A study looking at increasing signs of stress in bumblebees linked to climate change was covered by outlets with international reach including The Guardian, Washington Post, and Bloomberg, as well as UK-focused media including The Times, The Independent, Channel 4 News and ITV Evening News. The study, co-authored by Aoife Cantwell-Jones and Dr Richard Gill in Life Sciences, analysed bumblebee wings dating back to 1900 from a network of UK museums.
In July, the first test launch by a team of Imperial students hoping to send a reusable rocket past the Karman Space Line secured positive coverage in The Times, The Independent, BBC Scotland, and the Scotsman.
In June a shape-shifting amphibious drone developed by an Imperial team led by Professor Mirko Kovac, Director of the Aerial Robotics Lab, captured the attention of media including the Daily Mail and The Engineer. The 'dual robot’ drone can both fly through air and land on water to collect samples and monitor water quality.
An Imperial study providing real world insights to help answer the question ‘If I get COVID, how long am I infectious for?’ was featured in The Times, The Sun, and the Daily Mirror. Led by Seran Hakki and Ajit Lalvani from Imperial’s National Heart & Lung Institute, the work also reached international audiences through BBC World Service (from 26m 30s) and MailOnline, as well as Indian media (via Times of India and Hindustan Times).
Imperial research into ultra-processed foods (UPFs) achieved coverage in Evening Standard, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Times, The Mirror, and others. The work, led by Jennie Parnham, Eszter Vamos and Christopher Millett in the School of Public Health, looked at the risks associated with the high proportion of heavily processed foods in school meals. The team’s call to action, carried by media outlets, highlighted the need to increase access to school-provided meals and cap the amount of UPFs they contain.
A paper by Dr HeeJung Jung from Imperial College Business School about how diversity is sacrificed in underperforming company boards was covered by leading US and global business titles in August, including Forbes, Fortune and TIME magazine.
In July Imperial’s new research and education partnership with the Indian Institute of Science was covered by Education Times (Times of India), Telegraph India, the Press Trust of India and many others.
Professor Rob Gross appeared on Panorama for a special edition about the energy crisis.
Starts at 04:13: https://bbc.in/3RofMDm
Dr Ana Mijic was interviewed by Sky News on the impact of climate change and hot weather on the UK's water supply.
Starts at 01:36: https://youtu.be/QaMsGCTeuio
Dr Ian Mudway and Andrew Grieve from the Environmental Research Group appeared on BBC Radio 4 documentary Clearing the Air.
Dr Viki Male wrote a comment piece for The Guardian on whether the COVID-19 vaccine is affecting periods.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/27/covid-vaccine-period-menstrual-cycles
Dr Dalal Alrajeh appeared on BBC One’s Frontline Fightback, speaking about the use of facial recognition technology in policing and how systems can identify suspects in poor lighting conditions and when faces are partially obscured.
Starts at 32:30: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001906n/frontline-fightback-series-2-episode-6
Professor Neil Ferguson featured on BBC Radio 4’s The Briefing Room, sharing his views on rising COVID-19 infections and whether we need to worry.
This figure shows us the number of pieces of coverage in our most valued publications, for example: global outlets like the BBC; broadsheets like The Times, Guardian, Telegraph; mass media outlets like the Daily Mail and The Sun; international outlets like the Washington Post and China Global Television Network; and influential news wire services like Reuters.
The vast majority (364 pieces) of coverage was by UK media. Followed by ‘Unknown’ (i.e. multinational or unspecified location outlets - 90 pieces), and the United States (57 pieces).
The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday published the most pieces about Imperial in the time period - followed by a long margin by The Times and Daily Express.
Here we see the reach of the media outlets which covered Imperial. (Reach means the total number of people who could potentially see the piece of coverage). We see that the Daily Mail has the widest reach by a huge majority.
This chart shows us the prevalence of keywords contained within the headlines of media coverage. We see that the most common words refer to research of a global nature, focusing on viruses (SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19) and climate change.
The peaks in media coverage during the time period were for an MRC GIDA study announcing that vaccines potentially saved 20 million lives in their first year (23 June); a Department of Infectious Disease study that interrupting immune-suppressing treatment can boost COVID vaccine response (27 July); and Imperial commentary on the Archie Battersbee case.