Swansea University’s stand at this year’s Blaenau Gwent and Heads of the Valleys National Eisteddfod of Wales, from July 31 – August 7, will celebrate some of the most important figures in recent Welsh history.
And visitors will also be given a taster of the University’s world-class research such as creating new, eco-friendly technology that could generate as much electricity as 50 wind farms and exciting recent developments such as the creation of a new centre for Welsh Studies.
The University will commemorate the unique contribution of the late Professor Hywel Teifi Edwards to the University and to Wales, with the launch of an annual Hywel Teifi Edwards Memorial Lecture.
This year’s lecture, on the history of the Gorsedd of the Bards, will be given in the Literary Pavilion at 11am, on Thursday, August 5, by the eminent Welsh historian Professor Geraint H Jenkins.
Following the memorial lecture, at 12noon in the Swansea University Stand, Professor Edwards’s son, the BBC broadcaster Huw Edwards, will launch Academi Hywel Teifi – an exciting new development at the University’s campus, which will be a powerhouse for Welsh medium teaching and scholarship at the highest level.
At the same time the academi will provide a focus for promoting the Welsh Language and Culture within the University, combining scholarship through the medium of Welsh with a move to reach out to the wider community to build up a bilingual workforce.
Throughout the week visitors will also be invited to celebrate the life and work of Professor Edwards, by contributing their tributes and memories to a unique Memory Mural, which will then be given a permanent home in Academi Hywel Teifi.
An Alumni Reunion will be held on the stand at 2.30pm on Wednesday, August 4, in the company of guest of honour, broadcaster Jason Mohammad – a Swansea University Welsh graduate and former student of Professor Edwards.
Visitors will be given the opportunity to share memories of Professor Edwards and their time at Swansea, look for familiar faces in the exhibition of historic photos, and hear about new developments at the University, including the plans for a second campus.
Throughout the week on the University Stand, the special connection between Paul Robeson and Wales, and his historic visit to the Eisteddfod in Ebbw Vale in 1958, will be celebrated.
His granddaughter, Susan Robeson, will be showing the Let Paul Robeson Sing! exhibition to visitors to the stand and on Tuesday, August 3 at 11am, will also be launching a new online learning resource based on the Paul Robeson archive held at Swansea University’s South Wales Miners Library, which will be available to the public as a part of the People’s Collection – a Welsh Assembly Government funded digital resource which enables users to search for information and resources about Wales’ culture and heritage.
Visitors will also be able to discover how Swansea engineers are shaping the buildings of the future, through the development of solar cells and special coatings that will enable buildings to create their own electricity.
And Dr Siwan Davies, Senior Lecturer in Geography from the University’s School of the Environment and Society, will give the Eisteddfod’s Main Science Lecture at 1pm, on Thursday, August 5.
Following the recent volcanic eruption in Norway, which grounded many aircraft and caused disruption to travellers worldwide, this year’s lecture will focus on Dr Siwan’s research into Eyjafjöll’s Volcanic Ash.
The Roman Conquest in Welsh Literature will be the topic of the Welsh Antiquarian Society Lecture at 3pm, on Wednesday, August 4, which will be given by Ceri Davies, Professor of History and Classics in the University’s School of Arts and Humanities.
And Dr Daniel Williams, from the University’s Centre for Research into English Literature and Language of Wales, will give the Institute of Welsh Affairs Lecture on Socialism and Minority Rights – Paul Robeson and Aneurin Bevan at 1pm, on Tuesday, August 3, in the Pagoda.
On Wednesday, August 4, at 11.45am on the University Stand, Dr Williams will also be hosting a discussion on the Library of Wales series entitled “Promoting and Teaching the English Literature of Wales” with Professor Dai Smith, Editor of the Library of Wales Series, Leighton Andrews, AM, Minister for Education and Alun Ffred Jones, AM, Heritage Minister.
Throughout the week, visitors to the Maes are invited to come to the Swansea University stand to meet members of the Swansea University team and to see if they can learn a language in five minutes, solve mathematical puzzles, and hear the bards do battle in our Eisteddfod Stomp on the Swansea University Stand at 1pm on Friday, August 6.
The University will also stage a Mathematics Exhibition in the Science Pavilion throughout the Eisteddfod week which will include a fascinating cube building competition.
Professor Iwan Davies, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Swansea University, said: “Swansea is a University which delights in its Welsh identity and we take our role as a provider of comprehensive Welsh scholarship and teaching seriously. We hope to demonstrate at the Eisteddfod the wide and developing opportunities available for Welsh medium teaching and learning at Swansea.”
For details of activities at Swansea University’s stand throughout the week, visit www.swansea.ac.uk <http://www.swansea.ac.uk/> .
This year’s Blaenau Gwent and Heads of the Valleys National Eisteddfod of Wales runs from July 31 – August 7, at the old steelworks site on the outskirts of Ebbw Vale. For further information visit http://www.eisteddfod.org.uk/english/.
