Morgan Advanced Studies Institute (MASI) - Swansea University The University Morgan Advanced Studies Institute (MASI) Morgan Advanced Studies Institute (MASI) Related pages Centenary 2020 History and Heritage University Awards and Rankings Life on Campus Sustainability Artificial Intelligence Framework Swansea University Sport Study Campus Development Press Office How to find us Virtual Tours Our Faculties Job Opportunities and Working At Swansea Academi Hywel Teifi Global Engagement Academic Services and Academies Directorates Inclusivity and Widening Access Our Strategic Direction Staff profiles Values Hillary Rodham Clinton Global Challenges Programme Morgan Advanced Studies Institute (MASI) Current Opportunities External Advisory Board The Technician Commitment at Swansea University Discovery and Innovation to Change the World Apply for Funding introduction The First Minister of Wales launched the Morgan Advanced Studies Institute – MASI - on February 26th 2021. We are Wales’ first Advanced Studies Institute focussed on transformative interdisciplinary research. MASI is growing a vibrant, large-scale community, a movement with an urgent purpose to respond to the world’s most critical opportunities and challenges. It brings people together from across all disciplines to discover and innovate processes, materials, technologies, policies and practices that will make the world more sustainable, just, well, joyful and hopeful. MASI will help drive the University forward, serving the city, region, Wales and the world with world-class research and enterprise. It also acts as a base-camp, gathering groups to be trained, motivated and encouraged to set their eyes on the highest of intellectual and impactful summits, preparing us to attract the significant external funding needed to be an effective agent of change. MASI is named after the late Rhodri Morgan, former First Minister of Wales and Swansea University Chancellor whose passion for Wales and its place in the World, continues to inspire us. MASI invests in 1-year (Basecamp) and 2-year (Summit) projects. We welcome Visiting International Fellows and are supported by a cadre of MASI Fellows drawn from early and established career colleagues across the University. In addition, we have curated a series of think-tanks/ thought-leader events. Details of all of this activity can be found below. Basecamp Projects Summit Projects Visiting Fellows Agenda Setting Events News January 2025 - UKRI Metascience AI early career fellowships - The UKRI/Department for Science, Innovation and Technology metascience unit has announced funding for early career fellows in the area of how artificial intelligence is changing the research landscape. The opportunity will be open to applications from 13 February. April 2024 - MASI Call for Proposals 2024/25 April 2024 - MASI 2023 Annual Report January 2024 - MASI Agenda Setting Events 2023/24 Awarded October 2023 - We hosted our first MASI External Advisory Board Meeting July 2023 - New projects have been selected for investment after a highly competitive process. All projects are focussed on MASI's 23/24 theme, “Out of the doldrums, with wind in the sails” May 2023 - MASI Proposal Building Event took place, where Inspirational stories from current projects & thought provoking ideas were shared April 2023 April Showcase Event Showreel was created April 2023 - MASI Call for Proposals 2023/24 February 2023 – Call for Agenda Setting Events November 2022 - Annual Report October & November 2022 - Capacity Building Lunches on Bay and Singleton July 2022 - New projects have been selected for investment after a highly competitive process. All projects are focussed on MASI's 22/23 theme, "The New Extra-Ordinary" May 2022 - MASI Networking and Proposal shaping events April 2022 - MASI Call for Proposals 2022/23 January 2022 - MASI Agenda Setting Events Call for Proposals - awarded in March 2022 September 2021 - Dec 2021 Basecamp, Summit and Visiting Fellow activities launched April-July 2021 - Sandpits and workshops on pressing world challenges such as, climate change and pandemic recovery 'Summer of Hope' Events Awarded in February 2021 Morgan Institute Challenge Urdd National Eisteddfod Meet the Team Director of Morgan Advanced Studies Institute Professor Matt Jones Working with our community to nurture people and initiatives to change the world. Support staff Senior Project Officer - Heidi Rees h.j.rees@swansea.ac.uk works to ensure the smooth running of the Institute and to promote and sustain our connections across the University and beyond. MASI Fellows Chris Marshall Chris Marshall is the University's Head of Policy and Strategy. He has a sound understanding of the University, having spent 16 years promoting its culture, history and heritage, developing its research strengths, and helping to set its strategic direction. He has a good knowledge of the UK funding landscape and has helped colleagues to win more than £100m in research funding since 2012, including for infrastructure, capacity building programmes and interdisciplinary initiatives. He has supported the development and introduction of innovative degree programmes, and led the delivery of the three-day, Hillary Rodham Clinton Global Challenges Summit in November 2021. Lella Nouri Lella Nouri is a Senior Lecturer of Criminology and Programme Director of the MA in Cyber Crime and Terrorism at Swansea University. Lella is also part of Swansea University’s Cyber Threats Intelligence Centre (CYTREC). Lella’s work is at its heart interdisciplinary with a focus on collaboration across the Social and Computer Sciences. Lella has strong links with local stakeholders including Counter-Terrorism police, local councils, governments as well as interested community groups. For more information on Dr Nouri or to get in touch please visit her University staff profile. Kelly James Kelly James is a Research Development Officer primarily supporting colleagues in the Faculty of Medicine, Health & Life Science with research and bid development, and is the institutional lead for the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). Kelly is passionate about cross-disciplinary research and comes from a multidisciplinary research background, having obtained her PhD on the Physics-Life Science interface. Karl Hawkins Karl is a Professor at Swansea University Medical School and a Director of the Centre for NanoHealth. His interests focus on translational aspects of biomedical engineering. Karl brings experience in interdisciplinary research, working at the interface between Engineering and Life Sciences, and has established collaborations with clinicians at Swansea Bay University Health Board. Kimberly Dienes Kimberly A. Dienes is a Lecturer in Clinical and Health Psychology at Swansea University. She researches biological and psychological stress sensitivity and how stress can lead to negative clinical and health outcomes. She collaborates nationally and internationally on research projects including topics such as: risk for depression (University of Rochester, USA), allostatic load, precarity in the workplace, and relational communication (University of Manchester), the impact of engagement in nature on wellbeing (Down to Earth), visual impairment, multiple sclerosis and public views of the coronavirus pandemic (Swansea University). She has received funding from the MRC and Public Health Wales and has published numerous articles. She sits on the Risk Communication and Behavioural Insights (RCBI) Subgroup of the Welsh Government’s Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for COVID-19. Thomas Reitmaier I am a Post-Doctoral Research Officer for UnMute, an interdisciplinary, EPSRC funded research project that creates novel, spoken language interaction opportunities with communities of minority language speakers who are currently digitally ‘unheard’. I work at the beautiful Computational Foundry at Swansea University with amazing colleagues and collaborators. I also lead on the MASI-funded international lablets programme that innovates ways of co-creating with marginalized communities in a world that has been profoundly shaped by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Throughout my career I draw on the skill-sets and sensibilities I developed during my PhD at the Centre in ICT for Development at the University of Cape Town: designing, developing, and evaluating new technologies that give everyday people better access, awareness, and control over the stuff that matters to them. More information and most of my publications are available on my website. Krijn Peters Krijn Peters is a Professor in international development in the Department of Politics, Philosophy and International Relations. He specialises in post-war reconstruction, transport services and rural development. His research is applied and transdisciplinary, mainly focusing on the role of improved access and appropriate technologies to reduce rural poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. Ian Mabbett Ian is a professor in Chemistry and is Enterprise, Partnerships & Innovation lead for the Faculty of Science & Engineering. Ian’s research interests started in coatings at SPECIFIC Innovation and Knowledge Centre, sanitation with BMGF and have evolved into transdisciplinary research and systems approaches to unpick global challenges including climate change. Ian has managed major projects at the University including centres of doctoral training , the reintroduction of a chemistry department and the formation of the SUNRISE network, a global challenges research fund project creating energy positive buildings with partners across India and the Global South. SUNRISE was a case study in OECD report ‘ addressing societal challenges using transdisciplinary research ’ in 2020. External Advisory Board Professor Jonathan Lazar PhD, LLM (CHAIR) Jonathan Lazar, PhD, LLM is a professor in the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland, where he is the executive director of the Maryland Initiative for Digital Accessibility (MIDA), and is a faculty member in the Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL). Dr. Lazar has over 25 years of experience in research and teaching in human-computer interaction, with a focus on technology accessibility for people with disabilities, user-centered design methods, assistive technologies, web accessibility, and law and public policy related to accessibility and HCI. Dr. Lazar has authored or edited 16 books, including Research Methods in Human-Computer Interaction (2nd edition, co-authored with Feng and Hochheiser), Ensuring Digital Accessibility Through Process and Policy (co-authored with Goldstein and Taylor), and Accessible Technology and the Developing World (co-edited with Stein). His 17th book, Foundations of Information Law (co-authored with Jaeger, Gorham, and Greene-Taylor) will be published in Fall 2023. Dr. Lazar has published over 200 refereed articles in journals, conference proceedings, edited books, and magazines, and has received research funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), Google, and Adobe. He is the recipient of the 2020 ACM SIGACCESS Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computing and Accessibility and the 2016 ACM SIGCHI Social Impact Award, is a member of the ACM SIGCHI Academy, and he served as the general chair of the 2021 ACM ASSETS conference. Professor Sarah Sharples Professor Sarah Sharples is Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department for Transport. She is a Professor of Human Factors in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Nottingham and from 2018-2021 was Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion and People. She has led research in transport, manufacturing and healthcare, and has a particular interest in designing systems that successfully integrate novel technologies and people in complex systems in settings including rail, highways and aviation. She was President of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors from 2015-16. Professor Alan Penn Alan is a former Dean of the Bartlett faculty of the Built Environment (2009-19), he is a founding director of Space Syntax Ltd, a UCL knowledge transfer spin out with a portfolio of over 100 applied projects per year, including whole city masterplans, neighbourhood development plans and individual buildings. He is a member of the Space Syntax Laboratory within The Bartlett School of Architecture. He was the Chair of the Architecture, Built Environment and Planning sub-panel 16 and a member of Main-panel C for the Research Excellence Framework 2014. He is a founding trustee of the Shakespeare North Trust a charity which has built a new Shakespearian theatre and educational centre in Prescot outside Liverpool. Between 2019 and 2021 he was Chief Scientific Advisor at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and then the Department for Levelling-Up Housing and Communities. He has now returned to UCL as Professor of Architectural and Urban Computing. His research focuses on understanding the way that the design of the built environment affects the patterns of social and economic behaviour of organisations and communities. How is it that architecture and urban design matter for those that inhabit them? How is it that the spatial design of cities and neighbourhoods leads to the generation of cultural and community identity? Under what conditions do vital and thriving creative communities occur, and under what conditions does crime and urban malaise develop? In order to investigate these questions he has developed both research methodologies and software tools. These are known as ‘space syntax’ methods. Current research includes the development of agent based simulations of human behaviour, the development of spatio-temporal representations of built environments, investigations of urban spatial networks and the application of these techniques in studies of urban sustainability in the broadest sense, covering social, economic, environmental and institutional dimensions. Professor Anne Boddington Anne Boddington is Professor Emerita of Design Innovation and has held executive and senior leadership roles in Higher Education as Dean of Arts & Humanities (Brighton), Pro Vice Chancellor for Research, Business & Innovation (Kingston) and Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange (Middlesex). In 2022 she concluded chairing the UK’s REF2021, Sub Panel (32) for Art & Design: History, Practice & Theory. She has extensive experience of the governance, peer review, research evaluation and assessment and is the current Chair of the Advisory Board for the UKRI’s National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research (NICER) programme (£30M), deputy Chair and a trustee of the Design Council, the government’s strategic advisor for design, and a member of both the InnoHK Scientific Committee (Hong Kong) and the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ). As an independent consultant she now works as a strategic advisor and mentor and is committed to promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion in practice, developing effective governance, supporting career development, reducing bureaucracy, and improving organisational design, integrity, and productivity in the workplace. Professor Peter W Halligan CBE DSc PhD FBPS FMedSci FLSW CPsychol In 2023, Professor Peter W Halligan was awarded a CBE for his services to neuropsychology research and science in government. An Honorary professor in the School of Psychology at Cardiff University and Bangor, Dr Halligan has qualifications in psychology, philosophy, education, and neuroscience. His theoretical and applied advances in neurological and psychiatric disorders including visual neglect, coronary bypass surgery, hysteria, bio-psycho-social models of illness, beliefs, delusions, phantom limb phenomena, hypnosis and consciousness have received international recognition and funding. Since 1987, Prof Halligan has published more than 250 peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters and books across a range of subject areas spanning neuro-cognitive and health care sciences and secured over 28,000 citations and a H-index of 84 (Google Scholar). Several of his papers appeared in top rank journals in psychology, psychiatry and medicine including Nature (6 papers), Lancet (7 papers) and Nature Reviews Neuroscience (3 papers), and Trends in Cognitive Science (3 papers). His research work has been reported widely in the national and international media including New York Times, The Times Higher, The Economist, New Scientist, Guardian, Western Mail, BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5, and BBC Radio 4. A Fellow of the British Psychological Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences and Learned Society of Wales, Prof Halligan was awarded the British Psychological Society’s (BPS) Spearman Medal for outstanding published research in 1993, and 12 years later, the BPS Presidents’ Award for outstanding contributions to psychology. In 2005, he was also awarded the Psychological Society of Ireland’s Special Award for outstanding contributions to psychology. He is currently Cardiff University’s top ranked academic author in terms of science engagement readership with over 770,000 reads on the Conversation. He has developed and commercialised several clinical tests, produced 4 educational videos, customised medical underwriting training courses and was a member of the QS World University Rankings Advisory Board from 2008 until 2021. Following degrees at UCD, he joined Oxford’s University’s Department of Clinical Neurology in 1987 where he secured an E. P. Abraham Junior Research Fellow, at Green College and later an MRC Senior Research Fellowship before moving to Cardiff University as Distinguished Research Professor in 2000. At Cardiff, he helped secured over £ 40M funding for several large university research developments including the Cardiff University Brain Repair and Imaging Centre. In 1996, he launched the new journal Cognitive Neuropsychiatry with Prof Anthony David which has played a pioneering role in establishing and shaping cognitive neuropsychiatry, now a vibrant sub-discipline within the cognitive neurosciences. In the same year, he was awarded one of the first Wellcome Trust Sci-Art grants on phantom limb research with artist Alexa Wright (University of Westminster) which later became the focus of a Channel 4 Equinox TV science programme in 1999. In 2007, with Prof Dylan Jones (Head of School), he organised the commissioning of Peter Randall-Pages’s “Mind’s Eye “art work as part of the School of Psychology’s “Mind Art“project, one of the largest permanent works of art in Cardiff City sited at the main entrance to the School of Psychology, located on Park Place. From 2010 he was Chair and Academic lead of the Welsh Crucible - a unique, all-Wales staff leadership programme for early career researchers- his team won the Times Higher Education Award for Outstanding Contribution to UK HE Leadership Development in 2013. From 2015-2018, he served as Chief Executive for the Learned Society of Wales, Wales’s National Academy, (2015-2018) an independent pan-discipline educational charity of over 600 academic research fellows designed to provide public benefit through expert scholarly advice on a variety of national public policy issues related to research, science, engineering, medicine, arts, humanities, and social sciences. In 2018, he was appointed Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales (CSAW). This First Minister appointment is responsible for promoting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects, reviewing scientific advice, and managing the Welsh Government Office for Science and Ser Cymru science capacity and engagement programmes. Professor Dr. (Ms.) Shashiprabha Kumar Prof. ShashiPrabha Kumar is currently the Chairperson, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla; a Distinguished Fellow of Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF), New Delhi and Dean, Sri Sankaracharya Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Delhi Kendra. Earlier she was the Founder Vice Chancellor at Sanchi University of Buddhist-Indic Studies, Madhya Pradesh and Chairperson, Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, JNU, New Delhi. Prof. Kumar is an acclaimed Sanskrit Scholar, well versed in classical Indian Philosophy, particularly the system of Vaiśeṣika, which was her area of Ph.D. research at University of Delhi (1983). During her teaching career of almost fifty years, she has supervised/guided fifty-one students for their Post-Doctoral, Doctoral (Ph.D.) and M. Phil research. She has also taught at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies U.K. in the Trinity Term, (2007) as Shivdasani Visiting Fellow. She was offered ICCR visiting Chair at Silpakorn University, Bangkok (2008). Her current research interests include the philosophy of Vedas and Upaniṣads, Vaiśeṣika, Mīmāṁsā and Vedānta besides Buddhism and Jainism. She has recieved several awards including the prestigious President’s Certificate of Honour in Sanskrit, (2014); Shankar Puraskar from K.K. Birla Foundation, New Delhi, (1999); Ramakrishna Sanskrit Award from Canadian World Education Foundation, Canada, (2003); Mahākavi Kalidāsa Sanskrit Sādhanā Puraskāra, Maharashtra Government, Mumbai, (2015) and Honorary D.Litt. conferred by Uttarakhand Sanskrit University, Haridwar, (2016). Prof. Kumar has thirty-seven books, more than one hundred and fifty research papers/ review articles to her credit. Professor Tom Rodden Professor Tom Rodden is Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) and a Professor of Computing at the University of Nottingham. His research is highly interdisciplinary, bringing together a range of disciplines to tackle the emerging human, social, ethical and technical challenges as computing becomes a ubiquitous feature of our world and we increasingly use personal data and AI technologies. At Nottingham, he co-leads the Mixed Reality Lab (www.mrl.nott.ac.uk) an interdisciplinary research facility and creative studio that is home to a team of over 70 researchers and media artists with strong links to the creative and cultural industries. He founded and co-directed the RCUK Horizon Digital Economy Research Institute (www.horizon.ac.uk), a university wide interdisciplinary research centre and previously directed the EPSRC Equator IRC (www.equator.ac.uk) which showcased some of the first applications of mobile technologies to support tourism and worked with leading art groups to produce innovative award winning media performances. Prior to joining DCMS he was Deputy Executive Chair of EPSRC where he was responsible for research strategy and acted as the UKRI lead in both AI and e-Infrastructure, driving several large scale initiatives that span multiple disciplines across UKRI. He is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the ACM and a Fellow of the BCS. Kellie Beirne Kellie is Chief Executive of the Cardiff Capital Region and a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. Until recently, Kellie was a member of UKRI’s Research England Board and also sits on the Board of the Prince’s Trust in Wales. Sir Frank Atherton Dr Frank Atherton took up post as Chief Medical Officer, Medical Director NHS Wales in August 2016. Frank graduated in medicine from Leeds University and worked in hospital and primary care posts around the North of England for a number of years before undertaking voluntary work as a District Medical Officer in Malawi. On his return to the UK he completed specialist training in Public Health Medicine in the Yorkshire Region and then worked on international health and development issues for WHO and the UK Department for International Development in various locations including the Former Yugoslavia, Tanzania, and Bangladesh. From 2002 to 2012 Frank worked as a Director of Public Health in Lancashire and from 2008 to 2012 he also served as President of the UK Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH). In 2012 Frank moved to Canada to take up post as the Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Health in the Department of Health and Wellness, Nova Scotia. Frank was knighted in the 2022 New Year Honours list for his services to public health following the leading role he has played in Wales throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Follow and Subscribe to MASI on social media