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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

BBC Persian
Professor John Packer, Director, Human Rights Centre
Contribution for Human Rights Day.
View the clip here - forward to 12:12 minutes.

Parliament Live
University of Essex report on care farming was discussed as part of an adjournment debate on Care farming and disadvantaged groups by Mr Mark Todd in Parliament on 24th November.
Discussion starts at 7hrs 11 and finishes at about 7hrs 45.

BBC
Flagship University Building open
Teaching has begun in the new flagship building for the recently created university in Suffolk. University Campus Suffolk (UCS), in Ipswich, was established by the University of East Anglia and the University of Essex last year. View the clip here.

The University of Essex in the Press

March 2010

31 March

Politicians' reputations are so low it doesn't matter what they do
According to research carried out by Dr Sarah Birch at the University of Essex and Dr Nicholas Allen of Royal Holloway, University of London, people are more worried about politicians not giving them "straight answers" than their expenses claims. Read the article here.
The Independent

'Trust will stick to its guns over football ground'
The Gazette interviewed the University of Essex Estates Manager, Andrew Nightingale about his role as Chairman of the Wivenhoe and District Sporting Facilities Trust and the recent dispute with Wivenhoe Town Football Club over its alleged non-payment of rent.
Gazette

Serve me some humble pie, Jamie
Telegraph columnist Liz Hunt concedes that Jamie Oliver was right to persevere with his healthy eating mantra as he now has the results to prove it works. The researchers from the University of Essex and University of Oxford said that the positive effects of the campaign were impressive because they emerged in a relatively short period of time.
Daily Telegraph

30 March

Knauf supplies spray plaster for student walls
The Knauf Airless spray plaster machine is saving valuable time as contractors prepare new rooms for students at the University of Essex, for the next academic year. The team from County Decorating Contractors is spraying precast concrete walls and ceilings at the rate of 1,500m2 a week with Knauf Airless Readymix Plaster in preparation for final decoration. The University of Essex is procuring 561 new rooms in a new landmark building for students at its third and newest campus, in the Southend town centre. The new accommodation on London Road consists of seven multi-storey buildings, constructed with precast concrete panels manufactured by Bell and Webster of Grantham.
Building Talk

Kaplan Open Learning Launches Joint Business and Management Award
Kaplan Open Learning, the distance learning and online higher education college, has announced it will begin offering a Business and Management degree from University of Essex combined with an Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) qualification, starting 1 April, 2010. Kaplan Open Learning was launched in 2007 by global education and training company Kaplan and the University of Essex and offers online degree courses. The course is aimed at current or aspiring managers or other leaders who are seeking to gain a degree to advance their careers and who will find it useful to obtain a professional qualification in management and leadership. Read the article here.
StreetInsider.com
 

Dinner He Do Well?
Jamie Oliver's healthier school dinners have also had a hearty effect on pupils' exam results.
Research out yesterday shows that the 10 and 11-year-olds who took part in his Feed Me Better campaign boosted their chances of reaching Level Five in science by eight per cent. They also had a six per cent higher chance of reaching Level Four in English than those pupils who ate regular school dinners. Jonathan James, of the Department of Economics at the University of Essex which conducted the study, said: "It is possible that the programme will continue to have an effect on children's education and health. "But even if only these short-term benefits are taken into account, the campaign was very cost effective."
Daily Mail
The Guardian
Daily Mirror        
and over 40 other publications around the UK

Findings from University of Essex in life sciences reported
Professor Chris Cooper and colleagues from the Department of Biological Sciences have published a study in Advances In Experimental Medicine and Biology on the Comparison of local adipose tissue content and SRS-derived NIRS muscle oxygenation measurements in 90 individuals.
Life Science Weekly
Health and Medicine Week
Biotech Week

Vital role for bacteria in climate-change gas cycle
The Colne Estuary in Essex is where the first coastal marine isoprene degraders were found. Isoprene is a Jekyll-and-Hyde gas that is capable of both warming and cooling the Earth depending on the prevailing conditions. At the Society for General Microbiology's spring meeting in Edinburgh, Dr Terry McGenity reveals the identity of some crucial players in the gas cycle; isoprene-degrading bacteria that are able to intercept the release of isoprene into the atmosphere. Read the article here.
EurkekAlert!
PhysOrg.com
Science Daily
ScienceCentric
Red Orbit
Scientist Live

Immersive Education 2010 Summit Attendees to Receive $2,500 in Permanent Virtual World Land
The Immersive Education Initiative today revealed that it will provide permanent virtual world land for one year to every school and non-profit organization that has at least one teacher, administrator, or student in attendance at the 2010 Boston Summit. At the 2010 Boston Summit a series of workshops and presentations will teach educators how to copy or move their existing Second Life objects and worlds onto the virtual land they receive, and they will also receive free pre-made virtual worlds designed for education. The University of Essex will be at the Immersive Education Initiative Summit in April.
Computer Graphics World

29 March

Recent studies from University of Essex add new data to human papillomavirus vaccines
Scientists discuss in 'Temporal perspective and parental intention to accept the human papillomavirus vaccination for their daughter' new findings in human papillomavirus.
 According to recent research published in the British Journal of Health Psychology, "A school-based vaccination programme to prevent infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV), the virus that causes cervical cancer, began in October 2008 in U.K.. The present study evaluated the role of temporal perspective in the formation of attitudes and intentions towards the vaccine."
The researchers concluded: "Messages emphasizing efficacy of vaccination and anticipated regret are likely to promote vaccination uptake."
OBGYN & Reproduction Week
Clinical Oncology Week
Cancer Vaccine Week 
Virus Weekly
Vaccine Weekly
Women's Health Weekly

26 March

Special needs test case goes before Supreme Court
Children's rights campaigners have taken their battle to ensure children with special needs have a right to an education to the Supreme Court.The court is now deliberating over a test case supported by the Children's Legal Centre involving a pupil with learning and communication difficulties and a statement of special educational needs, who it is alleged was denied an education for 18 months.
Children and Young People Now

Forces Minister told: We've lost our way in Afghan War
An Afghan student told a Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammell during his visit to the University of Essex that British Troops were forcing people to side with the Taleban. Yesterday's discussion covered why British Troops are in Afghanistan, the quality of equipment they have, how success would be measured, and the wider situation in the Middle East.
Gazette

Our knowledge is power...now we want to share it
The University of Essex is using its specialist knowledge to set up a new centre which could be instrumental in setting policies across the globe. The new Institute for Democracy and Conflict Resolution will be led by Professor Todd Landman from the Department of Government. It will form the flagship for the university's new Knowledge Gateway and will further establish the university as a world-leading research and development facility.
Essex County Standard

War in Afghanistan is winnable, claims Major
Major Ollie Kinsgbury, Company Commander of the 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment says East-Anglian based troops were prepared to put their lives on the line in Afghanistan because they believe it is a 'winnable' war. Major Kingsbury was speaking at a debate held at the University of Essex along with Government Minister Bill Rammell who was explaining why British Troops are in Afghanistan and what their mission is.
East Anglian Daily Times

Parties imitate Obama in e-election
An unprecedented wave of initiatives - from a new breed of digital campaigner to an army of online supporters, critics and satirists - is prompting many observers to say this will be Britain's first 'Internet election'. Labour stresses the importance of telephone contact. A University of Essex study this month found 58 percent of voters polled had received direct contact from a Conservative party source in the past six months against 46 percent for the Liberal Democrats and 35 percent for Labour.
The Independent
Yahoo! UK and 25 other publications around the world

Book aid: How we can all help Africa to read
Educational Aid for the Children of Southern Africa plans to collect books and send them to children in the region who don’t have the advantages of youngsters over here. The trust was set up by individuals, inspired by lecturer Max Bergman, who was based at Essex University but is now at Basel University, in Switzerland. Professor Bergman heads research projects looking at the effectiveness of teaching in South Africa and on visits to schools, was shocked to find they often had no resources beyond an old and often incomplete set of Encyclopedia Britannicas.
Halstead Gazette
Harwich and Manningtree Standard

Chelsea reveals Fasttraka II fluorimeter success
Chelsea Technologies has announced that its Fasttracka II fast repetition rate fluorimeter is being selected by many organisations for a range of applications including investigation of the physiological responses of a diverse range of phytoplankton within ocean, coastal and fresh waters. The University of Essex is using the Fasttracka II with Fastact in the laboratory to run rapid light curves on a range of algae cultures.
Processing Talk
Process and Control Today

Farming reform needed to end hunger without obesity
Agriculture needs revolutionary change to confront threats such as global warming and end hunger in developing nations without adding to the ranks of the obese, an international study showed on Thursday. Read comments made by one of the report's authors - Professor Jules Pretty from the Centre for Environment and Society.
Reuters and over twenty others publications around the world

25 March

Call for messy students to pick up their litter
Councillor Julie Young has called for students to take part in litter picks after residents complained about rubbish being dumped by students. Ibby Mehmet, President of the Students' Union said litter picking could be an option for students as part of volunteering activities.
Gazette
Harwich and Manningtree Standard

Derby Day Clash
Fencing was part of the recent Derby Day clash between the University of Essex and the University of East Anglia. The University of Essex club put up a men's and women's team to take on their East Anglian rivals. The overall result across all of the various sports saw the University of Essex beat UEA 30-15.
East Anglian Daily Times

Career Strategies
Many of the UK's 'accidental' administrators think that their work is not valued and that their US counterparts enjoy higher status. Read more about the profession that Sir Albert Sloman called the 'academic civil service'.
THE

EDB and Tamkeen put spotlight on innovation at April conference
Two of Bahrain's leading enablers of progress, the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) and Tamkeen, have come together to announce a first-of-its-kind national conference that will help to set the roadmap for innovation in the private sector in the Kingdom and the region. The distinguished panel of speakers in the conference included Professor Jay Mitra, Founding Professor of Business Enterprise and Innovation, Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship Research, and Head of the School of Entrepreneurship and Business, at the University of Essex, Southend.
AME Info

24 March

People on the Move
Newcastle law firm Clarke Mairs has appointed Grace Tiffin also joins the firm as a trainee solicitor, having graduated in law from the University of Essex before completing her legal practice course at the University of Northumbria.
Newcastle Journal

'Colchester must try harder to win Olympic torch visit’
More should be done to bring the Olympic torch to Britain’s oldest recorded town, Colchester’s Tories claim. Councillors want Castle Park to be on the list of places the flame will call at on its way to the London 2012 Games and would like to organise an event attended by 8,000 people to welcome it. The torch is to tour the UK for 65 days ahead of the opening ceremony on July 27, 2012, including three days in the east of England. However, Martin Hunt, the council’s Lib Dem deputy leader, said the council was already working on the bid with University of Essex and the Garrison.
Gazette
Harwich and Manningtree Standard
Halstead Gazette

Helping families in poverty now is vital to our economic future
Professor Prem Sikka is one of the contributors to a letter in The Guardian asking that the political parties recognise and support women's value and contributions in business, at work or in the home as this is also vital to a healthy economy. All the political parties must give serious consideration to the differential impact of their economic policies to ensure that they do not further disadvantage women. Read the letter here.
The Guardian

Award winning poets to read at Middletown Library
Michael Broek is a Professor of English at Brookdale Community College and the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. He is currently completing his PhD. in American Literature at the University of Essex and will be one of three poets reading from their work at an event in Middletown Library.
APP.com

Going to St Tropez? But it's so pass, dear
That is the trouble with keeping up with the Joneses. It is such damned hard work knowing what is cool now, today, this minute, March 24, 2010. No wonder research published this week suggests that one-upmanship is bad for your health. Psychologists studying the happiness levels of 10,000 people who took part in the British Household Panel survey found that relative wealth - how much money people had compared with their friends - mattered more than absolute wealth.
"Earning £1 million a year appears not to be enough to make you happy if you know that your friends all make £2 million a year," says researcher Dr Chris Boyce, from the University of Warwick. His comments might cause a bitter laugh among workers living on the minimum wage, but you only have to look around you to see what a ridiculously competitive - and because competitive, stressed - society Britain has become. Read the article here.
Daily Telegraph

This research has featured in numerous articles published around the world this week

23 March

Government U-turn on court fees
In May 2008, the fees paid by local authorities for starting care or supervision proceedings rose from £150 to up to £4,825. The move was part of the government's drive to increase the proportion of court costs funded by court users in a bid to make the system self-funded and less reliant on government money.But social workers, local authorities, lawyers and children's guardians raised concerns that such a rise in fees could, in fact, act as a disincentive to councils, leaving vulnerable children at risk. Read comments made by Niamh Harraher, Solicitor at the Children's Legal Centre.
Children and Young People Now

Minister to face Q&A over 'war on terror'
Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammell is visiting the University of Essex on Thursday afternoon to talk about conflict and answer questions from the public.
Gazette
Harwich and Manningtree Standard

Nature's way to deal with troubled youths
Dr Jo Barton from the Centre for Environment and Society monitored youngsters taking place on The TurnAround Project looking at how the wilderness therapy affected the those taking part. It had a significant positive effect on self-esteem and a smaller one on mood and none of the youngsters taking part returned to the low levels of seen before the start of the project.
Gazette
Echo

Designer's new fashion label is really taking off
Essex Law Graduate, Ogo Ekweozor always enjoyed transforming dull outfits into unique fashion statements and now her unique designs are proving popular online as well as in exclusive boutiques in the Welsh capital. After graduating from the University of Essex with a law degree, Ogo was at law school in Manchester and working part-time for a marketing company, when she took the difficult decision to leave law school and head into the world of business.
South Wales Echo
Wales Online

Dr Mariki New FCC Director General
THE Minister for Industry, Trade and Marketing, Dr MaryNagu, has appointed Dr Geoffrey Mariki to the post of Director General of the Fair Competition Commission (FCC), for a period of four years.
Essex Graduate, Dr Mariki brings  over 35 years professional experience as an industrialist and engineer, of which 23 were at international level to the post.
AllAfrica.com

22 March

University swings the axe to clear site
Work is due to start in May on a new junction to link Clingoe Hill with the University's proposed Knowledge Gateway and contractors have felled 55 trees because of disease, damage or decay before the work commences. 123 trees will be re-planted on the site in about a year's time and there are also plans to plant two lines of tall evergreens for bats.
Gazette
Halstead Gazette
Harwich and Manningtree Standard

Research on antisense technology discussed by scientists at University of Essex
Olivia Sanchez-Graillet and colleagues from the Department of Mathematical Sciences have published the results of their research on 'Using surveys of Affymetrix GeneChips to study antisense expression' in the Journal of Integrative Bioinformatics.
Biotech Business Week
Pharma Business Week
Biotech Week
Drug Week
Gene Therapy Week

Study says money only makes you happy if it makes you richer than your neighbours
A study by researchers at the University of Warwick and Cardiff University has found that money only makes people happier if it improves their social rank. The researchers found that simply being highly paid wasn’t enough – to be happy, people must perceive themselves as being more highly paid than their friends and work colleagues. The researchers looked at data on earnings and life satisfaction from seven years of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), which is a representative longitudinal sample of British households.
HealthCanal.com
MedIndia
 

21 March

The boy whose blue-tinted glasses have allowed him to read properly for the first time
Tom Heaffey is a bright 18-year-old with a string of good GCSEs who wants to be an architect. Yet just three years ago, he was virtually illiterate and predicted to fail his exams. Remarkably, his life has been transformed by a pair of blue-tinted glasses, which have enabled him to read properly for the first time. According to Arnold Wilkins, Professor of Visual Perception at the University of Essex, the condition is a result of the neurons in the visual part of the brain firing too strongly.
Daily Mail
Mail on Sunday

What has Renaissance Southend ever done for us?
THERE is a lot of scepticism in the town about the achievements of Renaissance Southend, which was created on March 18, 2005. The criticism is something the company’s chief executive, Mike Lambert, is acutely aware of and which he is keen to address. "The £25million public realm and infrastructure project is a huge achievement,” he said. “Getting the university into the town has been a key achievement and the expansion of the college.”  Read the article here.
Echo

‘Pay judicial officers properly to avoid corruption’
Speaking at the swearing in of four magistrates at Bulawayo Magistrates’ Courts at Tredgold Building yesterday, the provincial magistrate responsible for Matabeleland North, Mr John Masimba, said remuneration of judicial officers left a lot to be desired and morale among the staff was very low. Abednico Dube, a former PhD student at the University of Essex was one of the Magistrates sworn in.
Zimbabwe Chronicle
 

19 March

Friendly county welcomes all sorts of cultures with open arms
On Wednesday evening, a panel discussion in Chelmsford considered this question as part of the Essex Book Festival. Dave Monk, of BBC Essex, chaired the meeting which listened to two well-known writers and broadcasters, Germaine Greer and Sarfraz Manzoor, as well as Colin Riordan, University of Essex Vice-Chancellor. Read the article here.
Harwich and Manningtree Standard
Gazette
Essex Chronicle

Uni's grant cut threatens plans to invest £200m
The Higher Education Funding Council for England has awarded the University of Essex £42.1 million for 2010/11, a 1.1% increase on last year. But with inflation at 2%, the university's budget will fall in real terms. Dr Tony Rich, Registrar and Secretary said he was conscious that the University had fared better than others but was unsure what may happen after the election and when the £600 million cut in higher education funding may fall.
Gazette

Life in a classroom
What's around the corner this weekend? Well, a host of University of Essex Researchers and Professors will be giving the general public a brief snippet of the kind of things they teach in the academic year at an Essex Book Festival Event taking place at Colchester Library tomorrow.
Essex County Standard

Wii way to aid elderly
Researchers from the University of Essex are working with patients at Colchester General Hospital falls clinic to examine the effects of using the interactive consoles as they believe the device could help frail and elderly fallers by allowing them to become more active without taking the risks involved in getting out and about.
Essex County Standard

Chance to quiz Minister
Minister for the Armed Forces, Bill Rammell is visiting Essex University for a public discussion on the war in Afghanistan on Thursday. Admission is free and open to the public by ticket only.
Essex County Standard

Trio of DJs to man the decks
Later this month a super line-up of dance DJs will be manning the decks at the University of Essex for a night of the best in breakbeat, funk, dub step and drum and bass.
Essex County Standard

Judge heads to uni party
DJ Judge Jules is making a welcome return to the county this weekend and will be DJing at the University of Essex's Underground nightspot.
Gazette

“Can you really predict an election?” ask pollsters
A panel of some of the biggest names in political forecasting, including Professor David Sanders from the University of Essex are to discuss at a University of Manchester event whether it really is possible to predict an election.
Bioscience Technology

18 March

The Lehman report: Beancounters in a bind
Lehman is unlikely to be an isolated case, argues Prem Sikka, an Accounting Professor at the University of Essex, because “the guards are in bed with the prisoners.” Read the article here.
The Economist

Universities challenged
More than 100 universities have had their budgets slashed or frozen, it emerged today in the first real glimpse of how public spending cuts will bite. Figures released today show 99 of the 130 universities in England have had their funding cut in real terms. The University of Essex budget is up 1.1%. Read the article here.
The Independent

Fully booked
Essex Book Festival Patron Francis Wheen will be taking part in two events at the Book Festival, one of which will be a talk about a book called Cheapjack by Phil Allingham which will take place at the University of Essex.
Go!

Essex uni offers a taste of its campus curriculum
A host of University of Essex Researchers and Professors will be giving the public a brief snippet of the kind of things they teach in the academic year at a unique event at Colchester Library. This event is taking place as part of the Essex Book Festival.
Gazette

Uni's baby learning plea
The Department of Psychology at the University of Essex is to carry out a study about how babies think and learn and is asking parents and guardians to bring their babies along to learn more about how they think.
Gazette

New website gives wannabe students vital information about drop-out rates and earnings
Garry Bodsworth, 32, grew up on council estates in London and Essex and received poor advice while at school about higher education. But he got into the University of Essex at the eleventh hour to study computer science and it proved worthwhile: he is now working for a Cambridge start-up company. Read the article here.
The Independent

Roll call of the remarkable talent in line for a prize
The University of Essex Estate Management Team have been shortlisted in the Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Awards 2010. Read the article here.
THE

Teaching and research escape 9% grant cut
Universities face a real-term cut in funding of more than 9 per cent next year, although the recurrent grant for teaching and research has largely been protected. Allocations unveiled on 18 March by the Higher Education Funding Council for England show that higher and further education will receive a total of £7.36 billion for 2010-11. This is 7.2 per cent less than the total for 2009-10. With inflation calculated at 2 per cent, it amounts to a real-term cut of 9.2 per cent year on year. The University Campus Suffolk - run jointly by the universities of East Anglia and Essex - will also enjoy a large percentage rise in its teaching grant (19.5 per cent). It is among the 10 English institutions with the largest percentage rises in overall grants. Read the article here.
THE

Book of the week: Coyote at the Kitchen Door
Professor Jules Pretty from the Centre for Environment and Society reviews Coyote at the Kitchen Door written by Stephen DeStefano, a research scientist and leader of the US Geological Survey's Massachusetts Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, and a professor in the department of natural resources, University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Read the review here.
THE

360,000 Move Home To Escape Neighbours
Using date from the British Household Panel Survey, new research from Halifax Home Insurance has found that over 360,000 Britons moved home in the past 12 months as a result of irritating neighbours.
PRWeb
EMedia Wire

Reconciling conservation and commerce in the name of sustainability
Mr Rony Renaud, the Chief Executive Officer of the Seychelles National Park Authority is interviewed and he talks about his work and subjects close to his heart which includes working with outside organisations which come to the park to undertake research, some researchers coming from the University of Essex.
ETurboNews

17 March

Breakthrough In Understanding How Our Body Repairs Itself
New research led by scientists at the University of Essex has given an insight into how the body finds damage in the DNA code to repair it.
From rays of sunlight to harmful tobacco smoke, our bodies are bombarded every single day by a range of environmental toxins which damage our DNA.
However, new research led by scientists at the University of Essex, has given an insight into how the body finds damage in the DNA code to repair it.
The findings, published in journal Molecular Cell, reveal an important breakthrough in how proteins working together offer a faster, more effective way of finding the damaged DNA.
Medical News Today

Mobile fallout - to be ignored at your peril
Mobile research as a method may still be in its infancy, but researchers already need to be aware of the fallout from the growing phenomenon of mobile communications, both in telephony and in data communications and the mobile web. These effects cannot be avoided and need to be better understood. We also learned, from Peter Lynn and Olena Kaminska at the Institute of Social and Economic Research at Essex University, that the differences in responses to the same questions in telephone and mobile surveys were mostly benign, though there are differences - and in their experiments mobile phone interviews tended to last slightly longer. Read in full here
Research magazine

Get with the Wii, uni boffins tell old folk
Scientists in Colchester think playing on the Nintendo Wii could help improve the balance of elderly people who suffer regular falls. Researchers from Essex University are working with patients at a Colchester General Hospital falls clinic to examine the effects of using the console. If benefits are found, doctors could start to recommend playing on the Wii as a form of treatment.
Gazette
Harwich and Manningtree Standard

Uni hosts joropo night
If you fancy experiencing world music like you've never heard before, take a peek at Cimarron from Colombia. Here to promote their debut release, Orinoco, as part of a UK tour, Cimarron play the Lakeside Theatre at Essex University tonight.
Gazette

16 March

Knowledge Gateway gets underway
Work on the University of Essex’s 40-acre Knowledge Gateway gets underway in the next few months. With a flagship Institute for Democracy and Conflict Resolution, building on Essex’s internationally-recognised strengths in government and human rights, at its heart, the Knowledge Gateway will be the new home for research and development and business space in Colchester. Read the article here.
UKSPA

Regulators demand detailed Lehman Brothers' papers from Ernst & Young
UK regulators yesterday demanded that Ernst & Young hand over vital documents detailing its role in the collapse of Lehman Brothers after the firm was accused of professional negligence in relation to its audit of the US bank. The move will heap more pain on E&Y, which expects to face a series of class action lawsuits alleging it was partly responsible for the bank filing for bankruptcy in September 2008. Critics of the accounting profession also said the firm's behaviour highlighted deep-rooted flaws in the audit profession and the need for reform of the way auditors check the financial statements of major banks. Prem Sikka, Professor of Accounting at Essex University and a longstanding critic of the audit profession, said the FRC needed to take a root-and-branch approach to reform. Read in full here
The Guardian

Research reveals molecular mechanism of DNA repair
New research led by scientists at the University of Essex has given an insight into how the body finds damage in the DNA code to repair it.
From rays of sunlight to harmful tobacco smoke, our bodies are bombarded every single day by a range of environmental toxins which damage our DNA.
Our bodies work hard to find this damage and repair it, but how the damage is found in the first place is one the great unanswered questions in the repair field.
However, new research led by scientists at the University of Essex, has given an insight into how the body finds damage in the DNA code to repair it.
News-Medical.Net
Nanowerk

Gaming consoles may help elderly
They can provide hours of fun but now researchers at Essex University are investigating whether Wii consoles could also improve the lives of elderly people who suffer from falls.
The project, jointly funded by the university and Colchester Hospital University Foundation Trust, is looking at whether Nintendo Wii Fit can improve balance and quality of life for frail pensioners.
East Anglian Daily Times

15 March

Building work might disrupt the students, but it's fine by us!
Despite students complaining about noisy building work on campus, for one university resident, the loud drilling is just water off a duck's back. Sat in the middle of a building project for the past four weeks, the female mallard duck is unfazed by the diggers and drilling and just waiting for her eggs to hatch.
Gazette

Commonwealth Politicians are welcomed by Mayor
Mayor Henry Spyvee has welcome nine parliamentarians from the Commonwealth to Colchester. University of Essex students from the countries represented in the delegation were also invited to the ceremony.
Gazette

Wii'LL get OAPS Fit and Healthy
Elderly people could save the health service £1billion by playing with Nintendo Wii consoles, it has been claimed.
Academics believe that older people who use the Wii Fit are less likely to fall and, as a result, will be less depressed, negative and anxious. Dr Murray Griffin, from the University of Essex's Department of Biological Sciences will work with patients at Colchester Hospital's falls prevention clinic to see to what extent Wii sessions stop older people from tumbling.
Daily Record
The Telegraph
Ipswich Evening Star
East Anglian Daily Times

14 March

Virtual Worlds on the Internet
In recent years, computer graphics has evolved into four major disciplines: computer animation, image processing, visualization, and virtual reality. Now these technologies are converging into one seamless digital medium resulting in various tools that will transform the way we work in the next century. Virtual Worlds on the Internet examines how the latest developments in virtual environments, computer animation, communication networks, and the Internet are being configured to create revolutionary tools and systems. Vince and Earnshaw have selected twenty papers they believe will influence computer systems of the twenty-first century, two of which have been written by Dr Adrian Clark from the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering.
ComputerWorld Australia
Good Gear Guide

Auditors face inquiry call after Lehman revelations
MPs and financial experts demand regulators reform industry in effort to eliminate risky practices. Professor Prem Sikka, a Professor of Accounting at the University of Essex and a leading critic of the accounting profession, warned that without deep-rooted reform the crisis could repeat itself. "The report into the collapse of Lehmans is indicative of a deeper malaise," he said. "We rely on the discretion of eminent firms of auditors and lawyers that are paid millions of pounds for their efforts, but that discretion is too often abused." Read the article here.
The Guardian

Scots close to medicine’s Holy Grail ... a true blood substitute
With vampire TV shows such as True Blood and films such as Daybreakers dramatising the search for artificial blood, this strand of science is highly topical. The topic will also take centre stage at next month’s Edinburgh International Science Festival. According to Professor Chris Cooper from the University of Essex, who will be giving the talk on April 8, the need is acute. Professor Cooper and Professor Turner’s competing teams from the Universities of Essex and Edinburgh are both attempting to recreate just one element of blood: the red blood cells that carry oxygen around the body. Both Prof Cooper and Prof Turner’s competing teams are both attempting to recreate just one element of blood: the red blood cells that carry oxygen around the body.Read the article here.
Herald Scotland
The Times
Sunday Times (South Africa)

Is There Life on Mars?
Planet Mars has been a topic of controversy amongst the scientific community. Many believe the possibility of life on the planet while others support their disbelief through scientific evidence. "Ascertaining the nature of the subsurface on other planets is tricky, but there is growing evidence for hypersaline environments of Mars and Jupiter's moon, Europa. Indeed, Europa is believed to have a subsurface ocean rich in magnesium salts." said Terry McGenity (Scientist from the University of Essex, Biodeep project).
uPublish.info

13 March

Stress: Boost your heart rate and your mood
Any form of activity seems to help to reduce anxiety, but it is the aerobic variety — swimming, cycling and particularly running — that has the greatest effect on stress-busting. Dr Dominic Micklewright, a sports psychologist at the University of Essex, says that the feel-good factor is triggered partly by changes in the brain’s biochemistry, “particularly increased secretion of beta-endorphins by the pituitary gland, which have a very similar effect to opiate drugs”, and partly by the fact that “it simply makes you feel better that you have done something positive to improve your health”. Read the article here.
The Times

12 March

Lord Ashcroft laid bare
Investigation: How and when Michael Ashcroft channelled foreign money to the Conservative Party. Read the article by Professor Prem Sikka from the Essex Business School.
Tribune Magazine

Uni's open day for postgraduate hopefuls
Anything thinking of enrolling on a postgraduate course at the University can find out at an open day on 17 March.
Colchester Gazette

School closure bid based on flawed statistics, minister told
MP: pupils health will suffer
Colchester MP Bob Russell cited research carried out by Gavin Sandercock and Christine Voss in Biological Sciences which found that children who walked to school were more healthy as he criticised proposals to close two Colchester schools.
Essex County Standard

Students want a rent cut
University students are demanding a rent reduction claiming they have suffered disruption form building work near their campus flats.
Essex County Standard

Why I don't hate white people
Race and rhyme is the subject of a new show by one of the country's leading poets which will be at the Lakeside Theatre this weekend.
Essex County Standard

Contemporary autonomist politics
Dr Stevphen Shukaitis, Essex Business School, will join a discussion on current politics later this month.
Portland Independent Media Center

Studies from the University of Essex in the area of life sciences
Research findings, Bioinformatics and molecular modelling approaches to GCPR oligomerization, by Biological Sciences are discussed in a new report.
Drug Week

11 March

Quantum dots spotlight DNA-repair proteins in motion
Repair proteins appear to efficiently scan the genome for errors by jumping like fleas between DNA molecules, sliding along the strands, and perhaps pausing at suspicious spots, say researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Essex and the University of Vermont who tagged the proteins with quantum dots to watch the action unfold.
Nanoweek
RedOrbit
FirstScience.com
PhysOrg.com
Science Daily
Nanowerk
Web Newswire
Bio Find
Medical News today

Obituary for Dr David Musselwhite
Read an obituary for Dr David Musselwhite, a leading literary critic and former Senior Lecturer in the Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies, in the Times Higher Education magazine.
THE

Grant Winners
Professor Miriam Glucksmann has been awarded a grant to research Consumption work and societal divisions of labour.
THE

Graduates get a helping hand
One hundred University graduations have a new opportunity to get on to the career ladder, thanks to a new award aimed at tackling graduate employment. The University of Essex has been awarded £160,000 to find a new graduate internship programme in Essex and Suffolk.
Essex Chronicle

Latin American Passion
Eastern Roots have their first show of 2010 at the Lakeside Theatre next week when Columbian Joropo band Cimarron bring their traditional sounds to Essex.
Essex Chronicle

Students swear by module of 'obscenely hard' work
Professor Wayne Martin from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Essex runs a module which is unofficially titled "Work Obscenely Hard". In return for students agreeing to take on a Stakhanovite workload, Professor Martin returns their work with detailed comments within 24 hours. Word has spread and enrolment this year is up 80 per cent.
THE

Frail economy needs another stimulus
Professor Prem Sikka from the Essex Business School has written a letter with colleagues to encourage the Chancellor to use the forthcoming budget to announce a second fiscal stimulus – especially in housing and transport, where investment has fallen most, and with a focus on developing a low-carbon economy – which would both help to secure economic recovery and create much needed jobs.
The Guardian
 

10 March

Essex academics share the secrets of being human
Happiness, police interviews, 'competitive conversations' and workplace smells are just some of the subjects that academics from University of Essex will be talking about in a week of presentations aimed at explaining to the general public what it is that social scientists actually do. The series of free public lectures, being held in the Minories Bistro in Colchester between the 15 and 19 March, are part of the nationwide Festival of Social Science. The Festival is run by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and is aimed at helping the general public discover the world of social science.
ESRC Society Today
Politics.co.uk

No noise is good news for protest students
University students angry over building work near their campus flats have vowed to step up a campoaign to get their rent cut.
Gazette

Research from the University of Essex published
Publication details of research papers authored in Biological Sciences, Mathematical Sciences and Psychology
Biotech Week

9 March

British Council and Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) launch higher education scholarships for Palestine

Celebrating N-Day in Essex
BruSX, the Brunei Student Society in Essex, conducted a mini gathering to celebrate the 26th Brunei National Day at the University. Read the full article here.
Brunei online

We're fed up with noise
University students who say they are tired of continuous building work plan to cause "mass disruption" on campus in protest. The Make Some Noise to Stop the Noise protest is being organised to voice their anger over a noisy construction work on a £5 million project to convert an old underground boiler house into 20 teaching rooms.
Gazette
Halstead Gazette
Harwich and Manningtree Standard

Research from University of Essex, Department of Psychology reveals new findings on smoking
Professor Sheina Orbell from the Department of Psychology  and colleagues have published a study in Health Psychology looking at 'Social-cognitive beliefs, alcohol, and tobacco use: a prospective community study of change following a ban on smoking in public places'.
Life Science Weekly

Lettings bosses banned from running companies
Two women have been banned from starting up new companies after their Colchester lettings agency went bust, owing tens of thousands of pounds. An Insolvency Service judgment reveals Nicola Hamblion and Lyndsey Ives spent tenants’ deposits and pocketed rent money, instead of passing it to landlords. Former Essex University student Stephen Carr, who rented a house through Hot Lets, said: “It is blatant misappropriation of funds. They were treating other people’s money as their own and spending it on themselves.”
Halstead Gazette
Gazette
Harwich and Manningtree Standard

8 March

RIGHTS: This Eerie Economic Calm
Professor Diane Elson from the Department of Sociology comments on the economic crisis at a meeting on gender equality in the economic crisis and says "I was hoping this crisis would be used more effectively to challenge those in power, and I'm really disappointed that the opportunities we thought would be there in September 2008 somehow don't seem to have been used effectively to challenge the power of the powerful."
IPS

Neville's kite-eye view of the Antarctic is art being playful
Neville Gabie travelled further south than any artist during his residency with the British Antarctic Survey last year where part of his time was spent flying kites to film the spectacular landscape from a kite's viewpoint.
Gazette

Lemn's laugh at the other side of racism
Playwright, performer and broadcaster Lemn Sissay will be fusing the lyrical and polemical in 'Why I Don't Hate White People' at the Lakeside Theatre this coming weekend.
Gazette

The fight on the beaches
The 2010 election, Professor Anthony King of Essex University has adjudged, will be "the most unpredictable since 1974". He may well be more right than he realises. Read the article here.
The Independent

Research from University of Essex in the area of life sciences published
Farhat Memon and colleagues from the Departments of Mathematical Sciences  Biological Sciences have had a study published in The Journal of Integrative Bioinformatics which looks at 'Identifying the impact of G-quadruplexes on Affymetrix 3' arrays using cloud computing'.
Biotech Business Week
Pharma Business Week

Bioinformatics and molecular modelling approaches to GPCR oligomerization
Lisa Simpson and colleagues from the Department of Biological Sciences have had a study published in Current Opinion In Pharmacology which looks at 'Bioinformatics and molecular modelling approaches to GPCR oligomerization'.
Biotech Business Week
Pharma Business Week

7 March

The Great Tory Marginal Myth - Ashcroft millions only worth 13 seats
A BPIX poll for The Mail on Sunday shows Lord Ashcroft's spending spree on marginal seats has had an effect. Compared to the Tories' two per cent lead nationally, they are seven points ahead in the 92 marginal constituencies targeted by him. But BPIX pollster Professor Paul Whiteley estimates it will give the Conservatives only 13 more seats than they would have won based on the national figures. And the lack of enthusiasm for the Tories shows when the number of marginals is increased to 138 seats - the second band of Tory target seats needed to win a majority. Then the 'Ashcroft Effect' vanishes. Read the article here.
Mail on Sunday

Cuts rhetoric won't boost Labour hopes
A collective delusion seems to have taken grip. Turn a radio on and the politicians are indistinguishable. All the talk is cuts, cuts, cuts. And beware, public sector job cuts – reports of local authority cuts of a minimum of 10% last week would mean the loss of 500,000 jobs – are likely to have a disproportionate impact on women, warns Professor Prem Sikka. Of the 1.1m new jobs taken up by women between 1997 and 2007, 80% were in the public sector. Read the article here.
The Guardian

How to appeal if you don't get the school you want
A reader asks how to appeal if you don't get the school place you want and the writer replies that there are two steps in the process. First, the panel must decide whether the school's admissions arrangements comply with the requirements of the School Admissions Code and whether they have been applied correctly. Second, if the decision goes against you, you can explain why there are circumstances, such as medical need, that justify your child being given a place. Legal advice is available from the Children's Legal Centre.
Sunday Times

6 March

Celebrating N-Day in Essex
BruSX (Brunei Student Society in Essex) conducted a mini gathering to celebrate the 26th Brunei National Day at the University of Essex with fellow Bruneian students studying at Essex. In conjunction with this year's National Day slogan 'Negaraku Brunei Darussalam', the BruSX society decided to dress up according to the colours of the Brunei national flag. Students could be seen wearing yellow, red, white and black attire for the occasion.
Borneo Bulletin

The journey and the spell
Former University of Essex Literature student Ben Okri talks to The Scotsman about what propels him to keep experimenting with words.
The Scotsman
 

5 March

Calls to cut bursary money for middle-class students
The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) into higher education is calling for Universities to cut the number of bursaries given to students from higher income homes to ensure the poorest undergraduates are supported. The University of Sheffield currently offers students whose family earn under £17,220 a bursary of £700, and those who earn between £17,220 and £35,515 a bursary of £430. But this policy is set to be reviewed even though the University gives less support to middle-class students compared to other universities - such as Essex University which offers grants to families earning up to £60,000. Non-means tested scholarship schemes given to students who do well in their A-level exams could also be axed under new proposals.
ForgeToday

Authors launch Essex Book Festival
The Essex Book Festival was launched in style at Chelmsford Library on Thursday as writers and readers met up to celebrate all things literary. One of the authors is Francis Wheen who will be taking place in two events at the festival. The first is with his wife Julia Jones, when he'll be talking about a book called Cheapjack by Phil Allingham, brother of famous crime writer Margery, which they've just republished. This is taking place at the Lakeside Theatre at the University of Essex.
Essex Chronicle

Alison Steadman on why she's donning curlers and carpet slippers for her visit to Notts
Former East 15 student and Honorary graduate Alison Steadman's is interviewed about her forthcoming tour to Nottingham in Bennett's West End hit Enjoy.
Nottingham Evening Post

Women on the Verge: Breaking Surrealism's Glass Ceiling
In the past couple of decades, women Surrealists - writers, photographers, and visual artists - have begun to get their due. Writing in Dada & Surrealism, Dawn Ades, Professor of Art History and Theory at the University of Essex, states: "Women [Surrealists] made their impact in new media -- photography, the cadavre exquis, and the Surrealist object -- which were beyond the domination of men."
Santa Fe New Mexican

An early start to life as an artist
Robert Priseman was born in Derbyshire and he showed an early interest in art and studied photography and graphic design before reading aesthetics and art theory at the University of Essex. He subsequently worked as a book designer.  While working at Longman publishers, he began painting portraits in oils and went on to develop a successful career working on commission. Sitters included the Dalai Lama and Cardinal Basil Hume and work from this period is held in numerous public and private collections, including the Royal Collection. Alongside portraiture, Priseman began painting uninhabited landscapes and in a decisive break gave up commissioned work in 2003 to develop a more personal agenda. Increasingly drawn to interior spaces, in 2005 he began working with the Goldmark Gallery, creating the Hospital, Subterraneans, and Francis Bacon Interiors series. In 2007 he developed his first series of etchings, Modern Means of Execution with Goldmark Atelier, a project which led into the series of large scale paintings, American Execution.
Press (New Zealand)

DJs have all hands on deck for uni bash
A superb line-up of dance DJs will be manning the decks at the University of Essex later this month for a night of the very best in breakbeat, funk, electronica, dub step and drum and bass.
Gazette

Lecturer tells of quake anguish
Professor Nelson Fernandez from the Department of Biological Sciences has spoken of his relief after learning his family had survived Chile's devastating earthquake. A friend in Santiago had been informed by the Army that his family was safe but at this point in time, it is impossible to talk to them.
Essex County Standard

Aid effort
Students from the University of Essex Latin American Society have been raising funds for the victims of Chile's earthquake and will continue raising funds at a forthcoming salsa party.
Essex County Standard

Rock 'n' Roll tales
A gig with a difference will be rocking at the University of Essex's Lakeside Theatre next week. Gig is a fast and furious dance show that follows the story of a touring rock and roll band and is performed by the Wales-based Earthfall Theatre Company.
Essex County Standard

Spectacular view of the icy wastes
Antarctic artist Neville Gabie will be giving a talk at the University of Essex next week. He has travelled further south than any artist during his residency with the British Antarctic Survey and filmed the spectacular landscape from a kite's viewpoint.
Essex County Standard

British Council and Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) launch higher education scholarships for Palestine
The scholarship programme will see up to 10 academics each year from Palestinian Universities sponsored to complete a years postgraduate study at one of the partner Universities in the UK with a focus on particular areas of study including: finance, business, education, IT, physics, chemistry, engineering, agriculture, water management, Law and International Development. Professor Colin Riordan, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Essex and Chair of the Universities UK International and European Policy Committee, said: UK higher education is an international enterprise and our universities are deeply engaged in partnerships with colleagues across the globe and we welcome students and academics from almost every country in the world to our universities. Read the article here.
WebNewsWire

4 March

Fitness of Children
MP Bob Russell tabled an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons which welcomed a study by the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Essex which showed that children who are driven to school have the lowest levels of physical fitness, being less fit than walkers, cyclists and children who took the bus. He congratulated Dr Gavin Sandercock and Christine Voss for the research involving 6,000 pupils in the East of England and called on the Government to encourage schools to promote cycling and walking as a means of raising fitness levels amongst pupils, with particular emphasis on providing safe cycling routes.
UK Parliament

For Better or for Worse? Are Humans Hardwired for Monogamy?
Back in the land of marriage, the case for social monogamy isn’t looking too strong there, either—at least, not as far as men are concerned. In 2003, researchers from the University of London examined a British Household Panel Survey of more than four thousand people to compare men’s and women’s mental health in different types of romantic relationships. The bad news for all you ladies hoping to get hitched? Men are happiest when they never get married; instead, they prefer to be shorter-term serial monogamists, involved in a succession of relationships but always stopping short of popping the question. In stark contrast, women who had had several partners and split from them were the least happy of all the female subjects in the study, while the ones who married their first love were the most emotionally fulfilled.
Yahoo! Shine

Pupils switch on to solar heat
A group of pupils from Colchester schools took part in the challenge of making a solar-powered oven set by Dr John Woods and his team from the University of Essex's School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering. Pupils from St Helena's visited the University as part of a national 'AimHigher' project to encourage youngsters to widen their academic horizons.
East Anglian Daily Times

College could be an academy by new school year
A document outlining why the Sir Charles Lucas Arts College should become an academy highlights a need for vocational education and the town's growing population. The application also explains how Essex County Council and the academy's sponsors including the University of Essex and NHS North East Essex have come to their conclusion.
Gazette
Harwich and Manningtree Standard

3 March

Your views sought on the economy
Hundreds of people in Bradford will be interviewed in a pioneering survey that tracks the year-by-year impact of the recession. Understanding Backgrounds, the largest survey of its kind in the world, got under way last year when a team started interviewing people in villages, towns and cities across the UK. The £49 million nationwide survey has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), an independent organisation that receives most of its funding through the Government’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The research is led by the Institute for Social and Economic Research, based at the University of Essex, and will involve 100,000 people in 40,000 UK households across every walk of life.
Telegraph and Argus

2 March

VC decried high graduate unemployment
Professor Jay Mitra visited Bayero University, as part of an education partnership in Africa, recently to speak about the need for entrepreneurship education and how it would enhance the creative and innovative sense in graduates.
NGR Guardian News

Abdul Shaheed Al-Sateeh to spearhead sales activity for Gulf cable system
Essex graduate, Abdul Shaheed Al-Sateeh, has been appointed Senior Vice President Sales and Business Development for Gulf Bridge International.
News Blaze
Eye of Dubai
TMC Net
MENAFN

Violent vide-games cause aggression?
Following a study two years ago by Patrick Kierkegaard of the University of Essex which asserted that video games reduce violent tendencies, a new report recently published has suggested the opposite.
STUFF@night

1 March

Discovery of link between CTCF and other proteins may help understand disease mechanisms better
Scientists in the Department of Biological Sciences have a greater understanding of how our genes are controlled following a major research project. Read the full article here.
News-Medical. Net

Theatre of dreams
Third-year East 15 Acting School student, Chris Lane, has landed a prestigious role at Shakespeare's Globe theatre in London and will perform a scene from John Webster's The White Devil. Read the full article here.
Oldham Evening Gazette

We can help traumatised children to build a brighter future
Chris Nicholson from the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies has co-edited a new book Children and Adolescents in Trauma which calls for greater use of creative therapies such as art and storytelling to unlock and deal with buried emotions in children. Read the article here.
East Anglian Daily Times

David Cameron: I'll deliver support for marriage, support for pensioners... and I'll fix the economy too
As a shock poll suggested Labour could still be in office after the election, the Tory leader admitted that Britain still had 'big questions' about him and his party. But insisting he has 'what it takes to turn this country around', he vowed to do all he could to avoid the 'incredible dark depression of another five years of Gordon Brown'. Polling guru Professor Anthony King, of Essex University, says: 'As the recession appears to have bottomed out, so hostility to the Labour government has bottomed out. The desire for change seems to have abated somewhat.'
The Daily Mail
Daily Mail - Manchester

How Honest Do Politicians Need to Be?
Sarah Birch from the Department of Government is one of the authors of an article reporting findings from a recent survey of citizens' attitudes towards standards in British public life. It provides further evidence that people hold their political leaders to high standards, yet are often disappointed by the reality, and suggests that many citizens tend to blame the practice and institutions of politics for making politicians less honest and trustworthy than they would ideally like. The article argues that reforms to the political system are needed to regain the confidence of the population, but that the manner in which the most recent round of ethics reforms in the House of Commons were introduced may lower the prospects of their achieving this goal.
Political Quarterly

Researchers from University of Toronto describe findings in social science and health
Researchers from the University of Toronto have been using data from the British Household Panel Survey to look at social inequalities in dynamic self-rated health for working-aged Britons and Americans.
Health and Medicine Week

Research into self-rated health
Researchers from Lund University, using data from the British Household Panel Survey have produced research investigating how temporal changes in social capital, together with changes in material conditions and other health determinants affect associations with self-rated health over a six year period.
Social Science and Medicine

'A pill for every ill': Explaining the expansion in medicine use
Professor Joan Busfield from the Department of Sociology has written an article which explores the major factors underpinning the expansion in medicine use over recent decades, using England as an example.
Social Science and Medicine

I will celebrate engagement at Race for Life
ITV Anglia correspondent Victoria Webb who has been treated for non-Hodgkins lymphoma ran the Race for Life at the University of Essex last year after undergoing treatment and will be running in the Castle Park race this year. Place are also available at the race at the University of Essex on Sunday 25 July.
Gazette
Essex County Standard

New academy is on track for the next school year
The process of replacing Sir Charles Lucas Arts College with an academy is officially under way but sponsors including the University of Essex and NHS North East Essex face a race to hit the planned opening date of 1 September.
Gazette
Harwich and Manningtree Standard
Halsyead Gazette

Students pay tribute to actor with improv show
Students at Loughton's East 15 acting school paid tribute to local actor, comedian and writer Ken Campbell with an entirely improvised play at Chigwell School. More than 130 people, including Mr Campbell's daughter Daisy, turned out to watch the 'Poltroonery Knights' event last week, in which 12 pupils took part in a mix of sketches and music performances.
Epping Forest Guardian
This is Local London
 

February 2010

28 February

Modern languages degrees 'could die out within 20 years'
A group of 14 influential figures, including leading academics and influential figures in the arts, has issued the warning in response to higher-education funding cuts. Lord Mandleson, the business secretary, has ordered a £600 million budget reduction by 2013 while calling for stronger links between universities and business. The group, including four university vice chancellors, states in a letter to the Observer that these are “worrying times” for the arts and humanities.
Among them is Professor Colin Riordan, an expert in post war German literature and culture at the University of Essex, who fears that modern languages could “die out in the next 20 years at university if we are not careful”. Read the article here.
The Telegraph
The Guardian

GBI appoints Al Sateeh to spearhead sales
Gulf Bridge International (GBI), the newly incorporated submarine cable communications company in the region, has appointed Abdul Shaheed Al Sateeh as Senior Vice President Sales and Business Development. Essex Graduate, Shaheed has over 27 years experience in the telecoms industry encompassing both Government and Commercial organisations. He worked for the Government of Bahrain, as Head of Telecoms in Ministry of Communications - Telecommunication Directorate. In this capacity, he represented the Bahrain Government at various regional and international meeting and conferences.
Zawya.com and covered in 31 other world wide news outlets

27 February

Scientists Make Important Discovery In Gene Regulation
Scientists at the University of Essex have a greater understanding of how our genes are controlled following a major research project. The findings of the study, which looked at how proteins work as teams to control genes in the cells, could also help to unravel the mechanisms of disease such as cancer. The five-year research, funded by the Medical Research Council, has been published in one of the top science journals, Molecular and Cellular Biology. The research team, led by Dr Elena Klenova from the Department of Biological Sciences, looked at the protein called CTCF, which was previously identified as a key 'controller' of many of our genes, making them either active or inactive. Read the article here.
Medical News Today
Bio Find
Science Daily

Essex work boosts mining for rich oil source
Mining of the world’s most plentiful supply of oil could be transformed following breakthrough work by a group of Essex-based microbiologists. A team at the University of Essex has used microbes to break down and remove toxic compounds from the ‘heavy’ crude oil source known as oil or tar sands in a matter of days rather than years. Energy giants and government organisations are now circling, interested in the potentially massive cost savings the technology could provide mining operations by allowing them to clean and then reuse huge quantities of water that currently sit contaminated in ‘settling’ ponds for up to 10 years. Read the article here.
Business Weekly

26 February

Researchers look into why we give
Researchers at the University of Essex want to know more about what motivates people to make a donation or support a cause, and they are hoping that local charities in Essex will help them in this research. Economist, Dr David Reinstein, has already carried out research in this area. He is asking charitable groups and other organisations in Essex who may be planning a fundraising campaign in the near future to take part in an experiment that would help his research.
UK Fundraising online

Adjudicator for festival confirmed
Essex graduate, Journalist, broadcaster and public relations consultant, Paul Fowler, has been confirmed as the adjudicator for the Ballyshannon Drama Festival. A journalist, broadcaster and public relations consultant by profession, in 2001 Paul took a break from his career and three years later graduated from the University of Essex with an Honours degree in Drama and Literature.
Donegal Democrat

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