Professor Holman attended the new state-of-the-art laboratories located in the Grove Building, Singleton Campus today (15 November 2017) to officially re-launch chemistry at the University after a 12 year hiatus.

‌Professor Holman said: “It’s a very great privilege to be here today at Swansea for the reopening of the Chemistry Department.  It is such a pleasure as President of the Royal Society of Chemistry to be here and to see what excellent new facilities you have managed to create for the teaching of chemistry with your enthusiastic cohort, a cohort I am sure will only grow in the future. Congratulations to all of you at Swansea.”

Swansea University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Richard B Davies said: “We are extremely grateful of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s engagement with us in establishing a modern chemistry department at the University, and we are honoured to welcome Professor Sir John Holman here on this important day to open our new state-of-the-art facilities. 

The time for re-introducing chemistry at Swansea couldn’t be better; the demand for chemistry degrees is increasing: with undergraduate enrolment in the subject up 4% nationally in the last two years. Re-launching chemistry at Swansea is a sign of our progress, ambition and confidence in the wake of the University breaking into the top 25 in the UK for research.

There is an illustrious history of chemistry at Swansea, and the decision to close the department in 2004 was a difficult one, made at a time when science and technology subjects had fallen in popularity. Our substantial expertise in the subject remained though and today we have chemists holding key roles in the Energy Safety Research Institute, the SPECIFIC project, designing renewable energy materials, the Centre for Nanohealth, the Biochemistry section of the Medical School, Bio-chemical engineering, and the Institute of Mass Spectrometry.  Our new chemistry BSc and MChem programmes have been established to focus on teaching excellence, student experience and employability, and we already have some brilliant students enrolled.

We are delighted that circumstances have made it possible for chemistry to become part of the Swansea University curriculum again, and that our courses are in the process of being accredited by the Royal Society of Chemistry, a recognition of the highest standard.

Today marks the culmination of the great work undertaken by staff at Swansea University over the last four years.  We look forward to continuing to uphold ourselves as a principle chemical education resource, and to establish world-leading research in Chemistry that will enhance our current activity.”