News

Bill Bryson, Chancellor of Durham University, launches Christopher Moyes Memorial Foundation

(17 November 2009)

A new charity is being launched by Durham University Chancellor Bill Bryson to help students from ‘the global south’ to study hazard and risk.

The Christopher Moyes Memorial Foundation launches on Tuesday 17th November to commemorate Christopher Moyes, a leading Durham businessman and former chairman of the council of Durham University who died in 2006. The Moyes Foundation has been established by Jan Moyes, Chris’s widow. Bill Bryson, Chancellor of Durham University, knew Chris through their association with the University and his involvement as Patron of the Chris Moyes Memorial Foundation reflects the mutual respect that existed between the two men. The Foundation aims to celebrate Chris’s memory by providing funding for projects that reflect Chris’s beliefs and long standing commitment to County Durham, Durham University and in particular the Institute of Hazard and Risk Research. Chris strongly believed that this relatively young Institute has the potential to make a significant contribution to global challenges and was very interested in the research projects managed by the Institute. So far, the foundation has provided funding to four post graduate students who are working on projects related to the vulnerability of the people of Bangladesh to flooding, the health hazards of volcanic ash and the eradication of malaria in Tanzania. The application process for funding in 2010 will be launched soon. One of the first Foundation students, David Damby, said: “The enthusiasm and altruistic approach of the Moyes Trust and my studies at Durham University have allowed me to fuse geology with biochemistry and public health to directly aid the role of hazard managers around the world, especially in locations where health care is essentially nonexistent.” Professor Stuart Lane, Executive Director of the Institute for Hazard, Risk and Resilience said: “Through the generosity of the Christopher Moyes Memorial Foundation, we will be able to bring students to Durham to be trained in our internationally-recognised expertise in risk research. These students will go on to become world leaders in making a real difference to those who have to live with hazards.”