Alex Ioannou announced as recipient of Drapers Scholarship in College of Arts, Humanities and Business
Bangor University is pleased to announce the recipients of the Drapers’ Scholarships 2021.
For over a hundred years, the Drapers’ Company, one of the historic Livery Companies of the City of London and now a philanthropic organisation, has been linked to Bangor University, initially through substantial grants towards the construction of some of the University’s main buildings including the library, science laboratories and the electrical engineering department.
Three talented researchers will be awarded scholarships this year: Alex Ioannou, Harvey Plows and Conor Buchanan.
Pictured: Alex Ioannou
Martina Feilzer, Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Business said, “We’re delighted to announce Alex Ioannou as the recipient of the Draper’s Scholarship this year. Alex’s project Reframing the Welsh landscape: The role of collective subjectivity in a time which calls for landscape change examines how many aspects of the environmental and sustainability problems which confront us are tied to land and landscape: how it’s used, managed, fashioned and viewed. This interdisciplinary doctoral project brings together scholars from the Colleges of Arts, Humanities and Business and is well-placed to make a distinctive contribution towards how we might address some of the most urgent global challenges.”
Alex Ioannou is a Cypriot/British landscape architect, who holds a Masters’ degree in Landscape Architecture from Greenwich University and has experience of working within heritage landscapes and the Welsh environmental sector. Growing up on the divided island of Cyprus, his passion for landscape is rooted in trying to understand how individuals relate to and exist within the surroundings they inherit or create. Alex’s project is supervised by Dr Norman Dandy, Director of the Sir William Roberts Centre for Sustainable Land Use SWRC, http://swrc.bangor.ac.uk/, School of Natural Sciences and Dr Shaun Evans, Director of the Institute for the Study of Welsh Estates ISWE, http://iswe.bangor.ac.uk/, School of History, Law and Social Sciences.
Alex explains, “After my Masters degree I worked at the Royal Parks, in London. My research included the mile-long Chestnut Avenue in Bushy Park and the remains of the Grand Ascent and Parterre Banks in Greenwich Park. They are fantastic places, but like many heritage landscapes they are a testimony to the dominant ‘frames’ which have dictated our use, management and perception of landscapes for centuries: these forces of compulsive competition, compounding growth and an economy rooted in exploitation generated the power and wealth William III and Charles II enjoyed and channelled into shaping these landscapes.
“Outside my present front door runs the route of the historic Dinorwic Quarries railway. I am daily reminded of the power and wealth which dictated the shaping and re-shaping of the landscapes of Wales since the beginning of the industrial revolution.
“Wales finds itself at a pivotal point in its history. The climate and nature emergencies are a result of those forces which shaped how we’ve used, managed and perceived the landscapes we live in. Those dominant ways in which we 'frame' and so relate to our landscapes are coming under more scrutiny the ever before. Working to publish the State of Natural Resources Report 2020, I learnt about the abundance of biodiversity in and value of the Welsh landscape. But I also had to write about how Wales is not currently meeting any of the four aims which NRW assesses against.
“The aim of this research project is to connect current discussions about landscape change with the past and provide alternative 'frames' to the ones that have driven us for so long. My hope is to help Wales cultivate a different relationship with its land.”
Two researchers at the Nuclear Futures Institute have also been awarded a Drapers’ Company scholarship, co-funded by the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Nuclear Energy Futures, a consortium comprising Bangor University, University of Bristol, University of Cambridge, Imperial College London and The Open University.
Harvey Plows will be exploring fluid dynamics experimentation with related instrumentation development in the water Thermal-Hydraulics Open-access Research (THOR) facility being commissioned at Menai Science Park, and will be supervised by Dr Marcus Dahlfors, Reader in Nuclear Engineering at the Nuclear Futures Institute.
Conor Buchanan will be investigating aspects of targeted Auger therapy; a novel radiotherapeutic treatment that uses low energy electrons to target tumours whilst leaving surrounding healthy tissue unexposed. The project will be supervised by Dr Lee J. Evitts, Lecturer in Nuclear Medicine at the Nuclear Futures Institute and co-supervised by Dr Eric Aboagye at Imperial College London.
For more information on The Drapers’ Company, see: https://thedrapers.co.uk
Publication date: 28 September 2021