Welsh wizardry grows

Three new research centres at the University of Wales, Bangor, have been recognised as centres of expertise by the Welsh Development Agency, part of a network of such centres springing up across Wales.

The new centres specialise in consumer psychology, aquaculture nutrition and computational chemistry. The consumer psychology centre is the result of a partnership between the school of psychology and Unilever. It focuses on improving the design of consumer products. One of its main tasks will be designing a range of products for the elderly. Another will analyse the psychology of our senses.

Improving the nutrition of sea fish is the intention of the second centre. It will focus on developing new environmentally sensitive feeds for the rapidly growing shrimp industry Using computer models to undertake chemical experiments is the priority of the third centre, which is recognised as a centre of excellence by IBM.