BAY CAMPUS IS BUZZING!
ANCIENT EGYPT GOES DIGITAL
Thanks to The Greatest Need Fund, the fascinating collections at the University’s Egypt Centre have gone digital, bringing thousands of artefacts and photos to Egyptologists and Egyptian enthusiasts from around the world. Dr Kenneth Griffin, Collections Access Manager at the Egypt Centre, was awarded £3,000 to create a new online catalogue, which was launched in October this year. Until the late 1990s, the collections were cared for by the Department of Classics and Ancient History, but were largely inaccessible to the public. In 1998 the Egypt Centre opened its doors, bringing the wonders of ancient Egypt to a much wider audience, including students, visitors and volunteers. Widening participation has always been a guiding principle for the Egypt Centre, and this was brought sharply into focus by the pandemic, which forced the Centre to close its doors to the public. A digital catalogue provided the perfect opportunity to ensure the antiquities remain accessible to everyone, anywhere in the world. “The catalogue was not initially planned for release until 2021,” says Dr Griffin. “However, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the museum being closed to the public for the foreseeable future, we have decided to push ahead with an early launch. The catalogue has several thematic trails, which allow visitors to take a 'virtual tour' of the collection. New features will be added soon, allowing users to create their own trails, and students to curate their own virtual collection.” Sam Powell, a student at Swansea University and volunteer at the Egypt Centre, used her experience to design a new bespoke platform to showcase the diverse collection online. There are currently 5663 items, and 9882 photos in the collection. The majority of the items were collected by the pharmacist Sir Henry Wellcome and arrived in Swansea in 1971 as part of the distribution of his Egyptian collection. egyptcentre.abasetcollections.com
Thanks to alumni donations to The Greatest Need Fund, Bay Campus has a new home for its two bee colonies. The bees, which were previously located on the roof of the Engineering East building, have been moved to a new, more sheltered spot, within the hedgerow. The funding has also enabled the ‘Bay Campus Bees’ group to establish a new community of bee enthusiasts within the University. Interested students and staff will be able to attend a bee-keeping course to learn the basics, and then put their new knowledge into practice by caring for the bee colonies. A new interactive beehive monitoring system is now in place, which in the future will provide a fascinating insight into colony behaviour and growth. Of the two hives, the dark blue hive is being constantly monitored, assessing humidity inside and out, as well as temperature, weight, and the approximate number of bees. Only the internal conditions are currently being monitored in the light blue hive. Keen members of the community can use an app to update a website and share data downloaded directly from the beehives. The data can be viewed online here. bit.ly/2HVgycx Both colonies are now being bedded down for winter, and will with luck, re-emerge in the spring to grow into honey producing colonies for next year. Did you know Swansea University has become the first university to be recognised by the award of Bee Friendly status? Read more here. swansea.ac.uk/science/news
The dark blue hive with its interactive scales attached, and the bee counter on the front.
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