New £3m Megalab unveiled
New £3m Megalab unveiled
Tuesday 20 October 2015
The University has invested £3m in the new state-of-the-art Cockcroft Megalab.
Students from the School of Environment and Life Sciences (ELS) stepped into the new, state of the art, multi-purpose Cockcroft Megalab for the first time this semester.
The University has invested £3m in the world-class teaching facility equipped with the latest technologies, which has been specially designed to promote an excellent student teaching experience.
The Megalab will be named in honour of renowned geneticist and former University of Salford Chancellor Sir Walter Bodmer at an official ceremony due to take place in January.
A former President of the British Medical Association, Sir Walter was first to moot the Human Genome Project as is a pioneer in the popular promotion of science.
£360,000 investment in new equipment
The bright, modern space has been designed with interconnecting walls which can be easily configured into two, three or four separate laboratories, for maximum flexibility and occupancy. Megalab can hold up to 144 students at any one time and when divided into four smaller laboratories can accommodate between 36 and 44 students each.
£360,000 has been invested in new top specification equipment for the site including a new AV system that allows the lecturer to be linked visually and audibly with some or all of the interconnected labs. A network of suspended HD televisions will enable each student to see and hear the lecturer clearly from wherever they are, creating a better learning environment for our students.
Biomed to Zoology
A broad range of ELS subjects will be taught in the Megalab from biomedical science, wildlife and zoology through to medicinal chemistry, human biology and infectious diseases. The flexible design will enable academics to teach larger classes and reduce the number of replicate classes allowing the opportunity to further develop our modules and programmes.
The opening of this new laboratory follows the School’s impressive NSS results earlier this year which saw overall student satisfaction climb 9 percentage points to 87 per cent.
This was reflected across individual programmes which scored high across the board for student satisfaction – Geography (94 per cent), Biomedical Science (91 per cent), Wildlife (93 per cent), Zoology (93 percent), pharmaceutical science (85 per cent), and Biology (100 per cent), Biochemical Science (91 per cent) and Environmental Management (72 per cent).
The School also enjoyed excellent results in the recent Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide with Geography jumping 27 places and Bio Science also amongst the University’s programmes which saw a large rise in the league table this year.
Significant investment
Vice-Chancellor Professor Helen Marshall recently visited the Megalab to see it in action and said: “The modern purpose built space will provide a fantastic teaching and learning environment for our students and marks the culmination of months of hard work from colleagues across the University.”
Professor Judith Smith, Dean of School of Environment and Life Sciences said: “The significant investment demonstrates the University’s commitment to providing the best possible experience for our students by developing outstanding facilities with cutting edge technical equipment."
Related news
Energy House plays a role in the launch of UK energy efficiency campaign #missingpiece
Tuesday 8 October 2019
The University of Salford’s Energy House has been involved in the launch of a campaign driven by Smart Energy GB and the Energy Saving Trust promoting national energy efficiency initiatives.
