The University supports an ongoing programme of faculty mobility between Swansea and its Texas partner universities.
Supported by dedicated funding, including bespoke seedcorn funding, Erasmus+ and Taith funds, visits have facilitated the development of extensive collaborations in teaching and research as well as an extensive programme of more than 85 guest lectures in both Swansea and Texas.
A number of internationally renowned academics from Texas partner universities have been appointed into Honorary positions at Swansea to further strengthen collaborations in teaching and research:
Professor Sarah Nicholls from the School of Management was awarded International Strategic Partnership Seedcon Funding to establish a research collaboration with Texas A&M University's Department of Recreation, Park & Tourism Sciences.
Their research explores the impact on property values of distance to open spaces such as parks and golf courses and has been published widely in journals including Leisure Sciences, World Leisure Journal, Journal of Leisure Research and the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration.
International Strategic Partnership Seedcon Funding supported Dr Hany Abdel-Latif to develop a research collaboration with Rice University.
The research explored the global interrelationship between oil prices, financial liquidity and geopolitical risk and was the first to consider all three global variables simultaneously. It has been published in the Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Energy Economics, Middle Eastern Development Journal and Applied Economics Letters.
Professor Lisa Wallace from the Medical School received International Strategic Partnership Seedcon Funding to establish a student summer programme in Texas.
The programme allowed students from BSc Applied Medical Sciences to spend six weeks at Baylor College of Medicine's Interdisciplinary Surgical Technology and Innovation Center (INSTINCT) where they completed innovation projects aimed at developing new medical devices, undertook surgery observations and simulations and participated in workshops, think tanks and elevator pitches. Read more.
Sheikh Mohsen El-Beltagi from the University's CampusLife team was awarded International Strategic Partnership Seedcon Funding to visit Texas A&M University to share best practice in faith support and inter-faith activities.
He delivered lectures on faith and culture, Arabic language lessons, pastoral student support and Friday prayers. He shared Swansea University's best practice in providing support to Muslim students and developing and delivering inter-faith activities, explored collaborations in teaching and research, and learned about Texas A&M's successful Muslim Faculty Network, with a view to establishing a similar network at Swansea.
Dr Eoin Price from English Literature and Creative Writing was awarded International Strategic Partnership Seedcon Funding to develop research collaborations in Texas.
At Texas A&M University he participated in workshops and delivered a paper on reprints and revivals which is due for publication in a special issue of Shakespeare Bulletin. Following his visit, he was awarded a Research Fellowship at UT Austin’s Harry Ransom Center which allowed him to undertake research for his next project, Early Modern Drama and the Jacobean Aesthetic.
An Erasmus+ travel grant supported Dr Grazia Todeschini from the College of Engineering to develop a research collaboration at UT Austin.
The research examines different methods to limit power quality disturbances in electrical systems and two papers based on this work were presented at the 2018 General Meeting of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Power and Energy Society, with four further papers published in the IEEE Transactions and IET journals.
