Reading in the news - Tue 30 May

Flavanols improve memory: Flavanols, a micronutrient found in tea, berries and apples, have a positive effect on memory, a study co-authored by Professor Gunter Kuhnle (Food and Nutritional Sciences) and published in PNAS has found. The study received significant media coverage, including the front page of The Times, and in The Guardian, The Sun, The US Sun, i News, Independent, Evening Standard, Daily Mail, Metro, Aol., Express, CNN, Yahoo!, Reading Chronicle, The National, Swindon Advertiser, Daily Echo, Oxford Mail, Salisbury Journal, Bracknell News, The Oldham Times, Lancashire Telegraph, Irish News, Belfast Telegraph, and more than 100 other outlets. BBC Radio 4 Today and GB News also highlight the research. Read our news story.

International students: Vice-Chancellor Professor Robert Van de Noort comments on the impact of government plans to limit visas to family members of international students. The Reading Chronicle, Global Government Forum, Yahoo!, Knowledia, Opera News, and MSN report. 

Culture and heritage:

• In an episode of Channel 4's Great British History Hunters, the University's excavations of the complete skeletal remains of an Anglo-Saxon man, who has been named Ed, buried over 1,500 years ago, is reported. 

• Professor Karin Lesnik-Oberstein (English Literature) is quoted by The Guardian, Yahoo!, and Knowledia on the increased practice of removing body hair since the '90s. 

• Visiting Professor Helen Parish (History) was interviewed by BBC Radio Berkshire on why we have bank holidays.

• Berkshire Live and MSN report on the University's previous excavations of an Anglo-Saxon burial site. 

Business and society:

• Forbes mentions University findings that meeting-free days in the workplace have a positive effect on productivity. 

• Dr Tatiana Rowson (Business and Management) from Henley Business School is quoted by Gulf News on feelings of ageing.

• RDG Today, Wokingham Today, and Opera News report Henley Business School is offering two new MBA Scholarships. Professor James Walker (Henley Business School) is quoted.

#PlanetPartners: working with global partners to protect the environment

• Dr Kieran Hunt (Meteorology) is quoted by The Times (and in print - request print copy) on hyper-local and AI-based forecasting.  

• BBC Radio Berkshire reported on a grant secured by the University which will fund the decarbonisation of Whitenight Campus's heating system. BBC Radio Berkshire. Read our news story.

• Alongside his mother, PhD researcher Aditya Srinivasulu (Biological Sciences) has discovered a new species of Bent-winged Bats in India, The Indian Express and Etemaad Daily report.

• Dr Akshay Deoras (Meteorology) is quoted by Times Of India, discussing climate model predictions of below-average rainfall in parts of India.   

Food and farming:

• The Times, Khaberni, Lebanon24, Gomhuria Online, and Alarabiya mention research from the University about the brain function benefits of eating blueberries. Professor Claire Williams (Psychology) and Dr Ana Rodriguez-Mateos (previously at the University) are quoted. Read our news story.

• Continued coverage of funding that Professor Chris Reynolds (SAPD) has received for a project to address heat stress in indoor-housed cattle is reported by Dairy Farmer (in print - request print copy). Read our news story.

#UniForReading: our role as a civic university  

• BBC 1 South, BBC Radio Berkshire, RDG Today and Wokingham Today report on the opening of the Manor Ground sports facility in Shinfield. 

• Greatest Hits Radio named the University as a supporter of BFL Skill Clusters, which aims to fund and support the accessibility of work in screen production.  

• RDG Today and Wokingham Today reports on a free sewing workshop offered by the University's Museum of English Rural Life. It was funded by the University's Barnett project, which is named after James Nutcombe Barnett, who previously worked at the University.

• RDG Today, Wokingham Today, and Opera News report on the University Boat Club's (RUBC) impressive medal haul at the British Universities & Colleges Sport Regatta which took place in April. RUBC's Director of Rowing, Will Rand, is quoted.

• RDG Today reports on an upcoming chaplaincy lecture to be given in collaboration with the University on spiritual encounters with the sea.

Health and wellbeing:

• Professor Ian Jones (Biological Sciences) is quoted by The Telegraph and Yahoo! on how an incurable dog disease has spread in the UK.

• Dr Simon Clarke (Biological Sciences) interviewed by TRT World on the use of AI to discover a new superbug-fighting drug.

Ukraine:

• Professor Marko Milanovic (Law) is thanked by Amnesty Italy for being amongst a panel of experts to conduct independent reviews of the Ukraine Organisational Report.

Alumni:

• The Express, Daily Mail, The Sunday Times (in print), Express Digest, WST Post, and MSN report on the life of Reading alumna and UK MP, Penny Mordaunt. 

• The Observer (in print) writes about the career of executive and Reading alumnus, Philip Bourchier O’Ferrall

• Reading alumnus, Tony Page, reflects on his time as a student at the University during a speech he gave on his 50th anniversary since becoming councillor. The Reading Chronicle, RDG Today, Yahoo!, Knowledia, and MSN report. 

• Camden New Journal (in print) writes an obituary for nurse and Reading alumna, Aref Golstan.

• Reading alumnus, Airdem Goncalves de Assis, is named by Milk Point as an author of a research paper on the total confinement of dairy herds.