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University of Essex in the press...

Below are examples of recent University press and broadcast coverage. Please note that all websites are external and will take you out of the Communications website.

Members of the University community can receive an electronic daily alert with links to press coverage by contacting Sandy Hart in Information Systems Services (e-mail sandy@essex.ac.uk) and asking to be subscribed to presscuttings@essex.ac.uk.

An archive of recent coverage is available online. A full archive of media coverage is also held in the Communications Office.

Broadcast Digest

Video clips on-line

ITV Anglia News
Pasco Q Kevlin, Manager, Lakeside Theatre
Talking about the Lakeside Theatre and future productions
View the clip here

The University of Essex in the Press

February 2008

Friday 1

Lecture on history of digs
Colchester's archaeologist supremo Philip Crummy is set to deliver a prestigious lecture. Mr Crummy, who is director of the Colchester Archaeological Trust, is to present this year's University of Essex Burrows Lecture. The event will be in the Ivor Crewe Lecture Hall at 7pm on March 26.
Essex County Standard

Cycle trail a disgrace, say users
Mud-splattered cyclists have hit our over the state of the Wivenhoe Trail. Cyclist Dilly Meyer uses the route to get from her home in Wivenhoe to her job at Essex University. But she said the trail, once described by presenter Bill Oddie as the best part of the national cycle way, was a disgrace.
Essex County Standard

Playremains ready to repay faith
North Essex theatre group, Playremains, are back with a newly-commissioned work by the Lakeside Theatre. Following shows at the Headgate Theatre, the Essex University theatre has taken the fledgling company under its wing to produce this technically visual production. Entitled The Artisan, the piece is about the artist of the title who emerges from her self-imposed exile after years of public scrutiny and a suicide attempt.
Essex County Standard

Maths success for year 11 pupils
A class of 27 year 11 students at an Essex comprehensive school wowed their teachers this week after they all scored A*s in their GCSE maths exam.
The Sandon School students are all part of an accelerated learning programme and sat the exam in November. Students have also participated in the UK Mathematics Trust competitions, and four students represented the school at a year 10 team mathematics challenge at the University of Essex last summer. Read the entire article here.
SecEd

January 2008

Thursday 31

Islamic topic at University
A Conference on Islam will be held to mark Islamic Awareness Week.  The Essex University Islamic Society is organising the event at the Ivor Crewe lecture hall at the Wivenhoe Park campus in Colchester. A diverse range of speakers will attend the event on February 23, starting at 9am. This is the second annual conference and the theme will be A Journey into Islamic Values.
Evening Gazette

Foreign students deal discussed
INTO a private company offering university preparatory courses for overseas students, is in talks with the University of Essex about a joint venture.
Times Higher Education

Parenting puts an end to domestic bliss
It is a familiar scene played out in busy households across the country. Colin Elliot is frantically getting his youngest daughter ready for school when he realizes she has lost one of her shoes, her lunchbox is missing and last night's homework has disappeared. He has five minutes to get her out of the house and it looks like Meera is going to miss the school bell. At this point, thousands of other harassed parents may be asking themselves the same question - "Is it all worth it?" Sadly, the answer is a resounding "No" according to research which suggests having children brings no increase in "life satisfaction" in men, and only makes women happier once the youngsters start school. But Mr Elliot, a university lecturer in Edinburgh, takes issue with the study on parental happiness and says, despite the daily trials of helping to bring up three young daughters, the happiness quotient is high. Read the entire article, based on the research undertaken by the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex.
Articledashboard.com

Wednesday 30

Professor Geoffrey Martin
Historian who restored the reputation of the Public Record Office
When Geoffrey Martin was appointed Keeper of the Public Records, the custodian of more than 1,000 years of national government and legal archive, his appointment was unusual. An academic and historian, Martin had had no previous link to the Civil Service.
Read the full obituary for Professor Martin, Research Chair in the University's Department of History
The Times

PM’s proposed cure for markets is problematic
Sir, The UK prime minister’s view that a deficit of transparency, particularly in commercial organisations, is the source of many of the problems plaguing financial markets is spot on (“Ways to fix the world’s financial system”, January 25). However, his suggestion that the International Monetary Fund should lead the reforms is problematic.
Read Professor Prem Sikka's letter to the Financial Times
Financial Times

Tuesday 29

Our irregular regulators
Without better reform of the UK's political institutions for taming corporate power, a durable regulatory system cannot be developed
Read the rest of Professor Prem Sikka's article here.
The Guardian

Traffic lights plan concern
Congestion on a busy road leading into Colchester could be made much worse if a proposal for a set of traffic lights was given the go-ahead, it has been claimed.
Plans are in the pipeline for the lights to be put in halfway down the A133 Clingoe Hill, which sees heavy congestion at peak times.
They would form part of a new junction which would give access to a research park in the grounds of Essex University. But Wivenhoe Town council has voiced "serious concerns" about the application which is being discussed by Colchester Borough Council's planning committee on Thursday
East Anglian Daily Times

Monday 28

Brits increase savings
The British have increased their savings 39 fold in real terms since the early 60s and 31% since 2000, despite talk of soaring consumer debt, according to NS&I's (National Savings and Investments) Century of Saving report. The report also predicts that the savings ratio will rise significantly in the years ahead, though it could be 50 years before the majority of Brits become regular savers. Read the entire article with figures taken from the British Household Panel Study here.
Easier Finance

Voters in despair at Gordon Brown's blunders
A few governments have been destroyed by the Opposition or events beyond their control but far more have destroyed themselves. YouGov's latest survey for The Daily Telegraph, carried out even before Peter Hain's abrupt departure, suggests that Gordon Brown's Government, far from being destroyed by the Opposition, is bent on self-destruction.  Read the article by Professor Anthony King here.
Daily Telegraph

The responsible drinking charity Drinkaware Trust has appointed Derek Lewis as chairman. L
Lewis is chairman of Protocol Associates, a provider of education and training services and is also pro-chancellor of the University of Essex. Read the entire article here.
Morningadvertiser.co.uk

Friday 25

Thinking computers move a step nearer
A new research hub was opened this week by the experts who brought the world robot fish and driverless cars.
The new Computational Intelligence Centre at Essex University will be dedicated to the development of thinking computers. It will bring together academics from diverse fields, like biology, maths and business, to pioneer ground-breaking research.
Essex County Standard

There may be trouble ahead but we will cope
The word 'recession' has been hanging in the air like a bad smell over the last month. And while some people fear letting the word escape their lips, others say we are talking ourselves into one. One expert's opinion is that we're not in a state of recession yet - but that doesn't mean we won't be.  Read Professor Michael Sherer's comments here.
Evening Gazette

Uni choir try classic pieces
Haydn and Handel get the University of Essex Choir tr4eatment tomorrow night in Colchester's Charter Hall. The 130-strong choir, under the baton of Richard Cooke, will perform Haydn's Harmoniemesse and the first part of Handel's Messiah - the Christmas section - rounded off with the famous Hallelujah Chorus.
Essex County Standard
Evening Gazette

Colchester and Tendring has teamed up with Essex University Students' Union V-Team to launch Colchester's first disability athletics satellite club. The club is open to children aged six to ten with disabilities and all the activities are supervised by trained volunteers. A free come-and-try session is being held today before the official launch on February 1.
Essex County Standard
Evening Gazette

Essex opens intelligent computing centre
Essex University has opened an interdisciplinary research centre focussed on advancing the development of intelligent computer systems. The Computational Intelligence Centre involves experts from a variety of fields including biological sciences, business and entrepreneurship, mathematical sciences and computer and electronic systems. Read the entire article here
The Engineer Online

Blaze at University
Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus tackled a kitchen blaze at Essex University's halls of residence. The alarm was raised just after 9.30pm last night. A brigade spokesman said it took just 16 minutes from getting the call-out for Colchester firefighters tor each the flats and extinguish the flames at the Wivenhoe Park campus. No-one was injured in the incident.
Evening Gazette

Wednesday 23

Research results from University of Essex update understanding of metabolism
New research from Professor Ralph Beneke in the Centre fro Sports and Exercise Science has furthered the study of metabolism in male adolescents.
Biotech Week
Science Letter

Thought that counts
A new research hub will be opened today by the experts who brought the world robot fish and driverless cars. The new Computational Intelligence Centre at Essex University will be dedicated to the development of thinking computers.  It will bring together academics from diverse fields like biology, maths and business, to pioneer groundbreaking research.
Evening Gazette

Town could get Edinburgh style Festival
Colchester could soon be hosting an Edinburgh-style arts festival after £80,000 was set aside in the council budget for its development and promotion.
The event would be initially based around local acts but the intention would be to attract internationally- recognised performers and artists to the town as the event grows. Council Christopher Arnold said it would involve local venues and organisations such as the Colchester Arts Centre, the Mercury Theatre, the Colchester Institute and Essex University and would try to latch on to the “cultural legacy” of the 2012 London Olympic Games. Read the entire article here.
East Anglian Daily Times

Tuesday 22

Marking Holocaust
Essex University will be marking Holocaust Memorial Day this month by hosting two events. On Wednesday, university staff and leading experts from the Imperial War Museum and the Bergen-Belsen exhibition will meet to explore the representation of the Holocaust in public museums. It will be held in room 4.722 at 6pm. Admission free.
On Monday January 28, the Lakeside Theatre is the venue for the Colchester and District Jewish Community Holocaust Memorial Service at 7.30pm.
East Anglian Daily Times

Funds won for campus projects
The School of Entrepreneurship and Business (SEB) at the University of Essex Southend campus has won funding for two new projects. Along with institutions in Hungary, France and Germany, SEB is a partner in the "virtual campus for small to medium enterprise (SME) in a multicultural milieu" project.  These will lead to a aster's level diploma common to all four campuses. Sujun Zhang, of the SEB, said: "The project is an essential step towards the establishment of a virtual European SME campus, offering online courses and the exchange of participants from all partner countries.
Southend Echo

Monday 21

Uni scheme is welcomed
Revised plans for Essex University's Research Park will allow pedestrians to safely cross a road that has claimed the lives of two students. Uni bosses have abandoned proposals for a roundabout linking Clingoe Hill with the park, which is set to be built on land between Boundary Road and the Colchester to Clacton railway line. Instead they want a T-junction with traffic lights, allowing both walkers and cyclists to safely cross to the Greenstead side of the dual carriageway.
Evening Gazette

Sunday 20

How to avert a recession: cut taxes
With gloomy forecasts for the economy, the government needs to undertake radical tax cuts to avert a recession, not the ones demanded by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the mega-rich, but those that would help people at the bottom of the ladder.
The income of ordinary people is being squeezed from every direction. The super-rich continue to get even richer and there is no plan to curb fat-cattery at the top end of the wage scale. Ordinary people barely keep pace with the rate of inflation. Read the rest of Professor Prem Sikka's article here.
The Guardian

Saturday 19

Mobile phone radiation wrecks your sleep
Radiation from mobile phones delays and reduces sleep, and causes headaches and confusion, according to a new study. About half of the people studied believed themselves to be "electrosensitive", reporting symptoms such as headaches and impaired cognitive function from mobile phone use. But they proved to be unable to tell if they had been exposed to the radiation in the test. This strengthens the conclusion of the study, as it disposes of any suggestion that knowledge of exposure influenced sleeping patterns. Even more significantly, it throws into doubt the relevance of studies the industry relies on to maintain that the radiation has no measurable effects. A series of them – most notably a recent highly publicised study at Essex University – have similarly found that people claiming to be electrosensitive could not distinguish when the radiation was turned on in laboratory conditions, suggesting that they were not affected. Read the entire article here.
The Independent
Alternet.org

Friday 18

'Mind-reading' car keeps drivers focused
A "smart" dashboard that reduces the amount of information displayed to drivers during stressful periods on the road could be available in just five years, say German engineers. A team from the Technical University of Berlin found they could improve reaction times in real driving conditions by monitoring drivers' brains and reducing distractions during periods of high brain activity. Francisco Sepulveda, a brain-computer interface specialist at Essex University, Colchester, UK, says the Berlin group had done "significant work on the detection of movement-related intentions using EEG", but adds that being able to decode brain signals reliably make take another 10 years at least. Read the entire article here.
New Scientist
The Pioneer - read their article here

17 bags of rubbish in four hours
If you want to know how much rubbish is strewn around the streets of Colchester, look no further than Gavin Sandercock's front garden.  The sports science lecturer was sick of the sight of rubbish on his daily run acorss town between home and work at Essex University. So he launched a one-man crusade to clear up the route and highlight the plight our dirty streets.  See the video clip here
Essex County Standard

Thursday 17

Kazakhstan is far more than just Borat
"So when do you want to talk about Borat?" The President of Essex University's newly formed Kazakh Society has found me out - and just five minutes into our interview.
Essex University's Kazakh Society only began this last academic year but already has 35 to 40 members. Much like many societies on campus  it has a thorough programme of events planned for the rest of the year including a comedy night and screenings of Kazakh films.
Evening Gazette

The Twang in town
Birmingham's baggy-revivalists and indie rock hot shots The Twang are set to bring their anthemic tunes to the University of Essex.
The chart-climbing band's 2008 tour kicks off in Colchester at the student union, in Wivenhoe Park, on Wednesday February 6 before they head off for 17 further shows around the country.
Go!

Wednesday 16

Olympic bid nears the finishing post
D-Day is looming for Colchester's bid for Olympic glory.  Organisers are now making the final decisions on which towns will host the team training camps for the 2012 Games. Colchester's challenge is being spearheaded by the garrison, Essex University and the borough council. The team behind the bid are now anxiously waiting to find out if the town has made it on to the shortlist.
Evening Gazette
Essex County Standard

Tuesday 15

Twang to play Essex Uni
Indie rock group, The Twang, are set to bring their anthemic tunes to the University of Essex.
Essex Chronicle

Monday 14

Bringing all-optical networks closer to home
Converting between electronic and optical signals is one of the main costs in high-speed data networks and telecommunications applications, even more so when looking at future applications. The solution, say the experts, is to introduce cost-competitive  and effective all-optical circuits to reduce the load on electronics.
Read more about the University of Essex characterised MUFINS devices.
Innovations report

The Twang come to town
The students are not even back from their Christmas hols yet, but Essex university is already lining up some cracking bands for their entertainment. In advance of the spring programme the people at Sub Zero, the university's new live music venue, have announced a special appearance by Birmingham baggie indie outfit, The Twang on February 6.
Evening Gazette

Grime fighter Gavin's litter-busting crusade
If you want to know how much trash is strewn around the streets of Colchester look no further than Gavin Sandercock's front garden.
The sports science lecturer was sick of the sight of rubbish on his daily run across town between home and work at Essex University. So he launched a one-man crusade to clear up the route and highlight the plight of our dirty streets. On Saturday the grime-fighter set off at 7am armed with binbags and a litter-grabber in a bid to blitz the streets. More than four back-breaking hours later he dumped an astonishing 17 sacks bursting with trash in his garden and only did one side of the street!
Evening Gazette

How to maximise your potential for Olympics
Bournemouth University is hosting a new series of events with key business and tourism figures to focus on the impact of the Olympics. The seminar series has been set up following a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) under the Research Seminars Competition.
Professor Adele Ladkin, who co-led the ESRC bid with Professor Mike Weed from Canterbury, said: "The event will provide an ideal opportunity for practitioners and academics to discuss research needs and opportunities, and to promote beneficial collaboration between the stakeholders in order to maximise the long term legacy of the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics."
In partnership with Canterbury Christ Church University and University of Essex, the three events will focus on opportunities to develop sport, promote health, increase tourism flows and promote community pride and well-being in the South East and South West. Read the entire article here.
Thisisweymouth.co.uk

Southend church search leads to community centre
A community centre which closed two years ago could be set for a new lease of life - as a church. The building, between two tower blocks in Coleman Street, Southend, is currently boarded-up. The church also considered the possibility of taking over the former Cliff Town United Reformed Church, in Nelson Street, which has now been acquired by the University of Essex.
Southend Echo

Sunday 13

Shop earmarked for Students' Union
A shop in Southend town centre could be used as a base for the Students' Union. Plans have been lodged with Southend Council to change the use of a shop in the new complex owned by the University of Essex. Other shops in the building, on the site of the old Odeon Cinema, include George, owned by Asda.
Southend Council will make a decision about the plan within the next two months.
Southend Echo

Dental students to offer free treatment
Southend's shortage of dentists will be tackled by students offering free dental care in state-of-the-art town centre facilities. The Barts and London Academic Dental Clinic opens on Monday, giving senior dental students the chance to cut their teeth in the town. Dental treatment for adults and children, including check-ups, routine fillings, simple root canals and extractions, will be on offer at the clinic, based at the University of Essex Southend campus in the High Street. Read the entire article here.
Southend Echo

Monday 7

Uni lands £15m national survey
Essex University has been awarded a £15 million grant to carry out the largest survey of British households.
Professors at the Institute for Social and Economics Research (ISER) will collect data at regular intervals from 90,000 people over several decades, to find out a wealth of information about the state of the nation.
Evening Gazette

Barnardos: more than 100,000 children trapped in poverty
More than 100,000 children may be caught in a 10-year backlog of UK asylum applications and are living in poverty, according to a report published today by children's charity Barnardos.
A team of 900 case workers have been introduced to prioritise asylum-seeking families with children. Barnardos has called for case workers to be be specially trained in addressing the needs of children.
This proposal is backed by Professor Renos Papdopoulos, director of the Centre for Trauma, Asylum and Refugees at the University of Essex, who said: "The tragic fact is that complex cases often are handled by persons who do not always have the necessary knowledge and required skills to do so competently". Read the entire article here.
www.communitycare.co.uk

VoIP is now accepted by businesses as the way forward for voice infrastructure
Margaret Hopkins, an Essex Telecommunications and Information Systems Master's graduate has produced a report looking at outsourced VoIP systems for medium and large business and the problems that that systems aim to solve and how the offerings available succeed in providing solutions. Read the full article here.
Newsobserver.com
Calbre M World
TMCnet
IP Communications
Macro World Investor

Sunday 6

Balance not calories making children fat
Children are getting fatter because the ratio of fat to protein in their diet is higher than that of their parents' generation, according to new research.
Britain has one of the highest and fastest-rising rates of obesity, including child obesity. Obesity rates continue to rise despite calorie intake decreasing since 1975.
The study, by Paola De Agostini of the Institute for Social and Economic Research, has analysed the complete sequence of the National Food Survey undertaken in Britain from 1975 to 2000. This provides details of the food bought and consumed by more than 130,000 households to work out the calorie intake by men and women, boys and girls according to age. Read the whole article here.
Sunday Herald

Friday 4

Boost for uni works of art
Essex University's internationally-famous art collection has received a major boost. Development plans for the university's collection of Latin American art have been granted a national accreditation award.
The collection which was founded in 1993 has over 600 pieces and is the largest public collection of Latin American art in Europe.
The national quality standard confirms that the collection has met stringent guidelines on how it is run, how it looks after the collection, and the services it provides to users and visitors.
Essex County Standard

Art collection makes grade
Essex University's internationally famous art collection has received a major boost.
Development plans for the University's collection of Latin American art have been granted a national accreditation award.
Dr Joanne Harwood, assistant director and curator of the University of Essex Collection of Latin American Art, said: "This is the beginning of a new phase for this unique collection".
Evening Gazette

New Year honours for great and good
The great and the good of Essex have been honoured in the New Year honours list.
Dr John Ashworth, of Wivenhoe, who oversaw the opening of the new British Library, has been honoured by being given a knighthood for public services.
He first moved to Wivenhoe in 1974 as foundation professor of biology at Essex University.
Essex County Standard

Literary giants to star at events
This year's Essex Book Festival features a whole host of award-winning writers.
Local authors also get a good look-in with local archeologist Philip Crummy conducting the annual Burrows Lecture on Colchester's archaeological treasures.
Evening Gazette

The future is another country
It's grey and chilly. Throngs of thirty and fortysomethings lumber through the drizzle to an agricultural hall outside Coventry. I pay the £11 entrance fee and once through the door everything changes. Sunny optimism illumines the interior. Maple-leaf flags hang like bunting while red, white and blue balloons jostle for attention with inflatable kangaroos and surfboards.  This is Emigrate, the largest migration exhibition in Britain, at which financial advisors, estate agents and lawyers from more than 80 organisation offer advice to 7,000 visitors on how to gain entry to new lands of opportunity. Read the comments made by Professor Tim Hatton, a Labour Market Economist from the University of Essex here.
Financial Times

A matter of priorities
Opponents of cellular-phone towers are gearing up to block transmission facilities in Litchfield County. Typically, cell-tower foes are extremists who fret about the towers' visual impact on ridge lines and off terrifying tales of the effects of radiation emissions.
As for the radiation scare tactics, researchers have failed to uncover evidence cell-phone towers pose health hazards, and not for lack of trying. A three-year study by University of Essex researchers, published last July, found no evidence of short-term effects from "mobile phone masts", as the British call them.  Long-term studies similarly have yielded no proof of health impacts from the signals. Read the whole article here.
Republican American

Wednesday 2

Intelligent plugs will tackle the energy guzzlers inside your home
Intelligent plugs that allow householders to monitor the consumption of every light, screen and washer are being developed by researchers at the University of Essex. Read the full article here.
The Times
Also in:
The Scotsman - read here
Channel 4 news - read here
MSN.co.uk - read here
ZDNet Australia - read here
East Anglian Daily Times
Daily Mail - read here
thisislondon.co.uk - read here
Webindia 123 - read here
The Times of India - read here
Earthtimes.org - read here
Breitbart.com - read here
Builderau.com - read here
Calibremworld - read here
Buxton Advertiser - read here
New Zealand Herald

Women take longer to repay student loans
Data provided by the British Household Panel Survey, based at the University, has proved that women take longer to repay their student loans. Read here.
The Guardian
icwales.icnetwork.co.uk

Accountants face up to the moral maze
Read Professor Prem Sikka's comments on whether accountancy can claim to be truly ethical.
www.FT.com

The banks' balancing act
In the wake of the recent subprime crisis and the accompanying credit crunch, Gordon Brown is concerned about economic turbulence ahead.  There is no denying the depth of the unfolding crisis. Banks have been queuing up for financial support from taxpayers. The European Central Bank is providing nearly £250bn to alleviate the crisis. The UK taxpayer has poured nearly £50bn into Northern Rock alone and central banks are also busy pouring money into the banking system. Yet broader questions about the systemic failures are not being addressed. Read the entire article written by Professor Prem Sikka here.
The Guardian

A Knight's Tale
John Ashworth, Foundation Professor of Biology at the University of Essex in the 1970s, received a knighthood in the Queen's New Year's honours list.
Evening Gazette

Fascinating facts 'to sell' Colchester
A collection of fascinating facts sets out to show that Colchester is home to a weird and wonderful world of business. Anyone who reckons business is boring should think again. Local firms have popped up in the unlikeliest places and recorded some mind-boggling statistics.
FACT Essex University boasts an 18-hole Frisbee golf course.
Evening Gazette

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 last updated on Friday February 01, 2008.