Blast off as university teams up with NASA
Astronaut launches research partnership in Paisley
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In a new partnership with the International Space School Education Trust (ISSET), the University of the West of Scotland and its PhD students will get the chance to collaborate with NASA.
And this will see UWS research being tested out on the International Space Station.
The news came during a launch event at the uni’s Paisley campus during which Michael Foale, the most experienced British-born astronaut in the history of human spaceflight, spoke about his experience in orbit.
UWS academics will have the opportunity to research areas such as gas sensing technologies for growing healthy plants on the ISS, the effects of growth hormone administration on muscle mass, and the changes in material decomposition in space.
The university has also announced the creation of three fully-funded PhD scholarships as part of the partnership.
Professor Ehsan Mesbahi, vice- principal ( academic) at UWS, said: “Our new partnership with ISSET represents a key step forward in realising UWS’ strategic vision to link its multi- disciplinary expertise to projects in space.
“Through collaboration with ISSET, NASA, and a number of important American academic institutions, our PhD students have the opportunity to explore the unknown opportunities that space, and the ISS itself presents.
“The partnership wi l l undoubtedly bring many benefits to the academics and their research, and will go a long way in building our knowledge of what’s achievable both in space and on Earth.
“The university is immensely proud to be part of such an important initiative, which puts Scotland firmly on the map for this type of exploratory study.
“We wish every success to the PhD students taking part in it.”
Dr Julie Keeble, chief scientist at ISSET, said the opportunity to send research into space is so unique.
“There’s one International Space Station working on behalf of the entire planet, yet there are thousands of laboratories on Earth carrying out science,” she added.
“Creating a bridge from science on Earth to the ISS is achieved by so few people, and now it’s going to happen for the PhD students at UWS.
“It will make a massive difference to their future careers.”
Michael Foale said that after leaving NASA in 2013 following flying in space six times, he enjoys talking about it and encouraging young people to get into science, technology, engineering and maths subjects.
He added: “Now, we’re working with UWS on a programme of different experiments that will fly on the International Space Station.
“My role will be to talk to them about the space environment, both inside and outside the ISS, so they understand the conditions when conducting their research.
“Over the next few years, ISSET, UWS, and myself will mentor those students, helping them get the most out of this fantastic opportunity to put their experiments into space, furthering Scotland’s position within space research.”