture

and thriving Welsh

Language

A Wales of cohesive

communities

A resilient Wales

A healthier Wales

A more equalWales

A prosperous Wales

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Sêr Cymru is making a strong contribution to building research capacity in Wales, although there clearly remains more to be done. The investment of Sêr Cymru funding to date has made a considerable difference but it cannot solve the problem completely We need to continue to build further on strengths and bring in more through Sêr Cymru. Pleasingly, even though Wales had reduced capacity in its research workforce, nevertheless it achieved higher than the UK average for impact case studies submitted to REF 2014. In tandem with supporting scientific excellence, we should continue supporting better connections between research and innovation – building the knowledge economy and striving to exploit and develop new products, processes and services in Wales stemming from our research teams. Our strong showing in the REF impact measure is encouraging for making more such effective connections. Supporting the wider ambition for greater prosperity for Wales, strategic investments have been facilitated the securing of the Compound Semiconductors Catapult centre for Wales, the cutting-edge work going on in SPECIFIC to scale-up and roll out the ‘buildings as power stations’ concept and the work starting on Thermal Hydraulic research infrastructure in North Wales.

We have seen a number of new challenges arise since the publication of Science for Wales, which we need to respond to. Brexit is clearly a huge unknown. We do know, however, that it will be important to nurture existing collaborations and to seek more, with academics and technology businesses across Wales and the wider UK, across Europe and into the wider world, in such places as the USA, India, China, Australia. Future support for research across the world will need a global response and Wales must consider how to engage in making

arrangements for an effective international system for collaborative research. The European Union has a pan-EU research funding stream through the European Research Council as well as the Horizon 2020 funding targeting collaboration and cooperation between researchers across Europe and beyond. There is no such fund that provides similar coverage between other nations. We must maintain, as far as possible, our relationship with European collaborations, as well as striving to continue the access to the EU funding that Wales’ researchers currently benefit greatly from.

There are bi-lateral funds to allow work between nations. One such is the Discovery International Awards (DIA), first introduced in 2010 by the Australian Research Council (ARC), which is a single body (akin to the coming UKRI). ARC provide this for for Chief Investigators and overseas Partner Investigators, aiming to enhance opportunities for collaboration among researchers, research teams and/or research centres in Australia and overseas to build Australia’s international research capability. There are similar possibilities, to a greater or lesser degree, with countries such as Japan, Canada, the USA or Brazil. There have been efforts to support collaborative activity but these have focused on particular themes or challenges, where a multi-national approach was felt to be useful. The G8 Research Councils Initiative on Multilateral Research Funding was a 2010 effort by Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Russia and the USA with the UK to address identified broad areas such as Exascale computing to address global issues; material efficiency for sustainable manufacturing; freshwater security and coastal vulnerability. The coordinated funding however, only lasted until a call in 2012. The UK has a ‘Newton Fund’ which is classed as official development

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assistance, allocated under Section 1 of the International Development Act 2002. Newton Fund activities must show they are aiming to contribute to a reduction in poverty and aim to further sustainable development or improve the welfare of the population of Newton Fund-eligible countries.

Based on these examples and several others, though, it is clear that there is no encompassing system of any size for collaborative activity with non-EU countries. Where there is funding it is constrained and time limited, so it lacks the flexibility needed to ensure the right researchers work together on challenges of common concern. Given that 60 per cent of Wales research activity involves collaboration beyond our borders, so this agenda is absolutely crucial to our interests.

We pointed out in the preceding chapter the importance of existing links with science advice and with science and other research funding mechanisms at a UK level. The effectiveness of such links has now never been more important. The structure of UK research funding is changing to the new UK Research and Innovation, subsuming all the seven research councils and Innovate UK. Funding for research in Wales will be dependent on this body and it is vital that communication channels are robust so we may contribute the Welsh perspective and support opportunity for all.

We now have the implementation of recommendations from the Hazelkorn review of oversight of post-compulsory education in Wales and the role of HEFCW and will have the forthcoming Reid review on research and innovation take into account. We need to make the most of the large amounts of UK funding, coming through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF). We now know what Wales strengths are in research

and should ensure that we make timely applications for any and all calls coming out from ISCF where we can exploit these. We must support our research and innovation activities working together and that they facilitate collaboration to bring research outputs into the commercial world. It is vital, however, that we continue to support excellence in both blue sky or discovery research as well as in applied research.

We should be pro-active in seeking and securing funding from a wide range of sources to support the aims of Science for Wales so that they continue to support the Welsh Government’s current ambitions for prosperity and for learning, set out in Taking Wales Forward and in the national strategy which is to help deliver the Welsh Government’s programme for government.

This strategy calls for more collaboration from staff within the Welsh Government to maximise delivery against a background of constrained resources and some major external challenges. Activities to achieve this are already underway. For example, the formation of the Expert Committee on Life Sciences and Health (ExCoLSH) brings senior officials from several areas of Welsh Government, who all have involvement with the world of life sciences together to share information and coordinate activity so what we do is more effective and more efficient.

We are fortunate to have access to flexible networks, drawn from Sêr Cymru researchers and beyond, including a database of some 1000 researchers across Wales on the Expertise Wales pages on [email protected] which can be asked for help and input to challenges and problems in the scientific and technical sphere, whenever they present themselves. It is important to continue to engage with the wider community of Chief Scientific Advisers

https://businesswales.gov.wales/expertisewales/search-expertise-within-universities-and-colleges

http://[email protected]

http://[email protected]

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and other science advice and collaboration mechanisms across the UK to provide good and timely advice, that is both balanced and well-evidenced, for Ministers and Officials developing and implementing the Welsh Government’s plans and policies.

As we have shown, the work to make the most of women’s talents in the broad world of STEM and work is progressing well, although it is early days at present.

In STEM in Education activities, we are working to develop the new curriculum and qualification arrangements, so we are in a period of consolidation. We do need to take further steps to improve our PISA Science and Maths scores, especially the element of the cadre taking the tests who should be achieving the top-scores but are not doing so well in Wales, as elsewhere. We have, under the National Science Academy, an exciting and innovative new programme being developed and put forward for funding. This stands to help a significant number of pupils across Wales into the study of STEM subjects and, we hope, on into STEM-related careers, to benefit our economy and society more widely.

Credit: Credit Cardiff University.

Annexes


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res

ourc

es f

or W

ales

, gat

herin

g pa

rtne

rs a

nd b

road

enin

g re

ach

acro

ss

the

STEM

sec

tor,

part

icul

arly

in s

uppo

rtin

g ‘Q

ualifi

ed f

or L

ife’ &

‘Cur

ricul

um C

ymra

ig’.

To m

aint

ain

&

impr

ove

the

acce

ssib

ility

to

CRE

ST A

war

ds f

or W

elsh

stu

dent

s.

9/4/

15 –

31/

3/18

Un

iver

se in

th

e C

lass

roo

m 2

.0:

Ro

bo

tic

Tele

sco

pe

for

Wal

es

and

inn

ova

tio

n in

th

e p

rim

ary

clas

sro

om

– C

ardi

ff U

nive

rsity

Proj

ect

aim

s to

insp

ire c

hild

ren

by d

evel

opin

g en

quiry

bas

ed a

ctiv

ities

tha

t ut

ilise

the

Rob

otic

tel

esco

pe,

due

to t

he s

ucce

ss o

f th

e pr

evio

usly

fun

ded

proj

ect.

The

pro

ject

will

con

tinue

to

prov

ide

mor

e op

port

uniti

es f

or p

upils

to

purs

ue t

heir

own

scie

ntifi

c in

tere

sts.

Pro

vide

mor

e pr

ofes

sion

al d

evel

opm

ent,

su

ppor

t an

d ad

vice

to

scho

ols

on s

cien

ce t

each

ing

and

lear

ning

.

9/4/

15 –

31/

3/18

Lab

in a

Lo

rry

Cym

ru 2

015-

2017

– In

stitu

te o

f Ph

ysic

sLa

b in

a L

orry

is a

mob

ile s

cien

ce la

bora

tory

tha

t ta

kes

hand

s-on

phy

sics

exp

rimen

ts t

o se

cond

ary

scho

ols.

Th

e ai

m o

f th

e pr

ojec

t is

to

enab

le s

tude

nts

aged

11-

14 t

he o

ppor

tuni

ty t

o ex

perie

nce

scie

nce

as it

is

real

ly d

one

as o

ppos

ed t

o si

mpl

y re

peat

ing

dem

onst

ratio

ns w

here

the

out

com

e is

alre

ady

know

.

9/4/

15 –

31/

3/17

Sust

ain

able

exp

ansi

on

of

Spec

tro

sco

py

in a

Su

itca

se

(SIA

S) in

Wal

es –

Roy

al S

ocie

ty

of C

hem

istr

y

Purp

ose

of f

undi

ng is

to

incr

ease

the

num

ber

of W

elsh

pup

ils s

tudy

ing

chem

istr

y at

uni

vers

ity, s

uppo

rtin

g te

ache

rs in

insp

iring

the

ir pu

pils

to

follo

w a

sci

ence

bas

ed c

aree

r. SI

AS

will

exp

and

acro

ss W

ales

in

clud

ing

Swan

sea

Uni

vers

ity a

nd T

echn

ique

st G

lynd

wr

scie

nce

cent

re b

ringi

ng s

pect

rosc

opy

wor

ksho

ps

to p

revi

ousl

y un

reac

hed

area

s of

Wre

xham

. Als

o de

velo

pmen

t of

a S

pect

rosc

opy

Day

eve

nt h

eld

at

Abe

rstw

yth

Uni

vers

ity.

9/4/

15 –

31/

3/18

STEM

Act

ivit

ies

– N

atio

nal

Eist

eddf

od o

f W

ales

To in

crea

se m

otiv

atio

n an

d in

spira

tions

of

pupi

ls t

hrou

gh t

he f

ollo

win

g ac

tiviti

es: I

nven

tion

– In

nova

tion

com

petit

ion,

IP C

halle

nge,

CRE

ST A

war

d Sc

ienc

e W

orks

hops

, Liv

e Sc

ienc

e sh

ows.

Pro

vide

opp

ortu

nitie

s fo

r in

divi

dual

s w

ithin

the

STE

M c

omm

unity

to

deve

lop

publ

ic e

ngag

emen

t sk

ills,

bec

omin

g po

sitiv

e ro

le

mod

els

(STE

M A

mba

ssad

ors)

and

sup

port

STE

M c

lubs

.

9/4/

15 –

31/

3/18

Ast

rocy

mru

– S

cien

ce M

ade

Sim

ple

The

proj

ect

will

con

tinue

to

cont

ribut

e to

war

ds S

TEM

act

ivity

and

coo

rdin

atio

n in

Wal

es. A

stro

Cym

ru w

ill

deliv

er 3

D s

how

s, le

ctur

es a

nd w

orks

hops

. Eng

age

the

gene

ral p

ublic

with

STE

M. P

rom

ote

Car

eers

in

STEM

by

high

light

ing

curr

ent

rese

arch

and

tec

hnol

ogy.

Dev

elop

new

STE

M e

duca

tiona

l res

ourc

es a

nd 3

D

show

s.

9/4/

15 –

31/

3/18

Tech

no

cam

ps:

Pla

y-g

rou

nd

C

om

pu

tin

g, T

ech

no

teac

h –

Sw

anse

a U

nive

rsity

Ther

e ar

e 2

elem

ents

to

this

pro

ject

: Tec

hnot

each

– is

a s

truc

ture

d pr

ogra

mm

e of

fre

e tr

aini

ng

oppo

rtun

ities

in w

hich

tea

cher

s en

rol o

n a

6 w

eek,

20

hr t

rain

ing

prog

ram

mes

foc

usse

d ar

ound

the

new

ly

– em

ergi

ng C

ompu

ter

Cur

ricul

um. P

layg

roun

d C

ompu

ting

– is

a p

rimar

y sc

hool

out

reac

h pr

ogra

mm

e de

liver

ing

full

day

in –

sch

ool W

orks

hops

foc

usin

g on

tea

chin

g ch

ildre

n an

d th

eir

teac

hers

.

9/4/

15 –

31/

3/18

EESW

201

5- 2

017

– EE

SWPr

ojec

t ai

ms

to in

crea

se a

ttai

nmen

t le

vels

in S

TEM

sub

ject

s am

ongs

t 11

– 1

9 ye

ar o

lds

thro

ugh

4 st

rand

s:

Girl

s in

to S

TEM

(GIS

), F1

in S

choo

ls, I

ntro

duct

ion

to E

ngin

eerin

g (i2

E) a

nd E

ESW

6th

For

m A

ctiv

ity.

1/9/

15 –

28/

2/17

84


Pro

ject

an

d o

rgan

isat

ion

Bri

ef d

escr

ipti

on

of

pro

ject

/ a

ctiv

ity

Star

t /

end

dat

es

Scie

nce

En

rich

men

t Ex

per

ien

ce –

See

Sci

ence

Th

e pr

ojec

t ai

ms

to d

evel

op a

sui

te o

f ac

tiviti

es w

hich

will

hav

e sp

ecifi

c lin

ks o

f W

ales

and

the

wor

ld o

f w

ork

for

KS2

and

KS3

pup

ils t

hat

coul

d be

use

d as

a p

roje

ct, a

tra

nsiti

on d

ay, a

cro

ss c

urric

ular

day

or

as a

cl

ub r

esou

rce.

1/10

/15

– 31

/3/1

7

Tota

l Fu

nd

ing

fo

r th

e ab

ove

co

nti

nu

ing

pro

gra

mm

es =

£1,

362,

307

All

syST

EMs

go

– G

2G

Com

mun

icat

ions

Com

mun

ity

Inte

rest

Co.

(CIC

)

Enric

hmen

t ac

tiviti

es h

eld

in s

choo

ls, l

ibra

ries

and

com

mun

ity v

enue

s fo

r pr

esen

t K

ey S

tage

2 &

3 p

upils

. A

ll pr

ojec

t re

sour

ces

are

avai

labl

e fr

ee o

n th

e C

IC’s

‘e-le

arni

ng p

latf

orm

’ (Le

sson

pla

ns; c

urric

ulum

re

sour

ces;

han

d-ou

ts; p

rogr

amm

es; v

ideo

s; m

ultim

edia

lear

ning

res

ourc

es; S

TEM

gam

es a

nd o

ther

te

achi

ng a

nd le

arni

ng r

esou

rces

.

1/1/

16 –

31/

3/18

Rai

sin

g A

spir

atio

n: I

nsp

irin

g

the

nex

t g

ener

atio

n o

f ST

EM –

ST

EMw

orks

Wor

ksho

ps t

o en

thus

e an

d en

gage

stu

dent

s in

STE

M a

t pr

esen

t K

ey S

tage

2 t

o 3

tran

sitio

n –

chal

leng

ing

engi

neer

ing

ster

eoty

pes

– pa

rtic

ular

ly o

n ge

nder

. The

y ai

m t

o pr

ovid

e sc

hool

s w

ith d

iffer

ent

wor

ksho

p op

tions

to

supp

ort

thei

r Sc

hem

es o

f Le

arni

ng –

suc

h as

CSI

/for

ensi

cs, c

ompu

ter

cont

rol L

EGO

and

K’n

ex,

rene

wab

le e

nerg

y an

d m

aths

wor

ksho

ps.

1/1/

16 –

31/

3/18

Scie

nce

of

Ho

w t

o T

rain

yo

ur

Dra

go

ns

– Sc

ienc

e2Li

feA

n in

nova

tive

and

inte

ract

ive

50-6

0 m

inut

e ST

EM w

ith L

itera

cy r

oads

how

, bas

ed o

n C

ress

ida

Cow

ell’s

H

ow t

o Tr

ain

Your

Dra

gon

book

s. It

tar

gets

pre

sent

Key

Sta

ge 2

& 3

pup

ils. P

re-s

how

res

ourc

es a

llow

te

ache

rs t

o pr

epar

e st

uden

ts a

nd e

nhan

ce c

lass

room

cre

ativ

ity t

hrou

gh s

tory

telli

ng a

nd a

jour

nal a

llow

ing

stud

ents

to

desc

ribe

bein

g en

gage

d in

rea

l sci

ence

situ

atio

ns.

1/1/

16 –

31/

3/18

Scie

nce

& E

ng

inee

rin

g

Sup

erh

ero

es –

ro

le m

od

els

in

STEM

– S

cien

ce M

ade

Sim

ple

‘Who

wan

ts t

o be

a s

uper

hero

?’ a

50-

min

ute

live

show

writ

ten

for

pres

ent

Key

Sta

ge 2

, fea

turin

g si

x yo

ung

STEM

rol

e m

odel

s (fi

ve o

f th

em w

omen

), w

orki

ng in

var

ious

jobs

in W

ales

. It

addr

esse

s ge

nder

st

ereo

type

s in

girl

s (a

nd b

oys)

at

uppe

r-pr

imar

y-sc

hool

leve

ls.

1/1/

16 –

31/

3/18

S4: S

wan

sea

Un

iver

sity

Sc

ien

ce f

or

Sch

oo

ls –

Col

lege

of

Sci

ence

, Sw

anse

a U

nive

rsity

Sum

mer

Cam

ps f

or p

upils

fro

m f

our

feed

er s

choo

ls o

f C

ymer

Afa

n C

ompr

ehen

sive

in N

eath

. Yea

r 9-

11

tast

er d

ays

and

Year

12

sum

mer

sch

ools

add

ress

the

ir tr

ansi

tions

to

A-L

evel

and

Hig

her

Educ

atio

n, w

ith

trai

ning

in p

ract

ical

prin

cipl

es in

bio

scie

nce;

com

pute

r sc

ienc

e; g

eosc

ienc

es; m

aths

and

phy

sics

. The

y al

so f

oste

r aw

aren

ess

of t

he e

cono

mic

and

cul

tura

l rol

es o

f ST

EM, w

ith p

artic

ipat

ion

in h

ands

-on

scie

nce

activ

ities

.

1/1/

16 –

31/

3/18

On

line

Co

nti

nu

al P

rofe

ssio

nal

D

evel

op

men

t (C

PD)

for

Go

ph

er S

cien

ce L

abs

– Ro

yal

Soci

ety

of B

iolo

gy

Gop

her

Scie

nce

Labs

(GSL

) use

sim

ple

hand

s-on

sci

ence

act

iviti

es t

o fa

cilit

ate

lear

ning

by

prim

ary

aged

ch

ildre

n an

d to

eas

e pu

pils

’ tra

nsiti

on t

o se

cond

ary

educ

atio

n. B

uild

ing

on t

he s

ucce

ss o

f G

SL f

or W

ales

ev

ents

for

prim

ary

scho

ols

and

twili

ght

teac

her

trai

ning

cou

rses

del

iver

ed in

201

4, t

his

proj

ect

will

dev

elop

fu

rthe

r su

ppor

t fo

r sc

hool

s in

Wal

es. T

hrou

gh t

he d

evel

opm

ent

of a

n on

line

trai

ning

mod

ule

the

proj

ect

aim

s to

off

er a

ll te

ache

rs in

Wal

es t

he o

ppor

tuni

ty t

o ac

cess

con

tinui

ng p

rofe

ssio

nal d

evel

opm

ent,

de

velo

ping

con

fiden

ce in

the

sci

ence

beh

ind

the

activ

ities

and

sup

ply

part

icip

ants

with

new

act

iviti

es t

o tr

y ou

t in

the

ir sc

hool

s.

1/1/

16 –

28/

2/18

Tech

niq

ues

t G

lyn

dw

r (T

G)

This

pro

ject

del

iver

s ST

EM a

ctiv

ities

to

supp

ort

stud

ents

as

they

mov

e fr

om p

rese

nt K

ey S

tage

2 t

o K

ey

Stag

e 3.

The

y w

ill b

e fo

r sc

hool

s ac

ross

Nor

th W

ales

, in

part

icul

ar t

he G

wE

lead

sch

ools

for

sci

ence

. A

ctiv

ities

wer

e pi

lote

d by

TG

and

wel

l rec

eive

d. A

ctiv

ities

incl

ude

Lab

Skill

s D

ays

at T

G f

or u

pper

Key

St

age

2 st

uden

ts, w

ith la

b. s

afet

y tr

aini

ng a

nd s

impl

e sc

ient

ific

test

s us

ing

labo

rato

ry e

quip

men

t. T

here

ar

e pr

ofes

sion

al le

arni

ng s

essi

ons

for

prim

ary

scho

ol t

each

ers

with

sup

port

res

ourc

es a

nd e

quip

men

t fo

r us

e in

sch

ool f

ollo

win

g a

Lab.

Ski

lls D

ay.

1/1/

16 –

31/

3/18

85


Pro

ject

an

d o

rgan

isat

ion

Bri

ef d

escr

ipti

on

of

pro

ject

/ a

ctiv

ity

Star

t /

end

dat

es

Sch

oo

l of

Phys

ics

&

Ast

ron

om

y, C

ard

iff

Un

iver

sity

Enth

usin

g se

cond

ary

stud

ents

in S

TEM

act

iviti

es t

hrou

gh e

ngag

emen

t in

rea

l ast

roph

ysic

s ex

perim

ents

–

mea

surin

g co

smic

ray

s (h

igh-

ener

gy p

artic

les

trav

ellin

g th

roug

h sp

ace)

, usi

ng d

etec

tors

hos

ted

in s

choo

ls.

A fi

rst

in W

ales

– b

uild

ing

on B

irmin

gham

Uni

vers

ity’s

succ

essf

ul Q

uark

Net

STE

M p

rogr

amm

e.

1/1/

16 –

31/

3/18

Sou

th W

est

Wal

es R

each

ing

W

ider

Par

tner

ship

Satu

rday

STE

M c

lubs

for

girl

s, t

aste

r w

orks

hops

and

a r

esid

entia

l opp

ortu

nity

all

targ

et p

upils

for

m

pres

ent

Key

Sta

ge 2

to

Key

Sta

ge 4

. The

pro

gram

me

is p

rogr

essi

ve, a

llow

ing

part

icip

ants

to

enga

ge in

m

ultip

le S

TEM

eng

agem

ents

with

bot

h FE

and

HE

prov

ider

s to

hel

p th

em b

uild

‘sci

ence

cap

ital’

thro

ugh

mul

tiple

inte

nsiv

e en

gage

men

ts.

1/1/

16 –

31/

3/18

Tota

l fu

nd

ing

fo

r th

e ab

ove

new

pro

gra

mm

es =

£85

8,07

2

Ove

rall

NSA

fu

nd

ing

to

tal =

£2,

220,

379

86


Annex 2: Welsh strategic awards for capital equipment

After assessment, these proposals were funded:

• Cardiff University MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (CNGG) HiSeq 400 sequencing system supported by Biomek robot allowing sequencing of whole genomes more than 36 times faster at more than 2.5 times reduction in cost. (Professor Sir Michael Owen)

• Cardiff University, Cardiff Catalysis Institute X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy for surface analysis. (Professor Graham Hutchings)

• Swansea University, College of Engineering Prototyping and lifetime testing of low cost, durable solar cells made by printing and coating. (Professor James Durrant)

• Cardiff University The Wales Gene Park Genomic Big Data Hub – one petabyte optimised for storage and processing of human genomic data. (Professor Julian Sampson)

• Cardiff University MRC CNGG MassARRAY system: nucleic acid detection and quantification platform. (Dr Rebecca Sims)

• Cardiff University, Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute A set of miniature microscopes to image neuronal ensembles in rodent models of neuropsychiatric disorders. (Dr Riccardo Brambilla)

• Cardiff University, Systems Immunity Research Institute Imagestream: high resolution microscope embedded in a fluidic system suitable for the analysis of suspended cells. (Professors Philip Taylor, Paul Morgan and Valerie O’Donnell)

• Swansea University, College of Medicine Equipment to build depth and breadth in cell analysis capabilities. (Professor Cathy Thornton)

• Cardiff University, School of Biosciences Automated Fish Rearing Units. (Professor Jo Cable)

87


An

nex

3: R

esea

rch

Inco

me

of

Hig

her

Ed

uca

tio

n In

stit

uti

on

s in

Wal

es 2

015-

16In

stit

uti

on

sTo

tal

Res

earc

h

Inco

me

Rec

urr

ent

Res

earc

h

Fun

din

g

Res

earc

h

Co

un

cils

UK

-bas

ed

Ch

arit

able

B

od

ies

UK

Cen

tral

G

ove

rnm

ent

Bo

die

s

UK

Cen

tral

G

ove

rnm

ent

Tax

Cre

dit

s fo

r R

&D

Ex

pen

dit

ure

UK

Ind

ust

ry,

Co

mm

erce

&

Pu

blic

C

orp

ora

tio

ns

EU S

ou

rces

No

n-E

U

Sou

rces

Oth

er

Sou

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88


Annex 4: List of acronyms

ABWR Advanced Boiling Water Reactor

AdM The Advanced Engineering & Materials NRN (branded as Engineering Research Network Wales)

AIM Advanced Imaging of Materials Facility (at Swansea University)

AMR Anti-microbial Resistance

BDNF Brain-derived neurotropic factor, generally known by its acronym

BEP Ford Motor Company’s Bridgend Engine Plant – supporting Ford Saturday Club

BIHMR Bangor Institute of Health & Medical Research

BIS the former UK Department for Business, Innovation & Skills

BP British Petroleum, a company now trading under these initials

BrExit ‘British Exit’ portmanteau – the United Kingdom leaving the European Union

BTEC Business Technology Education Council – a qualifications provider

CAMS The Centre for Applied Marine Sciences (at Bangor University)

CEH The Centre for Ecology & Hydrology – NERC-funded centres – one in Bangor

CERN from Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire – the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (very widely known by the acronym)

CPD Continuing Professional Development

CREST from Creativity in Engineering, Science & Technology

CS Compound Semiconductors

CSC Compound Semiconductor Centre (a Cardiff University & IQE Plc joint venture)

CSAD Chief Scientific Adviser’s DIvision

CSAW Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales

CUBRIC Cardiff University Brain Research

DCF Digital Competence Framework

DNA Deoxyribonucleic Acid (complex chemical transmitting genetic information)

EESW Engineering Education Scheme Wales

EPSRC Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council

ERC European Research Council

ERDF European Regional Development Fund (WEFO administered)

ESF European Social Fund (WEFO administered)

ESRI Energy Safety Research Institute (at Swansea University)

EU European Union

FRS Fellow of the Royal Society

FTE Full time equivalent (used for calculating job numbers)

FWCI Field-weighted Citation Index

89


GCSA UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser

GCSE General Certificate of Secondary Education

GDP Gross Domestic Product

GERD Gross (Domestic) Expenditure on R&D

GM Genetically Modified

GVA Gross Value Added

HCRW Health & Care Research Wales

HEFCW Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (known widely by its acronym)

HEI(s) Higher Education Institution(s)

HESA Higher Education Statistical Agency

IBERS Institute of Biological, Environmental & Rural Sciences (at Aberystwyth University)

ICS Institute for Compound Semiconductors (at Cardiff University)

ICT Information & Communication Technology

IEP Independent Evaluation Panel

IP Intellectual Property

LCEE The Low Carbon Energy & Environment NRN

LSRNW The Life Sciences Research Network Wales – a NRN

MoU Memorandum of Understanding

MRC Medical Research Council

NERC The Natural Environment Research Council

NHS National Health Service

NICE The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

NRN(s) National Research Network(s)

NSA National Science Academy

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development

PDRA(s) Post-Doctoral Research Associate

PGR Post Graduate Research

PhD Doctor of Philosophy – a postgraduate research degree

PI Principal Investigator – the leader of a team of researchers

PISA Programme for International Student Assessment

PV Photovoltaic & Photovoltaics

QR Quality Research

R&D Research & development

REF Research Excellence Framework (2014)

RCUK Research Councils UK

90


RRI Responsible Research & Innovation

SACW Science Advisory Council for Wales

SERC Sustainable Energy Research Centre (at the University of South Wales)

SLAM Swansea Laboratory for Animal Movement (at Swansea University)

SMEs Small & Medium Enterprises

STEM Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics

STEMM Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics & Medicine

Texas A&M Once Texas Agricultural & Mechanical College – US University, known thus

UCLA University of California, Los Angeles (known widely by its acronym)

UoA Unit of Assessment – an area of Research put into the REF

VFAs Volatile Fatty Acids

WEFO Wales European Funding Office

WISE Originally for Women into Science and Engineering, now branded as the ‘WISE Campaign’

Delivering Science for Wales 2017

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