New science park

I got an invitation to an event about women in energy. And I'm not one of them! I'm a papaeoclimatologist. But I like going to events aimed at women. I think it should mainly be men who go there; women know what it's like to be a woman in a certain environment, and it's the men who don't. But still! And it was at the new science park in Gaerwen. I was highly skeptical about this; it looked like a vanity project from a university that can't afford it. And it seemed to have attracted new businesses, like it was intended to, but I had heard that quite many of these had come from Parc Menai, a similar outfit on the other side of the strait. We had done our dissertation talks there but we won't next year as I'm not even sure the building we used will still be open then. So maybe interesting to take a look for myself.

I walked in and my first impression of the event wasn't very positive. The room was full already. No spaces on the table! I wasn't late at all. That made me less than welcome. But I managed to pull a chain to a corner of the table and get a coffee. Around me were only women. And they were all speaking Welsh. First thing: not so good; second thing: good. For me, at least. Everyone seemed to know each other and I knew nobody. Then a bloke came in; he turned out to be the managing director of the place. He found a seat (not at the table, of course) near me and started to talk with my neighbour. And he even introduced himself to me and drew me into the discussion. That was nice! It took a man to make me feel welcome at a women's event. Oh well.

The presentations were interesting but not overly applicable to me. And then I got a request from a student to contact him. If students want that something is generally wrong! And indeed he was in distress. This is a hard time to be worried as the academic year is as good as over; if something is wrong there may not be much opportunity to do anything about it! But clearly this chap needed a hand. I decided to skip the rest of the event and go back to SOS, and talk to our disability tutor to see what we could do for this chap. We talked through the possibilities and I got back to him with the results. He said he was relieved. Success!

And the science park, M-Sparc? Well I only got to see it. At least I've been. And we'll see what happens with Ty Menai. At least the place has a nice MD!

The rather snazzy building