Welcome to the latest edition of the University media roundup which covers major media appearances during August and September 2014.
During that time, media appearances relating to the University created over 66 million opportunities to view and hear stories via print, broadcast and online outlets. The advertising equivalent value of these appearances in print and via commercial broadcast media reached £410,671.
Below is a selection of stories which reached regional, national and international audiences:
Cancer research
Research by Bashir Lwaleed into berries that may strengthen the effectiveness of a chemotherapy drug received wide spread coverage, appearing in BBC News, The Daily Telegraph, Yahoo News, The Scotsman, ITV News and a large number of regional newspapers.
Birds evolved from shrinking dinosaurs
BBC News, Sky News, New Scientist, The Daily Mail and The Huffington Post, as well as a number of other major news outlets, covered a study by Gareth Dyke examining the evolution of birds from dinosaurs.
Air Craft Emissions
A new study into carbon emissions from aircraft received coverage in a number of national news outlets such as The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Mail and The Independent, as well as The Sydney Morning Herald, The Belfast Telegraph, ITV Meridian and BBC South.
The Conversation
University academics contributed 14 opinion pieces to The Conversation during August and September. These articles had a total readership of 413,805 and were republished on popular websites including IFL Science, Business Insider and The Huffington Post.
Other top articles included ‘Invasion of the strange sailor jellyfish – what are they, and will they sting us?’ by Cathy Lucas, ‘How small birds evolved from giant meat eating dinosaurs’ by Gareth Dyke and ‘Debate education efficiency, but don’t rank countries on it’ by Daniel Muijs.
Documentaries
Archaeology has featured in two major documentaries in the same week on US and UK television. The Portus Project, led by Professor Simon Keay, was part of Ancient Impossible: Extreme Engineering, which aired on the History Channel in America. Meanwhile, James Miles‘ research into the Easter Island statue of Hoa Hakananai’a featured on the More4 programme Treasures Decoded.
Research into the role of women behind the camera in the film industry has been highlighted in the BBC programme The Film Review. Professor Linda Ruth Williams and Dr Shelley Cobb were recently awarded a grant to investigate the subject.
The RJ Mitchell Wind Tunnel featured prominently on Channel 4’s Gadget Man programme, with comedians Richard Ayoade and Tim Vine testing weather resistant gadgets in the tunnel, while Bill Keevil appeared on BBC television’s The One Show, discussing his research into using copper to combat MRSA in hospitals.
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If you have a story, or are undertaking research that you think might be of interest to the press, please contact us on press@soton.ac.uk. You can also view a more comprehensive listing of the University’s latest media coverage at www.soton.ac.uk/mediacentre/news/in_the_news/current.shtml