Triumph at Tregaron National Eisteddfod 2022

Success came for one of Cardiff University's postgraduate students this year at the National Eisteddfod.

The main Science and Technology composition prize – the Invention and Innovation competition – was awarded in full to Bedwyr ab Ion Thomas. The judge was Iolo ap Gwynn.

During lockdown 2020 a doctoral student at the Medicines Discovery Institute (MDI) decided to keep busy and try one of the Eisteddfod's main competitions. Two years later he was rewarded for his successful attempt.

The Invention and Innovation award is intended to reward an innovative and creative idea that benefits society. It can be an entirely new idea or invention or a solution to an existing problem in any scientific field.

The subject of Bedwyr’s research is the development of therapies to treat prion diseases. Prion diseases are neurodegenerative, transmissible, and fatal diseases, and include several brain disorders such as mad cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

What makes Bedwyr's research unique and innovative is the molecular technology being used to try to treat these diseases.

Bedwyr said: "A long time had passed, and I had forgotten that I had competed, so it was lovely news to find out I had won!"

"It was also great to see so many at the ceremony – it was a very positive experience to see so many people with an interest in science and in my field."

Bedwyr is a postgraduate student of the MDI and a postgraduate scholarship holder of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol. He was also a postgraduate ambassador to the Coleg. His research is conducted entirely through the medium of Welsh.

Bedwyr is passionate about communicating scientific ideas through the medium of Welsh and his winning work can be read in the Eisteddfod’s compositions. Bedwyr discussed his success on BBC Radio Cymru's Bore Sul programme on 21 August 2022.