Reading in the news - Mon 21 Mar

Ukraine:

• Dr Kenton White's (Politics & International Relations) article on on what may happen if war spreads to a Nato country is reposted by , , , , , , , , , , , and others.
• Professor Richard Tiffin (Agriculture, Policy, and Development) spoke to on the impact of the cost of food and other commodities as a result of reduced food supply from Ukraine and Russia.

FruitWatch Project:  (and in print), , , , , , , , and  report on a citizen science FruitWatch project led by PhD Student Chris Wyver which aims to determine if climate change is causing fruit tree blooming to fall out of sync with pollinator activity. BBC Radio Kent interviewed Chris on their weekly gardening programme, and the project was also mentioned on BBC Radio Coventry and Warwickshire and BBC Radio Devon. Read our news story.

#PlanetPartners: working with global partners to protect the environment 

• Professor Ed Hawkins (Meteorology) is quoted by the  (and in print) and  on the effect of climate change on extreme weather events, by  and  on his new climate spiral visual representation of the earth's rising temperatures that was shared by NASA this week; and his climate stripes were discussed on BBC Two's Inside Culture. 
• Dr Rachel McCloy (Psychology) is quoted by  (and in print) and  on the psychology of climate change denial.
• Professor Hannah Cloke (Geography / Meteorology) discussed flooding in Australia in an episode of . (At around 12 minutes in). 
•  and  quote a tweet from PhD researcher Akshay Deoras (Meteorology) on a tropical cyclone expected to develop in the Bay of Bengal.
• A speaker on BBC Radio Berkshire mentioned that the University has the largest concentration of climate experts in the world.

COVID-19: expert comment on the pandemic

• Dr Simon Clarke (Biological Sciences) is quoted by The ,  (and in print), , , , , , , , , , , , and over 100 others on the UK's rise in infections and hospitalisations caused by the Covid subvariant BA.2, and by  on the effectiveness of the fourth dose of the Covid vaccine. 

British Science Week: Dr Carol McAnally spoke to BBC Radio Berkshire about her role at the University's Knowledge Transfer Centre, connecting scientists at the University with businesses.

Other Coverage:

• Stella Chan (Psychology & Clinical Language Sciences and Charlie Waller Institute Chair) is quoted by The  (and in print), , , , , , and others on a study she co-authored on inducing relaxation by looking at photos of pets. 
• Professor John Hammond (Agriculture) is quoted by BBC World Service Radio, BBC Radio 4, and others on conserving nutrients in the soil. 
• Dr Claire Ryder (Meteorology) is quoted by the  on the dust storm that hit England last week. Read our expert comment.
•  (and in print) lists academics from Henley Business School as part of a judging panel for the NED Awards.
• The  and  report on Professor Ken Dark's (Economics) leading research that has led to a rise in the number of discoveries of royal graves in the UK.
•  reports on findings from Dr Rita Fontinha and Professor James Walker (Henley Business School) that workers are willing to sacrifice earnings to work from home.
• Professor Gunter Kuhnle (Food) is quoted by  on the healthiness of vegan food alternatives and switching to a meat-free diet. 
•  reports on the University of Birmingham's collaboration with Reading to develop tools that can measure indoor air pollution.
•  mentions a partnership between Henley Business School and ActiveOps to help improve workforce optimisation.  
•  reports on a company's certificate for their commitment to investing in training, including offering internships at the University. 
•  reports on Reading's previous scores in past University Challenge matches. 

Alumni:

• An article written by Reading graduate and landscape artist Bunny Guinness on the planned ban of retail peat use is published by The  (and in print).
• An obituary for University graduate Agnes Labor, who was Leeds's first black teacher, educationalist and politician, is published by The Guardian (in print). 
• The University was mentioned by The Pianist (in print) as being Nils Franke's (an expert in pianist-composers) past place of work. 
• reports on a Reading graduate's exhibition of wallpaper paintings.