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Research

In the 2008 research assessment exercise 50% of our work was regarded as being world leading or internationally excellent, while a further 35% was internationally recognised.

All our staff are research active and specialists in their field. They publish widely in a variety of formats, from monographs and edited collections, to peer-reviewed journals and site reports. This generates a vibrant research culture, the basis of interdisciplinary seminars and conferences with colleagues from other Schools and Institutions.

The fields of medieval history and archaeology are supported through the research of a number of academic staff and postgraduates and operate under the frameworks of the School's medieval research projects, Monastic Wales, Strata Florida Project, Archaeology of the Mabinogion and the Newport Medieval Ship.

Excellence in both landscape and environmental archaeology is supported through the School's Palaeoenvironmental and GIS Laboratories. The Strata Florida Landscape project recently received funding from the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies in order to Map the Great Gentry Estates of Mid Wales and this enabled the project GIS to be greatly enhanced. Teaching, research and contract services in collaboration with a number of professional organisations have allowed formal partnerships with Cadw, Dyfed Archaeological Trust and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales.

Research in brief

  • The Tregaron Elephant Project has been shortlisted for the prestigious THE Awards 2012 that will be announced at a ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel on the 29th December.
  • Associate Professor Nigel Nayling has been awarded a prestigious Research Fellowship by the AHRC to investigate and publish the Newport Medieval Ship. The Newport Ship has been called the world's best example of a 15th Century ship. Its medieval remains were discovered on the banks of the River Usk as work began on the foundations of a theatre complex. Since then years of painstaking work on assessing and conserving some 1,700 waterlogged timbers which made up the vessel has gone on.
  • An international Anthropology Project has been highly commended at the United Nations Gold Star Awards. The prize, supported by the Welsh Government and the WCVA, under the Wales Africa Community Links programme was awarded for the development work it has achieved in Kenya. The project links Lampeter’s community and a tribal community of Giriama people in Boré, Kenya so as to assist the development of alternative sustainable livelihood strategies.
  • The 2012 Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2012 hosted the work of Dr Martin Bates with a stand on submerged landscapes in conjunction with the universities of St. Andrews, Birmingham, Aberdeen and Dundee.
  • Archaeology of the Mabinogion continues with fieldwork during 2012 funded by UWTSD, the Nuffield Foundation and the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies. Excavations and survey aims to elucidate Welsh settlement ans territory that predates the 12th century in Wales and especially focusses on those locations mentioned in Welsh myth and legend.
  • Offshore renewable energy impact network (OREIN). This network funded by Welsh Government under the Academics for Business Scheme is examining the impacts of offshore renewable energy development on cultural heritage and is led by UWTSD in collaboration with Bangor University, Swansea Metropolitan University and Pembrokeshire College.