Reading in the news - Mon 29 Nov

COVID-19: expert comment on the pandemic

• Dr Simon Clarke (Biological Sciences) was interviewed on Channel 5 News, Jeremy Vine’s show on BBC Radio 2, Bloomberg, Russia Today, Talk Radio, LBC Radio, BBC Radio London, BBC Radio Hereford and Worcester, BBC Radio Foyle/Ulster, BBC Radio Manchester, BBC Radio Sheffield and Heart Radio Berkshire about the new Omicron variant and travel restrictions put in place. He was quoted by Daily Mail on the low numbers of booster-vaccinated NHS staff; and by The Times (and in print) on how to have a safe Christmas party.
• Dr Alexander Edwards (Pharmacy) was quoted by Express Informer and Health Medicine Network on the approval of Novavax, a vaccine recently developed that is safer for children; and by FR on a new kind of vaccine that primes T-cell immunity.

• BBC Radio Berkshire interviewed David Rose (Agriculture) on a project surveying the farming community about mental health and the impact of Covid.
• Professor Ian Jones (Biological Sciences) was quoted on BBC Radio Foyle/Ulster about how vaccines are doing a good job at preventing serious disease.

#PlanetPartners: working with global partners to protect the environment 

• Professor Hannah Cloke (Geography/Meteorology) was an expert witness at a Parliamentary inquiry in Germany on Friday, discussing the response to the deadly flooding in July. She was quoted in reports by Super Tip, FAZ, ZDF Heute, WN, and Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Read Professor Cloke’s article for The Conversation published ahead of her appearance.
• Dr Ella Gilbert (Meteorology) appeared on the Daily Climate Show on Sky News (approx. 20 mins) to discuss how climate change is affecting human migration.
• Professor Andrew Charlton-Perez (Meteorology) was quoted by WMO and Mirage News on the importance of meteorological education and training with the growing need for developing people and tools to adapt to climate change.
• Dominica News Online reports on the Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA), an approach developed by the University that communicates climate information with farmers.
• Gizmodo publishes an article written by authors including Dr Andrea Dittus (Meteorology) and Professor Ed Hawkins (Meteorology) on the inevitability of local climate change and the need for further research.

#UniForReading: reaffirming our role as a civic university 

• Wokingham Today and RDG Today publish Vice-Chancellor Professor Robert Van de Noort's article on the opening of a new community centre in Shinfield. Read our news story.

Other Coverage:

• Professor Rosa Freedman (Law) was quoted by The Telegraph (in print) and Yahoo! on the possibility of legal action being taken after she and another academic were ‘no-platformed’ by a university.
• BBC Radio Berkshire interviewed Professor Uma Kambhampati (Economics) about a new project co-led by Reading that aims to increase the number of BAME professors in higher education in England. Read our news story.
• Dr Cathy Manning (Psychology) had her article on The Conversation on the link between dyslexia and visual impairment republished by Lokmat, Dev Discourse, Big News Network, and Health World. Read our news story.
• A study conducted by the University that found a third of spinal-cord injury sufferers think about taking their own life was mentioned by the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday (in print), Health Medicine Network, and others.
• BBC Radio Berkshire interviewed a landscape architect on the latest item in the 51 Voices project celebrating the 70^th anniversary of the Museum of English Rural Life (The MERL). Read our news story.
• Jon Foster-Pedley (Dean and Director of Henley Business School Africa) was quoted by Biz Community on a report commissioned by Henley Business School Africa that identifies the best way to lead remote teams.
• The Daily Maverick publishes an article by Professor David Bilchitz (Law) on the Judicial Services Commission's appointment of legal academics to the Constitutional Court. 
• A study authored by Professor David Leake (Biomedical Sciences) on a drug that could prevent heart attacks and stroke was mentioned by Knowridge and USA Science News.
• Professor Steve Mithen's (Archaeology) book, Land of the Ilich, was reviewed by Yorkshire Post (in print).
• The University and Henley Business School were listed by The Siasat Daily and Etemaad as institutions taking place in a virtual fair for study in the UK.
• Paul Inman (International Pro-Vice-Chancellor) was mentioned by Business News This Week, India Education Diary, and Broadway World on being present at the WUD Graduate Show 2021. 
• A study conducted by the University on impulse purchases was mentioned by The Star.
• Dr Michael Garratt (Agriculture) was mentioned by Academie Agriculture on being the chair of the European Bee Award Ceremony. 
• Dr Naeema Pasha (Henley Business School) considered why the racial abuse seen at Yorkshire Cricket Club is a wake-up call on HR Review. 
• BBC South, BBC Radio Berkshire and BBC Berkshire online report that Reading Film Theatre, a charity set up in 1970 that has screened films on Whiteknights campus, is to close.
• Wokingham Today reports complaints from a Wokingham Borough Council councillor that Shinfield has become a larger town due to development on University-owned land.
• Yoga Magazine (in print) reports a study from the University that found a link between eating fruit and vegetables and a higher level of happiness. Read our news story.
• Former Reading researcher Dr Abdullah Al-Farsani (Biomedical Sciences) was mentioned by ArchyNewsy on the link between deodorant and breast cancer.
• Reading was mentioned by Agenda Daily as being a place where the singer, Soo Wincci, had studied. 
• Henley Business School was mentioned by Cape Times as Farhaad Haffejee's place of study. He will be the first black CEO of the SA Red Cross Air Mercy Service in January. 
• Henley Business School was reported by Briefly as being TV personality Ayanda Thabethe's next place of study.
• Henley Business School was mentioned by Daily Sun as being an entrepreneurial graduate's place of study.
• The University was mentioned by Pianist (in print) as being the past place of work of pianist and composer Nils Franke.