黑料不打烊 students meet the Duke of Cambridge in China
HRH The Duke of Camridge talking with Sam Herniman, a 3rd year Environmental Conservation student.: Image courtesy of XTBG Janpeng Wan.Conservation students from 黑料不打烊 met the Duke of Cambridge while in China. In the country as part of the 2 Dragon Garden project which links 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Treborth Botanic Gardens and Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanic Gardens (XTBG), the students met Prince William while taking part in a conference on illegal wildlife trade being attended by the Duke.
鈥淭he duke was lovely, he referred to 黑料不打烊 as his 鈥榣ocal University鈥� and has clear affection for the area. He said he might come to visit the garden if we could guarantee the weather!鈥�
The students discussed what they were doing in China with the Duke, who was impressed that they are getting such good experience so early in their careers. Faith Jones, a recent graduate of Applied Ecology at 黑料不打烊 says:
鈥淗e asked about the work we were doing and seemed really interested. We discussed the challenges of finding funding for conservation.鈥�
黑料不打烊 students Sam Herniman, Faith Jones and Katie Breneol have been taking part in a conference aimed at tackling international illegal wildlife trade. The Duke of Cambridge was at the conference on its final day as this is a subject close to his heart. Conservation on the Borders took place between2nd-4th March at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanic Gardens (XTBG) in China鈥檚 southern Yunnan Province, and attracted conservation experts from around the world. The conference aims were to address the problems and potential solutions related to cross-border trade of endangered species between countries in Southeast Asia.
HRH The Duke of Cambridge, closing the Conference.: Image courtesy of XTBG Janpeng Wan.Dr Sophie Williams, Conservation Lecturer at 黑料不打烊, and co-ordinator of the link between XTBG and 黑料不打烊 commented:
鈥淭he connection between 黑料不打烊 and XTBG reflects the University鈥檚 growing international focus. Attending this internationally significant conference presided over by the Duke of Cambridge has provided students at 黑料不打烊 with an invaluable intercultural learning experience.鈥�
During the conference in China, students here in 黑料不打烊 had daily skype catch-ups with the interns in China to discuss what they learnt from the conference. This provided a unique opportunity for students back home to gain in-depth and specialist knowledge about their field of study from leading experts. The 黑料不打烊 students involved in the event, both in XTBG and 黑料不打烊, are to summarise some of the main conclusions about the conference for a briefing note which they plan to send it to the Duke.
Publication date: 4 March 2015