Bangor University

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-09

Investing in research talent through Celtic Crescent (CC) collaborative DFAs provides a direct route to supporting regional innovation, underpinning the success of the UK’s creative microclusters beyond urban centres and, therefore, the wider UK Creative Economy. A growing literature is challenging the urban bias of creative cluster research, shining a light on the specific embodied, spatial relationships that characterise creative clusters in rural, coastal, and post-industrial landscapes (Velez et al/Policy Evidence Centre 2022; McElroy and Davies 2021; Velez-Ospina et al 2023; Wingström 2024). CC investment represents bold thinking beyond existing paradigms and will foster creative talent where it is needed. Baseline skills and underrepresentation in doctoral community The urban focus of creative economy research results partly from the underrepresentation of researchers from rural and other marginalised geographies. McElroy’s first-hand experience as Co-Director of Clwstwr (UKRI Creative Industries Cluster Programme 2019-2022) and Macleod’s AHRC analysis of the research needs of the UK’s indigenous languages and cultures directly informs our knowledge of skills needs. McElroy (Bangor, PI) researched talent development for innovation. She found that creative businesses struggled to develop innovation capabilities within their teams. Her research with Davies (2021) identified unique interdependencies in creative microclusters in non-urban regions of Wales. These were shaped by common values, biographies, and limited access to talent attraction/retention when compared to the capital’s cluster. Research by Macleod (Aberdeen, CI) in 2023 demonstrates that the biggest hurdle for industry/public body stakeholders is lack of access to local research talent. Research in Australia (Eversole 2021) demonstrates that HEI campuses in peripheral regions contribute to innovation ecosystems and break down barriers to HE studies for non-traditional students. However, national policy overlooks this potential, meaning their innovation goes ‘unvalued, when compared with campuses in wealthier, higher status capital cities’. Research areas addressed Creative economy as configured in multilingual rural, coastal, and post-industrial microclusters in three UK nations; Innovation and research capacity that cuts across different creative arts, industries, heritage, and associated sectors; Practice-based research that develops novel insights, methodologies, and outputs (e.g. crafts; literature and publishing; music/sound; theatre and performance; screen including film/TV/XR); Multilingual creative research (including English, Welsh, Gaelic, Doric and Cornish) offering novel linguistic approaches to producing original outputs and experiences that enrich our sense of place and connect indigenous languages to the rest of the multilingual world; Industrial and policy research that delves deep into the lived experience and spatial/temporal characteristics of creative microclusters to inform governments’ thinking. Success measures: 30+ creative researchers completing doctoral study across three nations, working closely with creative economy partners and stakeholders to improve innovation capabilities; Improved skills, training, and careers advice providing PhD students with deeper understanding and networks to work across HE and creative economy; Greater diversity of creative researchers supported in an inclusive research environment. Who we are CC comprises 7 HEIs based around the north and west of the UK: 3 research intensive HEIs: Bangor University (North Wales, PL); Aberystwyth University (West Wales); and Aberdeen University (NE Scotland); 3 small specialist institutions: Falmouth University (Cornwall); Glasgow School of Arts Highlands and Islands Campus (Northern Scotland); and Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, part of USW Group (Wales); 1 post-1992: University of South Wales (South Wales valleys). 27 creative economy partners in heritage, fashion, music, theatre, dance, film, media, business and innovation, and festivals.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-12

This research aims to develop a pathway to help families improve the course of their relationships, by allowing them to co-manage risks in a supportive and developmental outdoor activity environment. High levels of parent-child conflict, often derived from harsh or inconsistent parenting, are a significant predictor of maladaptive family functioning and the development of behaviour problems in children, which carry substantial personal and societal costs (Bachmann et al., 2023). Public sector costs for children with severe behaviour problems are nine times higher (£70,019) than for those without (£7,423, Scott et al., 2001; Conti et al., 2021). Unlike other risk factors, such as poverty and child temperament, parenting is more easily improved. The originality of this research lies in bringing together positive risk-taking and social attachment as a pathway for rehabilitating untrusting and unsupportive family relationships. In this way, we will develop an evidence-based route to family rehabilitation that can be delivered by the UK’s 9600 outdoor activity providers. Recent evidence suggests that risk-taking activities (e.g., climbing) can provide an optimal environment for nurturing co-dependence between parent and child (i.e., secure attachment), by promoting supportive behaviour in response to risk (Willegers et al., 2023). Managing these risks will improve parents’ and children’s self-esteem by learning how to control their emotions and seek social support in ways that are not accessible elsewhere in their lives. Importantly, the benefits of engaging in adventurous activities can transfer to daily life, improving families’ ability to support each other in times of distress. Taking climbing as an example, the rope connecting both parent and child acts as a physical example of an attachment. This (rope) attachment, from the child’s perspective, represents a clear dependence on the parent to help manage fear and to ensure safety. The parent provides physical security and emotional reassurance to the child by applying tension to the rope and verbal reassurance. In doing so, the nature of the climbing environment exercises a clear co-dependence in which the child places trust in the parent who simultaneously fulfils the child’s attachment needs for security. Transferring these supportive behaviours into daily life, a distressed child will naturally turn to their parent for comfort rather than to harmful activities as a means of coping (suppression, aggression, self-harm, etc.). The originality of our research lies in utilising risk in the outdoors to nurture family support. By designing our interventions to encourage exposure to risk, and by positioning parents as supportive attachment figures, we will provide families the opportunity to (re)develop their natural caregiving and support-seeking roles by co-managing risk in the outdoors, thus interrupting a downward spiral toward relationship breakdown, harsh parenting practices, physical inactivity, and escalating public service costs. The adventure activity sector has struggled to provide strong empirical evidence for the rehabilitation benefits of existing outdoor programmes (Bowen & Neill, 2013). Such programs lack the theoretical rationale and rigorous experimental designs to establish effectiveness. We aim to address this limitation by co-developing and evaluating the efficacy, feasibility, and cost effectiveness of the world’s first open-access, non-commercialised parenting intervention that utilises outdoor risk to rehabilitate unsupportive family relationships. In doing so, we will upskill the UK’s outdoor sector for delivering evidence-based interventions in collaboration with public services to vulnerable families nationwide.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-09

During my PhD, I conducted a longitudinal investigation into professional cricketer mental health and used focus groups to explore how cricketers understand well-being. The longitudinal investigation evidenced the temporal component of cricketer mental health, and the well-being investigation highlighted novel ways cricketers understand well-being. Both studies have already produced significant applied implications, our research regarding the temporal component of athlete mental health has evidenced the importance of an off-season in sport, whilst the well-being work has informed the creation of a bespoke series of workshops tasked with enhancing cricketer well-being (Be Well: Play Well). Additionally, the findings from both studies have collectively informed the creation of a bespoke mental health tool, which I am currently devising in conjunction with the ECB. Nonetheless, there are data collected as part of the longitudinal investigation that have not been analysed. The findings from the proposed analysis are fundamental in achieving our overall aim to progress athlete mental health support from predominantly reactive to proactive. Specifically, over the three-year study, markers of mental health as well as hypothesised risk and protective factors were monitored. However, as a consequence of pandemic induced changes to the original PhD workplan, there was not time for the planned investigation regarding the risk/protective factors. Analysis of these risk/protective factors in relation to the markers of mental health hold the key to understanding who, when, why, and how cricketer mental health can be optimally supported. The mental health tool will comprise two parts that collectively achieve the vision of proactive optimisation of cricketer mental health. The first part is a well-being monitoring questionnaire which derives from key findings from my well-being research and has been co-created with ECB practitioners. The questionnaire will act as an informal personal check-in that a player can use to reflect on their well-being. The well-being monitoring will be nationally rolled out by the ECB over the Summer of 2025 requiring a review as part of the fellowship. The second part of the tool will comprise a personal profile of risk and protective factors, however the precise factors to be included require the completion of further analyses (to be done in the fellowship). The profiling will be player specific, acting as a guide for practitioners to tailor support at a level not yet achieved within professional athlete mental health provision. Ultimately, the tool will provide a means for players to better manage their own mental health through personalised monitoring, whilst practitioners will be provided with data that can support each specific player in a manner that optimises their mental health for the rest of their careers, if not lives. Activities related to the mental health tool will inevitably lead to personal development. Specifically, completing and disseminating the tool will demonstrate a track record of conducting world-leading research, successful co-creation with a national governing body, and project management. The tool will also act as a proof of concept forming the foundation of grant applications intended to support my career development. Additionally, dissemination of findings to the ECB and the Professional Cricketers’ Association will maintain existing networks whilst disseminating findings at national and international conferences will enhance my stature within academia.  

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-07

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-03

EcoTwin is dedicated to strengthening the integration of ecosystem services within the realm of water resource management, with a specific emphasis on lake ecosystems. Lakes, as crucial components of our natural environment, contribute invaluably to society by offering a diverse array of ecosystem services, ranging from flood and drought regulation to recreation, habitat provision, and drinking water supply. However, the escalating impacts of climate change pose an imminent and severe threat to the resilience of lake ecosystems, compelling the need for the adoption of advanced technology and methodologies to fortify our understanding, management, and long-term preservation efforts. In response to this critical challenge, EcoTwin leverages the power of Digital Twins as a transformative tool. Digital Twins represent virtual replicas of physical systems, continuously updated in real-time, enabling sophisticated simulations and in- depth analysis. Their distinctive advantage lies in their capacity to amalgamate a wide array of data sources, including Earth Observation, in-situ observations, and various models, to generate precise simulations of aquatic ecosystems. Digital Twins enable us to explore how lakes respond to changing environmental conditions, human influences, and management strategies. Beyond that, they promote enhanced communication and engagement with stakeholders by providing visualizations and scenarios that underpin informed decision-making. EcoTwin is committed to harnessing the potential of Digital Twins to radically enhance the integration of Ecosystem Services in water resource management, with a primary focus on flood and drought regulation, habitat provisioning, recreation, water supply, and carbon and nutrient management. The core objectives of this project encompass the co- design of an adaptable Digital Twin framework in collaboration with key stakeholders, the seamless integration of diverse data sources, the enabling of short-term forecasting, and the facilitation of long-term scenario assessments, all while enhancing public engagement. Moreover, by integrating an adaptable Ecosystem Service module within a Digital Twin framework, EcoTwin seeks to instigate a paradigm shift in the management of aquatic ecosystems, thereby securing the sustainability and resilience of lakes while optimizing the delivery of essential ecosystem services. Our project aligns harmoniously with the overarching themes and topics delineated in the call, effectively addressing the multifaceted challenges and pressures that affect ecosystem services. Furthermore, it lends robust support to informed decision-making and adaptation in the face of global change. EcoTwin demonstrates our firm dedication to addressing the specific requirements outlined in the Water4All Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA), with a particular emphasis on enhancing ecosystem resilience, mitigating challenges, promoting adaptation, and facilitating the smooth integration of ecosystem services into water resource management.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Seabed sediment represents a significant sink for carbon (C) and represents a major natural asset. Bottom-trawl fishing provides a quarter of global seafood but is also the most extensive anthropogenic physical disturbance to sediment C stocks with recent evidence suggesting that seabed disturbance could result in significant greenhouse gas release from the seabed and to the atmosphere. There are major uncertainties in our understanding of the effect of disturbance on seabed C stores and air/sea CO2 fluxes (in both magnitude and direction). Consequently, the impact of seabed disturbances on C are largely unquantified and currently unregulated. This project will determine how the disturbance associated with bottom trawling modifies C storage, cycling and air/sea CO2 fluxes. For the first time, the impact of trawling on sediment-water and air-sea CO2 exchange will be assessed holistically, providing essential guidance on seabed activity management policies that mitigate climate impacts and help achieve net-zero. The project will answer all four questions defined in the Highlight Topic call: How do fishing gear, trawling frequency and the sedimentary environment affect the potential for marine sediments to act as a net source of CO2? How does C resuspended due to trawling modulate seawater chemistry and what is the fate of the resuspended C? How do horizontal and vertical mixing, water column production and respiration affect the potential for trawl-driven biogeochemical change to result in impacts on air-sea exchanges? Will management interventions result in the reduction of C loss and CO2 emissions and recovery of seabed sediment C stocks? The project comprises of 4 integrated work packages (WPs) that directly address these 4 questions. WP1 will characterise sediment pore waters and quantify the stocks of POC and PIC in the sediment and will identify how trawl gears affect the fluxes of C under different environmental settings. WP2 will characterise changes in the water column and suspended C and sediment and establish its fate in the water column after trawl disturbance. WP3 will quantify the exchange of sub-surface trawl plumes with the surface mixed layer and resultant seawater CO2 and air/sea fluxes. WP1-3 will generate novel insights about the mechanisms through which disturbance affects C fluxes and transformations. A focussed campaign of ship-based experiments will be used to inform and improve model assessments. We selected four representative sites that allow understanding of processes in contrasting environmental settings. The 3 integrated WPs will inform and improve models, which will be used to upscale and extend the spatial and temporal assessment of trawling impacts. These spatial assessments will feed into WP4, which will evaluate and identify the most effective seabed C stock management measures in collaboration with stakeholders from policy, fishing industry, eNGOs and green finance. This research will link processes, impact and mitigation of CO2 emissions due to seabed disturbance. The outcomes of the research will inform environmental solutions by avoiding emissions from seabed sediments while maintaining food production, which sits at the centre of the NERC, UKRI, DEFRA and UK strategies for clean growth and achieving net-zero. This project will make a step change in our understanding of how trawling impacts C dynamics in shelf seas and will diminish the risk of under-valuing natural climate regulation by facilitating cost-benefit analysis and risk assessments.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-01

People have been observing and recording information on the marine environment for hundreds of years. Historians - and fishers - thus have unique access to valuable knowledge directly applicable to conservation and sustainable management. Yet they - and the spheres of knowledge they command - remain underused by rigid modern quantitative scientific approaches, where 'long-term' data can mean just a few decades, risking 'shifting baseline syndrome'. Drawing on unconventional knowledge is therefore essential for the effective current and future management of our natural environments, especially in the context of policy aiming to restore ecosystems, and in a changing climate. Our research will ask: can historians and scientists effectively convert historical information into knowledge that directly and tangibly informs marine ecosystem management for today and tomorrow? We will demonstrate the synergistic value of bringing together these disciplines to unlock the potential of historical data on a marine ecosystem component of fundamental importance in the northeast Atlantic, herring Clupea harengus. The herring had vast fisheries around the UK until their collapse around the mid-20th century. Modern scientific surveys identifying the spawning grounds of herring - sensitive to human pressures and in need of protection - after this, in the 1970s. They may therefore overlook historically important spawning grounds, which can suddenly be recolonised by recovering stocks. Using historical sources from the 17th to early 20th centuries - such as writings of early modern naturalists and travellers, newspaper archives, and Government enquiries, and the memory of living fishers - we will identify ecologically important herring spawning areas and characterise the long-term century-scale variation in spawning activity in response to changing climate, while advancing our knowledge of the social, economic and cultural context in which this knowledge was recorded. Identifying these areas using a cross-disciplinary integration of knowledge therefore has the potential to contribute to the sustainable management of herring, and the economic activity (fisheries) and other species (top predators, e.g. seabirds, sharks) which depend on it.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-08

Photoperiod manipulation is routinely used in salmon aquaculture to control life history events and ensure maximal growth, especially during the freshwater stages of development where light is often provided 24 hours per day. However, there is limited information available concerning how this may impact fish immune competence and disease resistance. In human and animal models, there is growing evidence that disruption of circadian rhythms can have negative impacts on health and immune responsiveness. For the sustainable scaling up of recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) for salmon and other finfish farming, the establishment of photoperiod regimes that maintain both productivity and fish health and welfare are critical. This has been highlighted as a research priority by the sector, including our industry partners, and the representative body, Salmon Scotland. This project will combine experimental and functional genomic approaches with industry-relevant pathology and welfare measures to address how early-life photoperiods impact immune resilience in key salmon developmental stages. This project will: 1) examine immune and molecular clock transcriptional rhythmicity in freshwater Atlantic salmon under contrasting photoperiods and pathogen challenges, 2) assess the impact of photoperiod on the transition of freshwater salmon stages to seawater acclimated smolts, vaccination efficacy, and disease resistance during marine growth. Together, this will deliver a fundamental understanding of the importance of light environments on fish immunity, provide evidence for improved salmon rearing practices to promote circadian health, and lay the foundation for the development of chronotherapeutic approaches in aquaculture.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-08

Enhancing Wastewater-Based Epidemiology for Public Health Security Context: Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has emerged as a vital tool for tracking disease outbreaks and predicting epidemics. WBE represents an effective way to undertake multi-pathogen surveillance, capturing the signal from many individuals, including those who are pre- and asymptomatic, in a single sample. Compared to conventional clinical testing, it is highly cost effective and relatively unbiased, simultaneously capturing all sectors of society irrespective of factors such as demographics and economic status. Challenge: The project addresses the disjointed nature of current WBE initiatives that has resulted from poor integration of data linking to traditional clinical health surveillance. This lack of cohesion undermines effective disease surveillance and response efforts, especially concerning emerging epidemic and pandemic threats. Aims and Objectives: Our interdisciplinary team, drawn from the university, government agency (with responsibilities for healthcare and environment), and industry sectors, comprises highly experienced researchers. Collectively, our expertise covers all areas of science, social sciences, public health, epidemiology, data analysis and modelling, relevant to WBE. We aim to identify and prioritize critical research gaps and challenges associated with enhancing WBE for multi-pathogen surveillance. We already have a well-established track record of effective research collaboration over 4 years, which has already had an impact on the public health and policy across the UK. Through workshops, reviews, and stakeholder engagement, we seek to advance WBE capabilities in sampling, bioinformatics, data integration, risk modelling, ethics, and communication. In this way, we aim to establish standardized practices for WBE surveillance across the UK's four nations, which will also provide an model internationally. In addition, we will seek to extend monitoring to establish a sound base for environment-based epidemiology (EBE), as a core component of a One Health surveillance system. Key Activities: Catalyst Event: A comprehensive kick-off event to identify opportunities and challenges in WBE-EBE surveillance. Technology Mapping: Assessing current WBE approaches and identifying opportunities for improvement. Data Integration Workshop: Engaging stakeholders to address data convergence and integration challenges. Equity & Inclusion Workshop: Exploring ethical considerations and effective communication strategies. Final Dissemination Event: Showcasing project outcomes and international perspectives to inform future research and policy. Potential Applications and Benefits: Strengthening WBE capabilities will enhance public health surveillance and pandemic preparedness, enabling early pathogen detection and informed, evidence-based decision-making. Benefits extend across economic, social, health, security, and environmental dimensions, contributing to global health security. Through these concerted efforts, we aim to maximize the societal benefit of WBE and EBE, demonstrating their pivotal role in national and global public health surveillance and pandemic preparedness. Policy relevance: This project provides key evidence to support and underpin national policy, including Outcome 9 of the UK Biological Security Strategy, the UK Action Plan for Antimicrobial Resistance and implementation of the UK National Biosurveillance Network (see Letters of Support).