All aboard University research vessel

Visitors to the National Eisteddfod are invited aboard Cardiff University’s research vessel as part of a host of exciting science activities.

Our researchers are turning RV Guiding Light into a floating laboratory to allow people to learn about the marine environment and how it is being studied at Cardiff University.

The 15m vessel is normally used for marine research and carries the latest sonar imaging system for mapping the sea floor.

It will be moored in Cardiff Bay during Eisteddfod week to allow visitors to get an insight into its role as a research vessel.

The 2018 Eisteddfod takes place in Cardiff Bay and runs from 3-11 August. Come along and join in the fun, meet our staff and try our hands-on science activities.

This year the University is sponsoring the Science and Technology Village on the Maes and co-organising the exciting Carnifal y Môr (Carnival of the Sea) taking place on the Saturday evening.

Visitors to the science village can learn about marine life and the secrets of our salt marshes from University experts as part of Wales’s 2018 Year of the Sea to highlight the country’s outstanding coastline.

You can see the longest living animal on earth and find out how scientists are attempting to use its relative from Pembroke Dock to make new tissues for healing wounds.

Discover how sea creatures light up the world and provide us with medicines to kill viruses and cancer cells.

We are also organising daily wildlife walks to offer people a taste of the richness of wildlife that exists in Cardiff Bay.

Sure to be an Eisteddfod highlight is Carnifal y Môr which starts at 22:30 on Saturday 4 August.

The community carnival will celebrate the Eisteddfod’s arrival in the city and Welsh links to culture around the world.

Butetown Carnival costume makers are working with artist Megan Broadmeadow to make illuminated carnival costumes inspired by an ongoing community collaboration with scientists at the University’s School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

The University researchers have shown carnival makers images of a fluorescent protein found in jellyfish that revolutionised our microscopic world.

Remarkably, the protein can be used to literally light up research into cell activity in the battle against diseases such as cancer.

The carnival parade ends in front of the Senedd where a film by Megan will be projected onto giant water screens.

The film will explore the remarkable biodiversity of the sea life in the waters of Cardiff Bay and the people who have come to make modern Cardiff.

Cardiff University has a major presence at the Eisteddfod this year and visitors are invited to a host of talks, discussions and activities at our pavilion – separate to the science village - near the Pierhead building.

We have also sponsored the Eisteddfod crown, working with contemporary jeweller Laura Thomas from Neath.