Dr Llŷr Roberts receives award after developing innovative resource

Business and Marketing Senior lecturer, Dr Llŷr Roberts, received an award last night as part of the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol.

The ceremony saw some of Wales’ most recognised faces from music, television and academia present awards to some of the brightest Welsh students, and to lecturers who have made a significant contribution to Welsh and bilingual post-compulsory education during the 2021-22 academic year. 

Llŷr, who is Course Leader for the BA (Hons) Business and Management, was named the winner of the Excellent Welsh-medium Resource Award at the event, which recognises a lecturer or practitioner who has led on creating a high-quality Welsh-medium resource that supports the students in their studies. 

The award recognised Llŷr’s work in developing the first ever Welsh medium Marketing e-textbook, Cyflwyniad i Farchnata (Introduction to Marketing) with grant funding from the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol Strategic Fund. The e-book is designed to help students studying Business, Management, Communications and Marketing at college or university, as well as for practical use by communications and marketing practitioners in business, voluntary and public sector organisations. 

Llŷr is extremely passionate about his work and the Welsh-medium provision, and has created an innovative resource that will enrich the student experience and wider audiences through the medium of Welsh.

Receiving the award from Angharad Mair, presenter of S4C’s daily evening magazine show and Managing Director of media company Tinopolis, Llŷr said: “I feel really honoured to have won the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol Associate Lecturer Award for Best Welsh Medium Resource.

“Cyflwyniad i Farchnata contains many interactive and multitouch elements that were developed by Sarah Owens, a USW BA (Hons) Graphics Communications graduate who worked on the design elements, with support from Barry Richards from CELT.

“There are many other people I would like to thank including all the academic contributors, the USW Welsh Language Unit, the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol who funded the project.

“The book can be downloaded for free from https://www.porth.ac.uk/en/collection/e-lyfr-cyflwyniad-i-farchnata and can be used on laptops, tablets and smartphones - and I hope it will prove useful for both students and marketing professionals in future years.”

Chief Executive of the Coleg Cymraeg, Dr Ioan Matthews, added: “Tonight’s winners deserve so much praise and recognition for their brilliant academic work but also for encouraging and supporting their peers and colleagues within universities, colleges and workplaces to take pride in their Welshness and in doing so, raising the profile of the Welsh language within their institution.

“I’m so pleased we were able to hold a face to face event this evening to celebrate the commitment of our learners, students and lecturers. They are at the heart of the Coleg’s success over the decade and we really do pride ourselves in their success over the last year.”

The ceremony took place in Canolfan yr Egin, S4C, Carmarthen with a live feed on the Coleg’s YouTube channel which can be watched back.

The Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol was established in 2011, and leads on the development of Welsh medium and bilingual education and training in the post-compulsory sector in Wales. The Coleg achieves this through working effectively with partners in the universities, further education institutions and apprenticeship providers in order to build an inclusive and first-rate Welsh medium education and training system.

Go to www.colegcymraeg.ac.uk to find out more about the work of the Coleg.