Reading in the news - Mon 6 Jan

Reading in the news – Fri 20 Dec 2024 to Monday 6 Jan 2025

Media coverage over the Christmas closure period (between 20 December 2024 and 6 January 2025) including more than 300 media mentions, involving 23 University of Reading experts from nine academic Schools.

Health:

• Comment on plague vaccine development on 4/5 Jan from Dr Simon Clarke (Biological Sciences) in Daily Telegraph, Irish Independent, Sunday World. Dr Clarke interviewed on winter bugs on the BBC Radio 2 Jeremy Vine show (23 Dec) and treating colds in the Daily Telegraph (5 Jan).
• Coverage of winter flu crisis (24 Dec) featuring Professor Ian Jones (Biological Sciences) including Daily Mail and Daily Express. 

Food and farming:

• BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today (23 Dec) cites the MERL on the history of eating turkey at Christmas.
• Farmers Weekly (27 Dec) highlights Reading research on benefits of agroforestry.
• BBC Radio 4 (28 Dec) interviewed Dr Guy Baxter (Archives and Special Collections) on the MERL’s archives of BBC programme On Your Farm.
• Professor Christopher Hilson (Law) quoted by Ingredients Network (22 Dec) on food labelling laws in Chile.

Heritage and culture:

• The ‘absolute unit’ meme from the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) on Twitter is the first digital exhibit at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford, reports Yorkshire Times, Blooloop and BBC Devon (20 Dec).
• Continued coverage of research on Stonehenge (20-22 Dec) featured comment by Professor Duncan Garrow (Archaeology), including Yahoo News.
• Professor Ken Dark’s archaeological work is highlighted by Mail Online (22 Dec) on the evidence for the historical birthplace of Jesus.
• Dr Neil Cocks (English) says The Cure had the best album of 2024, reports Daily Maverick (27 Dec).
• Professor Helen Parish (History) tells BBC local radio in Berkshire, Solent and Oxford (29 Dec) about the origins of the modern calendar and new year.

Business and society:

• Dr Alex Gilder (Law) writes a column for the Daily Express (28 Dec) on the law governing tactics by Russian military in Ukraine.

• Comments by Vice-Chancellor Prof Robert Van de Noort in a speech to Parliament last year were quoted in coverage about campus ‘cancel culture’ by the Daily Telegraph, GB News and Yahoo News (29 Dec).

#PlanetPartners: for the environment and sustainability

• Green Queen (Hong Kong) highlight’s Reading’s success in the People & Planet league table (26 Dec). From our story: Reading retains top five sustainable universities ranking.
• BBC Two’s Flog It! (3 Jan – repeated) pays a visit to the University’s Herbarium and interviews Dr Alastair Culham (Biological Sciences).
• MSN covers research by Dr Shovonlal Roy (Geography and Environmental Science) on how evolution shrinks large animals (29 Dec).
• Professor Richard Allan (Meteorology) quoted in MSN (21 Dec) The Star Malaysia (22 Dec) and Earth.com (23 Dec) on record global heat in 2024.
• Professor Paul Williams (Meteorology) spoke to BBC World Service and BBC Radio 4 (22 Dec) about increased flight turbulence due to climate change. Yahoo News and AOL report that flight safety in turbulence was the fourth biggest ‘health and wellness’ story of 2024.
• Professor Liz Stephens (Meteorology) wrote for The Conversation (20 Dec) and Informed Comment (22 Dec) about Cyclone Chido, which hit Mayotte, and was quoted in EcoWatch (31 Dec) on how climate disasters killed 2,000 people and cost billions in 2024.
• Professor Chris Scott (Meteorology) was featured on BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service (5-6 Jan) debunking conspiracy theories about weather control by scientists at HAARP.
• Dr Alex Baker (Meteorology) comments on the disaster in Mayotte in South Africa Today (20 Dec). From our expert comment: Mayotte: Cyclone Chido expert reaction.
• Jennifer Stout (Meteorology) research on snowflakes reported by Tech Times (24 Dec). From our story: Snowflake dance analysis could improve rain forecasts
• Professor Hannah Cloke (Meteorology/Geography) was interviewed by The i Paper on UK flood defences (25 Dec).
• The i Paper (28 Dec) asked Dr Rob Thompson and PhD student Rosie Mammatt (Meteorology) to assess UK weather apps. See Dr Thompson’s live updated analysis.
• Boston Globe (31 Dec) highlights how Reading’s solar wind forecast showing when the Northern Lights may be visible. Professor Chris Scott (Meteorology) spoke to BBC Radio Berkshire and Oxford about aurora.
• BBC Online, Oxford Mail and others highlight Professor Robert Van de Noort’s role in a new task force to help Oxfordshire prepare for flooding.
• Astronomy Now (in print) (1 Jan) highlights Professor Mike Lockwood’s (Meteorology) appearance at AstroFest.

#UniForReading: working with the local community

• Around 1,000 Reading students spent Christmas on campus – Greatest Hits Radio (23 Dec) spoke to students Kumar Chhitiz, Deepali Malhotra and international student experience manager Corinne Brookes.
• University experts were among those meeting Reading MPs about stricter control of water quality, reports Reading Chronicle (20 Dec).
• Vice-Chancellor Professor Robert Van de Noort highlights the value of partnerships in the new year for his column in Reading Today (1 Jan).
• Reading Today (2 Jan) reports that consultants have submitted new information about planned environmental impact assessments for development at Hall Farm, Arborfield.
• Wokingham Today (3 Jan) announces the completion of High Copse sports pavilion and pitches in Shinfield, built by the University for the local community.
• Construction of the new ECMWF building is due to begin at Whiteknights in February, reports Construction News (3 Jan).

Alumni:

• Former Conservative MP Penny Mordaunt was interviewed by Times Radio (26 Dec) mentioning her time as a student at Reading.
• Law graduate Prof Aisha Maikudi is the new Vice-Chancellor of the University of Abuja, reports the Guardian (Nigeria) and several others (31 Dec).

Other coverage:

• National Tribune and others (24 Dec) report Reading was among several universities at a Hong Kong partners week.

• China’s Sina (20 Dec) reports that Reading’s chemistry department will remain open.