News Archive

Spotlight on Success: November 2019

Awards & Prizes

• The Undergraduate Research Showcase took place on Wednesday 13 November. The event celebrates the wide variety of research projects undertaken through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (UROP), and honours the winning teams. Read more about our student winners here.
• Professor Ed Hawkins (Meteorology) was runner up for Climate Outreach's Climate Public Engagement Award, in recognition of his warming stripes visuals that have been seen and discussed by millions of people worldwide.
• The major contributions to urban meteorology of Professor Janet Fraser Barlow (Meteorology) have been recognised with the International Association for Urban Climates Luke Howard Award 2019.
• A £536,000 BBSRC grant has been awarded to Professor Christine Cardin (Chemistry) and Drs John Brazier and James Hall (Pharmacy) to use the new Reading single-crystal X-ray diffractometer to study new ruthenium-containing molecules and their binding to specific DNA structures in the cell which are linked to the onset of cancer. The grant is in partnership with Diamond Light Source and our international collaborators in Kobe, Japan.

Strategic Project Updates

• CQSD have launched their new Evaluation & Impact Framework for teaching, learning and the student experience. This web-based resource is designed to support colleagues in both Schools and Functions to evidence the impact of their T&L activities for the benefit of the student experience. Read more about the project here.
• The Joint Academic Board (a collaboration between the University, Royal Berkshire Hospital and the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust) has funded seven new projects, which include using augmented reality to reconstruct prostates from MRI scans to improve biopsy precision.

News

• The term's second ‘Share a Sofa' event took place this week. Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Gavin Brooks answered a range of questions from our student community with the Full-Time RUSU Officers. Watch our in-depth video from the previous session here.
• A new cannabis-derived medicine for two rare forms of childhood epilepsy has been approved for use on the NHS after over a decade's research by Professor Claire Williams (Psychology), Professor Gary Stephens (Pharmacy) and Professor Ben Whalley (formerly Pharmacy, now Director of Research at GW Pharmaceuticals).
• MCE are running a campaign to highlight Reading's excellence in environmental science during the run-up to the General Election on 12 December, titled #VotePlanet.
• Professor Anna Horwood (Psychology) has been made a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers in recognition of her work on ocular focusing, which has produced new insights into how the eyes respond to images moving in depth.
• Professor Jacqui Turner (History) spoke at two VIP events on 28 November: the naming of a GWR train - the Nancy Astor - at Paddington Station, and the unveiling of a statue of Nancy Astor on Plymouth Hoe, to mark 100 years since Astor became the first female MP to take her seat in UK Parliament.

Click here to see all recent University of Reading research publications