ACR Journal

CHILLY CHATTER 54 August | September 2021 Volume 7 No.5 Nuaire marks golden anniversary Star Refrigeration is sponsoring a project by students from the University of Glasgow supporting female engineers in Malawi. FemEng in Malawi is led by a group of seven female engineering students from the University of Glasgow in collaboration with Malawi University of Science and Technology. Over the past few years, Star has supported an international collaborative engineering project developed by FemEng - a student- led network aimed at linking together women in the School of Engineering at the University of Glasgow. The group has a number of objectives including outreach work with schools, networking events with industry professionals, social activities and international collaborations. The project aims to encourage more young people in Malawi into a career in STEM and, in particular, inspiring young women to apply to university. It follows the successful FemEng in Rwanda project ran by the group from 2016-2019 which saw an above 100 per cent increase in the number of applications to courses at the University of Rwanda. The FemEng team will be working virtually alongside a team of volunteers from Malawi University of Science and Technology to develop and deliver STEM workshops to school girls in the surrounding area throughout August. The planned workshops will include techniques in mechanical, biomedical, product design, chemical, civil and other engineering disciplines. Star will be supporting the FemEng project for the fifth year and the sponsorship will be used to provide a laptop for the Malawi University of Science and Technology team, clean drinking water, lunch and snacks for the school children taking part, as well as the material supplies needed for the workshops. Catriona Wall, a team member of the FemEng group at the University of Glasgow, said: “The idea for the project came from the highly successful FemEng in Rwanda which ran from 2016-2019 and managed to visit over 3600 children from all over the country. FemEng in Malawi is again a completely student run project which relies on the support of sponsors to make the project possible. Therefore, we are so grateful to Star Refrigeration for helping to make this project possible.” Dr Andy Pearson, Star Refrigeration group managing director, said: “We are delighted to be supporting FemEng in Malawi as part of our commitment to making engineering accessible to children and specifically to inspire young girls into further education, in particular STEM subjects. The e ect that the FemEng African initiatives have had on STEM education over the past few years is really impressive. We congratulate the student engineers on the hard work they have put into deigning the project and we wish them the best of success in August.” Star backing Malawi project Over the past five decades, Nuaire has introduced many significant products into the market, including its Positive Input Ventilation (PIV) units and the recently launched Haven. Supplying to over 40 countries worldwide, in 2020 the company made headlines for its e orts in the battle against COVID-19, delivering its indoor ventilation products to COVID recovery units and hospitals. The anniversary follows the businesses’ recent expansion, having acquired an additional site in Caerphilly earlier this year to add new scale and capabilities to its operations. Managing director Wayne Glover said: “We’re extremely proud to be marking this momentous occasion this month. After all, celebrating 50 years in Caerphilly is no small feat, and during this time, Nuaire has been at the forefront of innovation in indoor air quality. We are committed to ongoing product development. I’ve been at the company for 30 years, and during that time, the company has grown beyond anticipation. “We couldn’t have reached this milestone without the support of our team, some of whom have been with us for five decades themselves. We pride ourselves on team retention, maintaining the family feeling throughout our company growth, and we’ve seen multiple generations join our team. I believe that it’s because we’re passionate about creating a workplace where people can develop, thrive, build friendships, and feel a part of something bigger. I want to thank our team, customers, and partners for helping us to reach this golden anniversary. Here’s to the next 50 years.” Nuaire boasts a team of nearly 600 people worldwide, o ering employment opportunities in the Caerphilly area and beyond. As the company marks this anniversary, some of its team members are also celebrating 50 years at Nuaire, including Ken Holland, Gareth Owen, and Michael Jones. From left, Gareth Owen, Mike Jones, Ken Holland and Wayne Glover A virtual meeting between members of the Glasgow and Malawi teams