Queen and Duke see digital future at MediaCityUK
Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh officially opened MediaCityUK on Friday 23 March as part of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
While Her Majesty toured The Studios at MediaCityUK, The Duke unveiled a specially-commissioned holographic animation at the University’s state-of-the-art MediaCityUK facility. The Queen and Prince Philip then visited BBC Quay House before Her Majesty started the BBC Sport Relief Mile at the MediaCityUK piazza.
The Duke has a long association with the University, having become its first Chancellor when it received the Royal Charter from The Queen in 1967 and remaining in post until 1991. After a welcome from Chancellor Dr Irene Khan, Chairman of the University’s Council Dr Alan Mawson, Vice-Chancellor Professor Martin Hall and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Dr Adrian Graves, The Duke saw a unique interactive art installation entitled Decode/Recode marking 100 years since the birth of pioneering computer scientist and mathematician Alan Turing.
Prince Philip saw students filming a game show-style programme in one of the building’s two professional-standard television studios before entering the Digital Performance Lab, a technologically-advanced creative media teaching and research space, where His Royal Highness experienced Transmissions, a research project focusing on Salford Quays and Trafford Park and the first radio broadcasts from 1922.
Concluding the visit, The Duke officially opened the building by flicking the switch on a 3D holographic, animated display incorporating the University’s logo and visual representations of its four strategic themes of Media and Digital Technology, Health and Wellbeing, Energy and Built Environment.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Martin Hall said: “We are particularly proud of our association with The Duke of Edinburgh, the University of Salford’s first Chancellor. It is wonderful that His Royal Highness has inaugurated our new facility at MediaCityUK.”
See our photos of the day:
