Natural Sciences at Bangor

12/10/2026

This week (Weds) don't miss listening to 'Kiri's Farm' on BBC Radio 4 Kiri Pritchard - McLean “Comedian and farmer's daughter Kiri Pritchard-McLean owns a smallholding on the island of Ynys Môn. She wants to use the land for good, but because you can't grow sequins (yet) she needs to come up with a plan b.”
The show will air on Wednesdays at 11pm on Radio 4. Our very own Kara Marsden (lecturer in environmental science) appears in episode 2 giving some advice on soil health. The episode will be broadcast on 14th October and the whole series is now available on BBC Sounds. Good luck with the series Kiri! Kiri is also a great Treborth Botanic Garden/Gardd Fotaneg Treborth supporter!

A stand-up comedian, a vegan and a farmer walk into a bar.

11/10/2026

Fun, fun, fungi!

05/10/2026

Zoology alum. Storm Borum has been busy learning fieldskills at the Gedser Bird Observatory in Denmark. "My total ended at 546 birds ringed across 38 species, including sparrowhawks, shrikes, swallows, thrushes, a woodpecker, wryneck, firecrest, a few t**s and a few hundred warblers of all kinds".

Good luck on your next birding adventure at Blåvand Fuglestation, Storm! Blåvand Fuglestation

Storm is if you're looking for a hard working nature enthusiast with great fieldskills and nature knowledge. He was also great at our open days! Bangor University BirdLife Europe and Central Asia Bangor University Alumni

04/10/2026

More shots from our 'Welcome week'. Here are some of our new 'Zoology with Marine Zoology' students exploring the beach at Brynsiencyn on nearby Anglesey, a great place for 🦀

Not all freshers weeks are the same :-) Bangor University Bangor University Zoological Society

03/10/2026

At the end of Sept. geography academic Sophie Wynne-Jones attended the British Ecological Society conference on and 30 by 30. The conference bought people together to talk about issues like landscape recovery projects (such as the inspiring work of West Dorset Wilding), mechanisms to advance rewilding and nature recovery in land use planning. Also covered was fascinating work by archaeologists who have been looking at a deep time perspective on people's evolving place in wild space and understanding how rewilding can create benefits for biodiversity. On day 2 speakers discussed “Rewilding and its Multiple Benefits” and Sophie presented work on the issues between people and nature. ‘Rewilding is about all of us finding ways to work and live within healthy, flourishing ecosystems’
Great to meet the 'young wilders' there (youngwilders.org) whose aim is ‘In the next three years, we want every young person in England and Wales within an hour of a youth-led nature recovery project’. Bangor University

02/10/2026

Earlier in the month we hosted a meeting to bring together people from agricultural and environmental policy organisations from Welsh Gov, Scottish Gov, DAERA (N. Ireland) and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The group come together each year to hold a "Four Nations" meeting to share information on their current projects and future plans. This year was Wales' turn to host, and the whole event was held at our Henfaes research farm close to Bangor University. We use the farm for teaching and research. Current trials include disease resistant crops, land management and agroforestry. We also have a flock of sheep including a small group of rare breed.

01/10/2026

*Funded PhDs*
Are you or is someone in your network looking for funding to develop a PhD research in conservation social sciences? Have a look at and share this post so that we can find each other!

We are recruiting students for the ESRC-funded Welsh Graduate School for the Social Sciences (Environmental Planning pathway) at Bangor University.

We are recruiting students with interests in evaluation of environmental policies and practices, designing and evaluating behaviour change interventions, conservation conflicts, citizen science, environmental justice and ethics, urban green equity etc….

Have a look at the slides and get in touch with the relevant supervisor (their email addresses can be found easily online or find ours in our bio).

28/09/2026

Earlier in the month Dr Luci Kirkpatrick helped host an "Ecological on the Edge" 'Walkshop' with Lecturer in data and AI Dr Mosab Bazargani from our School of Computer Science and Engineering - Bangor University! 🌿💻

​"I am incredibly proud of the truly transdisciplinary work we are fostering here Bangor University. We kicked off the day at Bangor’s fantastic Henfaes research farm facility, a brilliant university resource, before heading out on the Aber Falls circular. Experiencing the stunning Carneddau landscape firsthand was the absolute perfect way to ground our thinking before diving into the hard work.
​The core mission of this walkshop was simple but ambitious: embedding co-design at the core of ecological monitoring, and exploring how to truly make ecological monitoring adapted.

Topics discussed:

🔍 Identifying key knowledge and implementation gaps in current monitoring.
🤝 Exploring how artificial intelligence and edge adapted approaches can meet these needs.
🚧 Pinpointing the key challenges and barriers to implementing these new technologies in the wild." Thanks to everyine who attended and supported this cross college event.

27/09/2026

Have you considered forestry?!
The Forestry Youth Camp, led by and supported by Welsh Government and the Scottish Forestry Trust, aims to address the UK’s growing skills shortage in the forest industry by engaging young people who are currently under-represented in the sector.

With the UK facing ambitious tree cover targets as part of its net zero commitments, the forest industry needs to grow its workforce by up to 72%. Meeting this challenge will require not only more people, but a broader range of skills and greater diversity across the sector.

The week-long camp offered participants a fully funded opportunity to explore how forests and woodlands connect to everyday life and global issues. Through outdoor learning, hands-on activities and conversations with professionals, the camp helped young people build confidence, develop new skills and consider careers in forestry and forest science.