The Welsh Assembly Government has announced that it will provide £23.5 million to support a £55 million alliance between the universities of Bangor and Aberystwyth. The alliance will bring together Aberystwyth’s Institute for Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences and Bangor’s College of Natural Sciences to create the largest group of biological, environmental and rural scientists in the UK.

Research at the newly formed group will focus on some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges, including climate change, renewable energy, food security and wildlife disease.