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From twittering to twisting their words -The University of Reading Public Lecture Series 2009-2010 – University of Reading

The impact of social networking, feeding the world and what goes wrong when children fail to learn to read, are just three of the fascinating topics to be showcased in the forthcoming University of Reading 2009-2010 Public Lecture Series.

The absorbing and popular series, which sees University of Reading experts share their knowledge with the public in a series of free evening lectures, will cover diverse and varied topics in an accessible and interesting way.

On 6 October Professor Moira Clark, from the Henley Business School, begins the series by presenting 'Twitter nation - keeping up with the 21st century consumer'. Taking place during National Customer Service Week, an initiative designed to raise awareness of customer service and the vital role it plays within an organisation, Professor Clark's talk will ask what is the impact of social networking and collaboration in consumer-to-consumer marketing?

She said: "This lecture will address how organisations are using online social media tools such as wikis, blogs and social networking sites to connect with individuals and companies outside traditional boundaries in order to solve problems, create knowledge and offer value. Business in the 21st century is rapidly changing, but are organisations keeping up with their customers?"

"As one of the major providers of education in the Thames Valley, we are very keen to hold these kinds of public lectures," said Laura Walsh, organiser of the Public Lecture Series. "Lectures are given by researchers eminent in their field and in a manner that is easily understood by all. They offer a unique opportunity to learn about the cutting-edge research, teaching and people that make the University a world-class institute. The lectures are incredibly popular with all sorts of different people, and always lead to some lively debate afterwards."

All of the University Public Lectures start at 8pm and will be held in the Palmer Building n the University's Whiteknights campus. Lectures are free to attend and no ticket is required. Please visit the public lecture series website for more details or contact Laura Walsh on 0118 378 4313 or email l.j.walsh@reading.ac.uk

Ends

For all University of Reading media enquiries please contact James Barr, Press Officer tel 0118 378 7115 or email j.w.barr@reading.ac.uk

Full list of Public Lectures

Twitter Nation - keeping up with the 21st century consumer

Tuesday 6 October 2009 - 8.00 pm, Palmer building, Whiteknights campus

Professor Moira Clark, Director of Enterprise and Applied Research; Professor of Strategic Marketing, Henley Business School

Feed the world - climate change and global food security

Tuesday 3 November 2009 - 8.00 pm, Palmer building, Whiteknights campus

Professor Tim Wheeler, Professor of Crop Science, School of Agriculture, Policy and Development

Beyond plain English: why they find it so hard to talk to us

Tuesday 8 December 2009 - 8.00 pm, Palmer building, Whiteknights campus

Professor Rob Waller, Professor of Information Design, Department of Typography and Graphic Communication, School of Arts, English and Communication Design.

Twisting their words - what goes wrong when children fail to learn to read?

Tuesday 9 February 2010 - 8.00pm, Palmer building, Whiteknights campus

Dr Patricia Riddell, Reader, School of Psychology and Clinical Language

Do foods function for you - good science or marketing hype?

Tuesday 16 March 2010 - 8.00pm, Palmer building, Whiteknights campus

Professor Bob Rastall, Head of Department, Food and Nutritional Sciences

Facing up to Rome - discoveries at Silchester

Tuesday 27 April 2010 - 8.00pm, Palmer building, Whiteknights campus

Professor Mike Fulford, School of Archaeology, School of Human and Environmental Sciences