Cyflwyno Doethuriaeth er Anrhydedd i’r ffisegydd atmosfferig, yr Athro Huw Cathan Davies

Syr Emyr Jones Parry (chwith) Canghellor Prifysgol Aberystwyth yn cyflwyno Gradd Deothur er Anrhydedd i’r Athro Huw Cathan Davies OBE

Cyflwynwyd Doethuriaeth er Anrhydedd o Brifysgol Aberystwyth i’r ffisegydd atmosfferig, yr Athro Huw Cathan Davies.

Graddiodd yr Athro Davies, sy’n enedigol o Rydaman, o Brifysgol Aberystwyth yn 1965 gyda gradd mewn Mathemateg Gymhwysol, cyn derbyn ei ddoethuriaeth o Brifysgol Llundain.

Gweithiodd fel darlithydd yn Adran Meteoroleg Prifysgol Reading ac fel ymchwilydd yr Academi Wyddoniaeth Genedlaethol yn NASA yn Virginia.

Yn Gymrawd y Gymdeithas Feteoroleg Frenhinol ac yn Athro Emeritws yn Sefydliad Gwyddoniaeth yr Atmosffer a’r Hinsawdd yn ETH, Sefydliad Ffederal Technoleg y Swistir yn Zurich, mae’r Athro Davies wedi bod yn aelod o Gyngor Ymchwil yr Amgylchedd Naturiol a Chyngor Ymchwil Cenedlaethol y Swistir.

Cyflwynwyd yr Athro Huw Cathan Davies OBE gyda Doethuriaeth er anrhydedd ar ddydd Iau 16 Gorffennaf gan yr Athro Chris Thomas, Dirprwy Is-Ganghellor Ymchwil ac Ansawdd Academaidd.

Cyflwyniad yr Athro Huw Cathan Davies

Canghellor, Is-Ganghellor, darpar raddedigion, gyfeillion. Pleser o’r mwyaf yw cyflwyno Huw Cathan Davies yn Ddoethur er Anrhydedd Prifysgol Aberystwyth.

Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, prospective graduates and supporters. It is an honour and a privilege to present Huw Cathan Davies for an Honorary Doctorate of Aberystwyth University.

Prof. Dr. Huw Cathan Davies is Professor emeritus at the Institute for Atmosphere and Climate Science, at ETH - the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

ETH Zurich is one of the very best universities in the world for engineering, science and technology with many nobel prize winners and notable alumni, including Albert Einstein no less.

It is in this heady environment that Professor Davies has had a long and distinguished career, holding a professorship since 1982, and serving as head of the Institute for Atmospheric Science & Climate and of the Department of Environmental Sciences. He retired from his position as Professor of Atmospheric Dynamics in 2009, since when, like most distinguished academics, he seems to have become busier than ever.

Professor Davies was born in Ammanford in Wales. He received his BSc in Applied Mathematics from Aberystwyth in 1965, after which he studied at Imperial College where he was awarded his Diploma and a PhD from the University of London. Prior to taking up his professorial appointment at the ETH he was a Lecturer at the University of Reading and a US National Academy of Science Researcher at NASA.

His research focuses on the dynamics of weather-related flow phenomena, numerical weather prediction, atmospheric transport processes, and the linkage between weather systems and climate variability.  It is geared to both understanding the physical processes and to prediction. In the face of climate change, this is research of global significance.

But this is a challenge requiring networks of researchers and Professor Davies has been incredibly active as leader, galvanising activity in his field. It is this, in addition to his personal research, that we particularly wish to recognise today. 

Within Switzerland Professor Davies was a founder member of the Swiss Academy of Science's Forum for Global and Climate Change, a member of the Governmental Consultative Commission on Climate Change, the head of the national research programme on “Climate and the Environment in the Alpine Region”, a member of the Executive Board of National Competence Centre for Climate Research, and a member of the Swiss National Research Council. Currently he is the chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Centre for Climate System Modelling.

In the UK he has been a council member of the Natural Environment Research Council, served on their Scientific Board, and chaired the panel evaluating their Research Centres.

In 2010 he was a member of the international scientific panel set up to examine the research of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, where you may remember there had been some controversy. Currently he is the Chairman of the UK Met Office Scientific Advisory Committee.

Internationally his activities include serving as President both of the International Commission for Dynamical Meteorology and of the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science, chair of major project Scientific Advisory Boards, and as a member of the Joint Committee of the World Weather Research Programme.

This outstanding contribution is well known to the academic community around the world. However, this is Aberystwyth. The rest of the world is apparently related to each other by 6 points of connection, but here it is usually no more than 1. So, in addition to these academic achievements, I am reliably informed that Professor Davies is also the best cricket playing grandad in the world.

Professor Davies has been the recipient of many honours, which I will not list here, save one: In 2011 he was awarded the OBE for service to science in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Chancellor, it is my absolute pleasure to present to you Huw Cathan Davies for an Honorary Doctorate of the University of Aberystwyth.

Canghellor, mae’n bleser gen i gyflwyno Huw Cathan Davies i chi yn Ddoethur er Anrhydedd Prifysgol Aberystwyth.

Anrhydeddau Prifysgol Aberystwyth 2015

Bydd Prifysgol Aberystwyth yn anrhydeddu deuddeg o bobl yn ystod seremonïau Graddio 2015 sy’n cael eu cynnal dros bedwar diwrnod, rhwng dydd Mawrth 14 a dydd Gwener 17 Gorffennaf, yng Nghanolfan y Celfyddydau Aberystwyth.

Caiff wyth Cymrodoriaeth Er Anrhydedd eu cyflwyno i unigolion sydd â, neu wedi bod â chysylltiad ag Aberystwyth neu Gymru, ac sydd wedi gwneud cyfraniad eithriadol yn eu dewis feysydd.

Cyflwynir dwy radd Doethuriaeth Er Anrhydedd i unigolion sydd wedi bod yn eithriadol o lwyddiannus yn eu maes, neu sydd â record hir o ymchwil a chyhoeddi nodedig.

Cyflwynir dwy radd Baglor Er Anrhydedd i unigolion sy’n aelodau o staff Prifysgol Aberystwyth sydd heb ennill gradd lefel mynediad, i gydnabod gwasanaeth hir, cyfraniad ac ymroddiad i’r Sefydliad; ac aelodau o’r gymuned leol sydd wedi gwneud cyfraniad sylweddol i Aberystwyth a’r ardal.

Hefyd yn cael eu hanrhydeddu mae:

Cymrodoriaethau Er Anrhydedd:

•        Eurwen Richards, cyn Llywydd y Gymdeithas Technoleg Llaeth a’r Meistr Caws benywaidd gyntaf yn y DG.

•        Yr Athro Robin Williams CBE, ymchwilydd mewn ffiseg lled-ddargludyddion, Cymrawd y Gymdeithas Frenhinol a cyn Is-Ganghellor Prifysgol Abertawe.

•        Yr Athro Miguel Alario-Franco, ymchwilydd mewn cemeg cyflwr soled a cyn Llywydd Academi Frenhinol y Gwyddorau Sbaen.

•        Yr Arglwydd Bourne o Aberystwyth, Is-Ysgrifennydd Seneddol ar gyfer yr Adran Ynni a Newid yn yr Hinsawdd a Swyddfa Cymru a chyn-fyfyriwr o Brifysgol Aberystwyth.

•        Debbie Moon, Awdur arobryn BAFTA y gyfres deledu WolfBlood, cyfrannwr i gyfres Y Gwyll a chyn-fyfyrwraig o Brifysgol Aberystwyth.

•        Dr Francesca Rhydderch, nofelydd arobryn, cyn-olygydd y New Welsh Review ac Athro Cysylltiol mewn Ysgrifennu Creadigol ym Mhrifysgol Abertawe.

•        Dr Lyn Evans, ymchwilydd mewn ffiseg egni uchel ac arweinydd y tîm fu’n gyfrifol am gynllunio, adeiladu a chomisiynu’r Peiriant Gwrthdaro Hadron Mawr.

•        Iolo Williams, cyflwynydd dros 20 o gyfresi natur i’r BBC a S4C yn cynnwys Springwatch, Autumnwatch a Winterwatch, a cyn swyddog rhywogaethau'r RSPB dros Gymru.

Graddau Doethur Er Anrhydedd:

•        Dylan Iorwerth, bardd ac awdur arobryn, cyflwynydd teledu a radio, sylfaenydd a Golygydd Gyfarwyddwr Golwg Cyf a chyn-fyfyriwr o Brifysgol Aberystwyth.

Graddau Baglor Er Anrhydedd:

•        Bryn Jones, cydlynydd Fforwm Cymunedol Penparcau ac un o sylfaenwyr y grŵp celfyddydau a gofal iechyd lleol, HAUL.

•        Rhian Phillips, cyn-Bennaeth Ysgol Gynradd Plascrug a Llysgennad Dysgu Ysgolion Rhyngwladol dros Gymru.

Rhannu