Spotlight on Success - March 2019
Friday, 29 March 2019
Each month we publish a selection of key Teaching & Learning and Research achievements and developments. See March’s news below.
Awards & Prizes
- Dr Madeleine Davies (English Literature), Professor Eric Kindel (Typography & Graphic Communication) and Mr James Lloyd (Typography & Graphic Communication) have won the 2018/2019 University Collaborative Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teaching & Learning, for their project ‘Second Sight: The Margaret Atwood Learning Journals’
- A major European Research Council (ERC) grant of EUR2.5 million has been awarded to Peter Kruschwitz (Classics) for his project ‘Mapping out the poetic landscape(s) of the Roman empire: Ethnic and regional variations, socio-cultural diversity, and cross-cultural transformations (MAPPOLA)’; the project will run from 2019 – 2024.
- Five early career researchers, one from each theme, were awarded Research Outputs Prizes at University Court on 18 March. The winners were:
- Jing Guo (Food) for research on dairy products and its lack of effect on cardiovascular disease
- Edward Shepherd (Prosperity and Resilience) for a paper on national political ideologies and changes town planning legislation
- Eugene Mohareb (Environment) for work on the carbon footprint of urban food consumption
- Feroz Ahmad (Health) for work that has revealed a possible new drug to prevent heart disease, and
- Hannah Newton (Heritage and Creativity) for her book on recovery from sickness in the 16th – 18th centuries. Read more on the Connecting Research blog.
Click here to see information on all recent research grants and awards.
News
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On 21 March, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Gavin Brooks hosted an open student drop-in event, with the Full-Time RUSU Officers. The event – called ‘Share a Sofa’ – had good engagement, and a number of a T&L-related questions were asked. See footage of the event and discussion here.
- A new NIHR-funded therapy for osteoarthritis developed by Mark Little from the Royal Berkshire Hospital and Richard Harrison (Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences) - involving injecting tiny plastic beads into the blood vessels of the knee - has been shown to reduce pain and improve mobility.
- New four-week online courses have been launched, designed by Helen Bilton (Institute of Education), which provide material and guided discussions on topics such as the psychology behind student behaviour to help teaching assistants and support workers work with pupils more effectively.
- The research of Tony Capstick (Modern Languages and Linguistics) features in a British Council exhibition hosted at the University Library until 29 March, which shows the ways language is used to build resilience among the millions of people that have been displaced from their homes by conflict and civil unrest.
- Jacqui Turner (History) gave the prestigious International Women’s Day Lecture in the House of Commons on 12th March, as part of a year of events focusing on the Astor 100 Centenary.
- Rosa Freedman (Politics and International Relations) has been appointed Special Adviser on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse to the UK government’s International Development Committee.
- Alastair Culham and Tomos Jones (Biological Sciences) are to take an exhibition stand on invasive plant species to Chelsea Flower Show (21- 25 May), with materials created by students from Typography, Agriculture and Architecture.
Click here to see all recent University of Reading research publications.