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News Archive

April 2008
Genetics and Merthyr Youth"GAMY" Project Launched
Science Shops is supporting research allowing young people from Merthyr Tydfil to explore what genetics means to them, their families and their community, with issues like diet, lifestyle and sex.
The young people will have a say in how they record their thoughts including digital photography, movie-making and diary writing.
More details about the GAMY Project are available here.

March 2008
More Science Shops Publications on the way!
Throughout 2007, the Science Shops team supported the residents of Cwmaman in the Cynon Valley, Rhondda Cynon Taf, in carrying out an ‘audit’ of the habitats and wildlife in their local environment. The knowledge gained from the experience of facilitating the audit has been distilled into a handbook for the use of community groups throughout the whole of Wales. The handbook, entitled Doing a Local Community Biodiversity Audit: a Handbook for Community Groups in Wales covers the practical issues of generating interest in a biodiversity project, getting a group together, applying for funding and putting on successful events. It also provides easy-to-follow technical information on habitat and species identification, how to record the biodiversity data and suggestions for using the information to conserve and enhance the natural environment. The handbook, to be published in English in March 2008, will shortly be available as a free download (in both Welsh and English) from this site.

February 2008
Cwmaman Biodiversity Celebration
On Friday 22nd February Science Shops Wales hosted a community biodiversity celebration at St. Joseph's Environmental & Heritage Centre, Cwmaman. The event celebrated the completion of Cwmaman's Community Biodiversity Audit, a collaborative project organised by Science Shops Wales which was supported by many adults and children from the village. The findings from the project are hosted on the web site of the Aman Valley Conservation Association and can be viewed online here.

September 2007
2007-8 Science Communication Scholarships Now Available
Science Shops Wales is offering two scholarships for the University of Glamorgan's one-year Masters' Degree in Communicating Science. To find out more and download an application form click here.

August 2007
Merthyr First!
Between 18th to 25th August 2007 Science Shops Wales were involved in the very first annual Merthyr Arts & Science Festival, sponsoring presentations, exhibitions and workshops about a host of topics around the theme of the science of Romeo and Juliet.All events were open to the public and free of charge. More...

October 2006
Universities Invest in Communities’ Education.
HEFCW Press Release 20/10/06

A major investment to support regeneration and education in the Heads of the Valleys area in South Wales has been announced today.
£1.5m will be shared between the University of Glamorgan and the University of Wales, Newport for a two-year project to broaden the higher education opportunities available to residents of the South Wales Valleys.
The funding, awarded through the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales’s (HEFCW) Strategic Development Fund, will be used to finance a number of initiatives which will give local people an opportunity to experience university education or gain knowledge which would help them to pursue a higher education qualification.
The two universities will provide learning opportunities at the core of some of our most disadvantaged communities with schemes such as ‘Science Shops’, which builds on work already started through the Community University of the Valleys.
The Science Shops – the first of their kind in England and Wales - will be available in venues such as shopping centres, where tutors, researchers and students will help local groups solve problems by using hands-on scientific methods. They will also give local people the opportunity to develop their skills, which could help them progress to more formal, community-based accredited courses.
Minister for Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills, Jane Davidson, welcomed news of the development:

"Widening access to higher education, particularly in communities where engagement with HE is comparatively low, is a major priority for the Welsh Assembly Government. I am pleased that we are able to support this development, playing, as it does, to the main strengths which the two institutions have to offer."

"Both the University of Glamorgan and the University of Wales, Newport have strong track records in this type of activity. I am especially pleased to see these institutions collaborating in a way which fits with the ethos of our strategy for higher education, Reaching Higher."

Chair of HEFCW, Professor Sir Roger Williams, said:

"We have long been concerned about the accessibility of higher education opportunities to the communities of the South Wales Valleys. Coming from Tredegar, this holds particular significance for me. I am delighted that we were able to find the funding to get behind these two institutions to expand considerably their excellent work in this area."

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