Welcome to the latest edition of the University media digest. This digest covers major media appearances for the University during the period 21 February – 26 March 2014.
During that time, media appearances related to the University created 24.8 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 £165,254.00.
Below are stories which reached national and international audiences:
National flood comments
Oceanographer Dr Simon Boxall featured across the BBC – from BBC One’s Breakfast TV programme and News at One to the World and UK News Channels – commenting on coastal erosion and new research revealing the record amounts of freshwater run-off following the recent wet weather in Britain.
Missing Malaysian Airlines Jet
Dr Simon Boxall also appeared on many of the world’s major news outlets to offer expert insights into the search for missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370. Simon was featured across the BBC News Network (including BBC One, BBC World News, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5 Live and every regional BBC radio station), CNN, NBC, Sky News and several other national and international broadcast channels. He was also quoted in a number of major newspapers including The Guardian, The Financial Times and The Independent.
World Wide Web @ 25
To mark the 25th anniversary of the World Wide Web creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Professor of Computer Science at the University and Professor Dame Wendy Hall gave interviews to Sky News and The Daily Telegraph about the web and its future. Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt, Head of the Web and Internet Science group, was interviewed by BBC Radio 5 Live, and appeared in TechWeekEurope.
In addition, Professors Berners-Lee and Shadbolt were named by The Daily Telegraph amongst the top 25 superstars who have made the Web what it is today.
Importance of nursing degrees
Research that degree educated nurses can reduce hospital deaths drew national media attention with ITV’s Daybreak coming to Southampton to broadcast live from the clinical skills lab in Health Sciences with Professor Peter Griffiths who was involved in the study and two nursing students, Alex Collyer and Katy Elliot. The story was also carried in over 70 UK regional newspapers thanks to the Press Association and featured in The Guardian, The Times and The Conversation, the new website featuring academic comment.
Read our press release here.
Defibrillator shortage
The Independent, Health Service Journal, Nursing Times, MSN News UK and the Press Association all carried news of a Southampton study showing that restricted availability of defibrillators, and poor understanding of how to use them, is helping to boost the number of deaths from heart attacks occurring outside hospitals.
Read our press release here.
Chemicals in food packaging
Professor David Coggon expert comments on research into the chemicals found in food packaging featured in The Guardian, Huffington Post UK, the Press Association, The Times and MSN News UK.
Read Professor Coggon’s comments here.
Coral bleaching
The diverse and challenging ecosystems of coral reefs was the subject of a feature by Professor Jörg Wiedenmann, Head of the Coral Reef Laboratory, in The Guardian. The feature coincided with a press release by Professor Wiedenmann on the importance of nutrients for coral reefs.
Read our press release here.
Law-abiding prisoners
Research from January showing that prisoners consider themselves as law-abiding as non-prisoners was the subject of a blog in The Economist in March.
Heathrow noise
A study by ISVR researcher Dr Ian Flindell on Attitudes to Noise from Aviation Sources in England made headlines in The Sunday Times, The Daily Mail and Travel Weekly. The research showed that as many as one million people living near Heathrow suffer from aircraft noise – almost four times official estimates.
And finally . . . Software developed by Professors Tim Leighton and Paul White from ISVR and their MSc student Nikhil Banda featured on the BBC’s Sky at Night programme as presenters Maggie Aderin Pocock and Chris Lintott tested how their voices would sound on Venus.
Space debris expert Dr Hugh Lewis appears amongst the special features on the DVD and Blu-Ray releases of the Oscar and BATFA-winning film ‘Gravity’. Dr Lewis joins a host of world-renowned experts on the documentary entitled ‘Collision Point: The Race to Clean Up Space’.
And sadly, the long run by Southampton’s University Challenge team during the current series ended in the quarter-finals with a loss to the University of Manchester.
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 http://www.soton.ac.uk/mediacentre/news/in_the_news/current.shtml