AN ABERYSTWYTH University employee has said she is “absolutely delighted” to have been awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Dr Rhian Hayward, who is originally from Swansea, works as a business manager at Aberystwyth University, was this week recognised for services to entrepreneurship in Wales.

Speaking to the Cambrian News, Dr Hayward, who achieved her PhD in infectious diseases from Oxford University, said it was “wonderful” to be able to share the news of her MBE with family and friends after having to keep it secret for weeks before it was announced on Friday, 10 June.

“I am delighted and absolutely thrilled to be awarded an MBE,” Dr Hayward said. “I got a letter a few weeks before but we have to keep it confidential until the announcement is made.

“It has been wonderful to be able to share it with family and friends, who are all delighted.”

After researching malaria for her PhD, Dr Hayward went to work as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases in Washington DC, USA, before returning to Wales to work at Aberystwyth University in 2007.

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