48 Notable alumni of
Bangor University
Updated:
Bangor University is 1274th in the world, 447th in Europe, and 85th in the United Kingdom by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 48 notable alumni from Bangor University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Danny Boyle
- Occupations
- writerdirectorfilm producerproducerartistic director
- Biography
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Daniel Francis Boyle is a British director and producer. He has been described by the British Film Institute as "one of the liveliest and most unpredictable of British directors, adept at shifting genres and bringing a personal quality to whatever he tackles".
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Roger Whittaker
- Occupations
- composerwhistle artistsinger-songwriterguitaristwriter
- Biography
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Roger Henry Brough Whittaker was a Kenyan/British singer-songwriter and musician. His music is an eclectic mixture of folk music and popular songs, the latter variously in a crooning or in a schlager style. He was best known for his baritone singing voice and trademark whistling ability as well as his guitar skills.
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Frances Barber
- Occupations
- film actoractorstage actor
- Biography
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Frances Barber is an English actress. She received Olivier Award nominations for her work in the plays Camille (1985), and Uncle Vanya (1997). Her film appearances include three collaborations with Gary Oldman in Prick Up Your Ears (1987), We Think the World of You (1988) and Dead Fish (2005); as well as Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (1987); Soft Top Hard Shoulder (1992); and latterly Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017). Barber's numerous television credits include The Street (2009), Doctor Who (2011), Silk (2012–2014), and Whitstable Pearl (2021–2025).
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Robert Edwards
- Occupations
- researcherbiologistphysiologistphysician
- Biography
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Sir Robert Geoffrey Edwards was a British physiologist and pioneer in reproductive medicine, and in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) in particular. Along with obstetrician and gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe and nurse and embryologist Jean Purdy, Edwards successfully pioneered conception through IVF, which led to the birth of Louise Brown on 25 July 1978. They founded the first IVF programme for infertile patients and trained other scientists in their techniques. Edwards was the founding editor-in-chief of Human Reproduction in 1986. In 2010, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for the development of in vitro fertilization".
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Peter Daszak
- Years
- 20th Century
- Enrolled in Bangor University
- In 1987 graduated with Bachelor of Science in zoology
- Occupations
- scientistecologistzoologist
- Biography
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Peter Daszak is a British zoologist, consultant and public expert on disease ecology, in particular on zoonosis. He is a member of the Center for Infection and Immunity at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Daszak was the president of EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit non-governmental organization that supports various programs on global health and pandemic prevention, until January 2025.
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David Whyte
- Occupations
- poet
- Biography
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David Whyte is an Anglo-Irish poet. He has said that all of his poetry and philosophy are based on "the conversational nature of reality". His book The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America (1994) topped the best-seller charts in the United States.
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Paul Bérenger
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Paul Raymond Bérenger is a Mauritian politician who served as the fourth prime minister of Mauritius from 2003 to 2005. Bérenger currently serves as deputy prime minister since November 2024 and has previously held the office twice from 1995 to 1997 and 2000 to 2003.
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Hywel Williams
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Hywel Williams is a Welsh Plaid Cymru politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Arfon, previously Caernarfon, from 2001 to 2024.
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Stefan Rahmstorf
- Enrolled in Bangor University
- Studied physical oceanography
- Occupations
- climate activistuniversity teacherphysicistclimatologistoceanographer
- Biography
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Stefan Rahmstorf is a German oceanographer and climatologist. Since 2000, he has been a Professor of Physics of the Oceans at Potsdam University. He studied physical oceanography at Bangor University and received his Ph.D. in oceanography from Victoria University of Wellington (1990). His work focuses on the role of ocean currents in climate change. He was one of the lead authors of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report.
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Meave Leakey
- Enrolled in Bangor University
- In 1968 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy in zoology
- Occupations
- paleoanthropologistevolutionary biologistuniversity teacherpaleontologist
- Biography
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Meave G. Leakey is a British palaeoanthropologist. She works at Stony Brook University and is co-ordinator of Plio-Pleistocene research at the Turkana Basin Institute. She studies early hominid evolution and has done extensive field research in the Turkana Basin. She has Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Science degrees.
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Robert Holdstock
- Occupations
- novelistscience fiction writerwriter
- Biography
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Robert Paul Holdstock was an English novelist and author best known for his works of Celtic, Nordic, Gothic and Pictish fantasy literature, predominantly in the fantasy subgenre of mythic fiction.
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Ann Clwyd
- Occupations
- broadcasterpoliticianjournalist
- Biography
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Ann Clwyd Roberts was a Welsh Labour politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Cynon Valley for 35 years, from 1984 until 2019. Although she had intended to stand down in 2015, she was re-elected in that year's general election and in 2017 before standing down in 2019. Clwyd is the longest-serving female MP for a Welsh constituency.
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Bill Wiggin
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Sir William David Wiggin is a former British Conservative Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Herefordshire, previously Leominster, from 2001 to 2024.
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Robert Armstrong-Jones
- Occupations
- psychiatrist
- Biography
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Sir Robert Armstrong-Jones, CBE JP DL FRCS FRCP FSA was a Welsh physician and psychiatrist.
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Sarah Atherton
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Sarah Elizabeth Atherton is a former British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wrexham between 2019 and 2024. She served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence People, Veterans and Service Families from September to October 2022.
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Kate Roberts
- Occupations
- writerchildren's writer
- Biography
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Kate Roberts was one of the foremost Welsh-language authors of the 20th century. Styled Brenhines ein llên ('The Queen of our Literature'), she is known mainly for her short stories, but also wrote novels. Roberts was a prominent Welsh nationalist. In 1963, she was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature by Welsh scholar Idris Foster.
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Phil Woosnam
- Occupations
- association football playerassociation football coach
- Biography
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Phillip Abraham Woosnam was a Welsh association football inside-right and manager. A native of Caersws, Powys, Wales, Woosnam played for numerous clubs in Wales, England and one in the United States. He played international football for Wales. He was described as a "gifted inside-forward with a pronounced football intelligence".
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C. E. Wynn-Williams
- Occupations
- physicist
- Biography
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Charles Eryl Wynn-Williams, was a Welsh physicist, noted for his research on electronic instrumentation for use in nuclear physics. His work on the scale-of-two counter contributed to the development of the modern computer.
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Caryl Parry Jones
- Occupations
- singerwritercomposeractorpoet
- Biography
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Caryl Parry Jones is a Welsh singer, actress and presenter. She was born in the Flintshire village of Ffynnongroyw and attended Ysgol Glan Clwyd in St. Asaph, but now lives in Cowbridge, in the Vale of Glamorgan.
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Lewis Valentine
- Occupations
- writerChristian minister
- Biography
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Lewis Edward Valentine M.A. was a Welsh politician, Baptist pastor, author, editor, and Welsh-language activist. He was the first leader of the Welsh political party Plaid Cymru.
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Owen Hurcum
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Owen Exie J. Hurcum is a British former politician. They are the former Mayor of the city of Bangor, Wales, and former ward councillor for Glyder ward on Bangor City Council. In May 2021, they became the Mayor of Bangor, the first openly non-binary mayor of any city world-wide and the youngest person in history to hold a mayoral position in Wales. In May 2022 they completed their term as mayor and did not seek re-election to the community council.
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Alun Ffred Jones
- Occupations
- politicianfilm director
- Biography
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Alun Ffred Jones is a Welsh politician and member of Plaid Cymru and former television producer, writer and director. Jones was the National Assembly for Wales Member for Caernarfon 2003–07 and for the newly created Arfon constituency from 2007 until he stood down in 2016. He served as Minister for Heritage between 2008 and 2011 as part of the One Wales Government. In 2008 he made history by being the first UK representative to speak in the Welsh language at a meeting of the European Union. He was Chairman of Plaid Cymru from October 2019 until he resigned in July 2022.
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Tom Parry Jones
- Enrolled in Bangor University
- Graduated with chemistry
- Occupations
- business executiveinventorlecturerchemist
- Biography
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Thomas Parry Jones OBE was a Welsh scientist, inventor and entrepreneur, who was responsible for developing and marketing the first handheld electronic breathalyser, winning the Queen's Award for Technological Achievement in 1980 for the work. Born and raised on Anglesey, he attended Bangor University and went on to study for his doctorate at University of Alberta, Canada. Prior to his work on the breathalyser at Lion Laboratories, he was a lecturer at the Royal Military College of Science and the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology. He established the Dr Tom Parry Jones Endowment Fund at Bangor University in 2002. After selling Lion Laboratories in 2005, he set up PPM Technology and Welsh Dragon Aviation. A trust was set up in his, and his wife's, names. The Tom and Raj Jones Trust promotes work by young entrepreneurs.
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Leighton Andrews
- Occupations
- university teacherpolitical adviserpolitician
- Biography
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Leighton Andrews is a former Welsh Labour politician and academic, who was the National Assembly for Wales member for Rhondda from 2003 to 2016. He was Education Minister from 2009 to 2013, before resigning after an alleged conflict between his own departmental policy and his active campaigning to save a school in his constituency. He was the first Minister to be forced to resign in Wales. In September 2014 he returned to the government as Minister for Public Services, until the 2016 Senedd election, when he lost his seat to Leanne Wood of Plaid Cymru.
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Siân James
- Years
- 1961-.. (age 65)
- Occupations
- singerharpist
- Biography
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Siân James is a Welsh traditional folk singer and harpist who has recorded for Sain and BBC Records as well as her own label, Bos.
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Alan Bray
- Occupations
- civil servanthistorian
- Biography
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Alan Bray was a British historian and gay rights activist. He was a Roman Catholic and had a particular interest in Christianity's relationship to homosexuality.
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Roger Roberts, Baron Roberts of Llandudno
- Occupations
- politicianChristian minister
- Biography
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John Roger Roberts, Baron Roberts of Llandudno, is a Welsh Liberal Democrat politician, Methodist minister, and life peer. He was for many years President of the Welsh Liberals, and later, the Welsh Liberal Democrats.
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Owain Owain
- Occupations
- writereducatorpoetnuclear physicist
- Biography
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Owain Owain was a Welsh novelist, short-story writer and poet. He also founded Tafod y Ddraig (The Dragon's Tongue), which became the Welsh Language Society's main voice from its inception in the 1960s to the present day.
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Albert Evans-Jones
- Occupations
- poetwriter
- Biography
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Sir Cynan Evans-Jones CBE (14 April 1895 – 26 January 1970), more commonly known within Wales by his bardic name of Cynan, was a Welsh poet and dramatist.
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Leo Sachs
- Occupations
- geneticistbiologistmolecular biologistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Leo Sachs was a German-born Israeli molecular biologist and cancer researcher. Born in Leipzig, he emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1933, and to Israel in 1952. There he joined the Weizmann Institute of Science.
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Angharad Tomos
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
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Angharad Tomos is a Welsh author and prominent language activist. She is a recipient of the Tir na n-Og Award.
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Peredur Lynch
- Occupations
- writerprofessor
- Biography
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Peredur Ionor Lynch, FLSW is a Welsh academic who serves as professor of Welsh & Medieval Literature in the School of Welsh and Celtic Studies at Bangor University.
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Hardyal Dhindsa
- Years
- 1956-.. (age 70)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Hardyal Dhindsa is a British politician, and the former Police and Crime Commissioner for Derbyshire, representing the Labour Party. He was elected to the post on 5 May 2016, succeeding the previous incumbent, Alan Charles. He was defeated by the Conservative Party candidate Angelique Foster in the 2021 election.
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Roger Yates
- Years
- 1957-.. (age 69)
- Occupations
- academic
- Biography
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Roger Yates is an English lecturer in sociology at University College Dublin and the University of Wales, specialising in animal rights. He is a former executive committee member of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV), a former Animal Liberation Front (ALF) press officer, and a co-founder of the Fur Action Group.
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Rosa Lee
- Enrolled in Bangor University
- Studied in 1904
- Occupations
- marine biologistacademicstatistician
- Biography
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Rosa Mabel Lee was a British statistician, the first woman scientist to be employed by the Marine Biological Association and the first woman to work as a government fishery scientist in the United Kingdom.
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Guto Puw
- Years
- 1971-.. (age 55)
- Occupations
- composer
- Biography
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Guto Pryderi Puw is a Welsh composer, university lecturer and conductor. He is considered to be one of the most prominent Welsh composers of his generation and a key figure in current Welsh music. Puw's music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and been featured on television programmes for the BBC and S4C. He has twice been awarded the Composer's Medal at the National Eisteddfod.
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Bert Biscoe
- Occupations
- poet
- Biography
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Bert Biscoe DL, also known by the bardic name Viajor Gans Geryow, is a Cornish politician, historian and bard of the Cornish Gorseth. Biscoe represented Cornwall Council's Truro Boscawen District as an independent Cornwall Councillor until 2019, serving as an independent Truro City Council Councillor for the new Boscawen & Redannick Ward.
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William Williams
- Occupations
- poetChristian minister
- Biography
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William Williams, better known by his bardic name of "Crwys", meaning "Cross", was a Welsh poet in the Welsh language. He served as Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales from 1939 to 1947.
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Robert Bryan
- Occupations
- poetcomposer
- Biography
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Robert Bryan was a Welsh poet, composer and folklorist.
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Exequiel Ezcurra
- Enrolled in Bangor University
- 1980-1984 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- conservationistresearcherecologistbotanical collectorbotanist
- Biography
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Exequiel Ezcurra is an Argentine-Mexican plant ecologist and conservationist. His highly interdisciplinary work spans desert plant ecology, mangroves, island biogeography, sea birds, fisheries, oceanography, and deep-sea ecosystems.
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Nessa O'Mahony
- Born in
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Ireland - Occupations
- poet
- Biography
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Nessa O'Mahony is an Irish poet and a freelance teacher and writer.
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Phil Hopkins
- Occupations
- rugby union player
- Biography
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Phil Hopkins was a Welsh international rugby union wing who played club rugby for Swansea Rugby Football Club. He won just four caps for Wales but made an important impact to the team's 1909 Triple Crown winning championship.
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Terwyn Davies
- Occupations
- television presenter
- Biography
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Terwyn Davies is a Welsh broadcaster, who presents BBC Radio Cymru's farming and rural affairs programme, Troi'r Tir, and produces the daily Ifan Jones Evans show on the station.
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David Miall Edwards
- Occupations
- theologianprofessorwriter
- Biography
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David Miall Edwards was a Welsh Non-conformist writer and theologian who wrote in both Welsh and English.
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Liz Howe
- Occupations
- herpetologistecologist
- Biography
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Liz Howe was a British ecologist and herpetologist. She is best known as one of the coordinators of a comprehensive field survey of the natural habitats of Wales, published in 2010.
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Carol Coslett
- Years
- 1963-.. (age 63)
- Occupations
- presbyter
- Biography
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Carol Ann Coslett is a British Anglican priest. From 2018 until 2023, she served as an archdeacon in the Church of England's Diocese of Derby: as Archdeacon of Chesterfield until 2022, then as Archdeacon of Derbyshire Peak and Dales.
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R. Silyn Roberts
- Occupations
- poet
- Biography
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Robert "Silyn" Roberts was a Welsh clergyman, writer, teacher and pacifist.
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Matthew Collins
- Years
- 20th Century
- Occupations
- archaeologistprofessoranthropologist
- Biography
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Matthew Collins, FBA is a professor at the University of Copenhagen, formerly as a Niels Bohr professor, and also holds a McDonald Chair in Palaeoproteomics at the University of Cambridge.
