In the news: 19 December 2024 – 8 January 2025
Date 9.01.2025
9.01.2025
Professor of Biomechanics Tony Kay gave his expert opinion to BBC Live about the benefits of stretching for the older generation. This featured on 15 BBC TV news regions. Watch again.
Senior Lecturer in Marketing Dr Kardi Somerfield (pictured) spoke to ITV Anglia News about whether there is hope on the horizon for our highstreets despite consistent drops in footfall (watch again link has expired).
At the end of last year, Kardi talked with BBC Radio Northamptonshire about why some stores didn’t open for the annual Boxing Day sales. Her interview was also broadcast on BBC Radio Essex, Suffolk and Three Counties. Listen again to her BBC Northampton interview (starts at 2hrs and 8mins).
Professor of Sports Medicine Bill Ribbans spoke to BBC Online for their article about whether manager Ange Postecoglou has been a success for Tottenham.
Academics appeared on BBC Radio Northampton’s Desert Island Dishes feature, talking about their careers and favourite food and drink. Listen again below (all start around 3hrs and 40mins):
To motivate people after the Christmas and New Year break, Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy Rachel Morris-Love features in the Chronicle & Echo talking about how running can boost your mental health.
Further advice in the Chronicle & Echo – this time about ditching the idea of New Year resolutions and instead pursuing hobbies and interests – comes from Win Hughes, Senior Lecturer in Advanced Nursing.
Sports Coaching graduate Sophie Radburn has been appointed as the new women’s recreational football officer at MK Dons Sport and Education Trust, as reported by BBC Online. Sophie talks about how she’s helping get women of all ages and abilities to be active and have fun playing football.
Psychology Research Assistant Sophie Morrison’s parapsychology projects about After Death Communications feature in a Scottish Sun article.
Sophie’s parapsychology colleague, Associate Professor Dr Cal Cooper, appeared on Coast to Coast AM radio talking about his research into telephone calls from the dead and other anomalous experiences.
Dr Cooper rounded off a busy 2024 with a Fellowship to the British Psychological Society, as reported by the Chronicle & Echo.
The thoughts of Dr Alison Hulme, Associate Professor of Social and Cultural Change in her book A Brief History of Thrift, feature in a New York Times article about a speech from former US President Jimmy Carter – who died at the end of last year – concerning consumerism and materialism.
Moldovan Finance student Bianca Leascenco won a £12,000 bursary from the UK’s leading accounting professional body and her story is reported by the Northampton Chronicle & Echo.
Open4Business on NLive Radio returned for the first time in 2025 this week. Interviews with Associate Professor Adrian Pryce included impact and wellbeing practitioner Shehnaaz Latif, farmer and entrepreneur Duncan Farrington MBE who talked about his New Year’s Honours award, and in a role reversal, sustainability expert Ellis Hall of Achilles Information Limited talked about relaunching the ‘The Sustainable Director’ podcast series, with advice for directors on how to embrace sustainability for business success. Listen again.
Journalism students regularly appear on BBC 5 Live, rounding up the day’s main headlines and dig into what the coverage means. Ben Grundy was the last one in the ‘hotseat’ for 2024 on Christmas Eve and the stories he focused on were the King’s Christmas speech and St. Paul’s Boys’ Choir accepting female members. Listen again (starts 3hrs and 46mins).
Deborah Amu is in the final year of her Adult Nursing degree but has added a few extra duties to her busy diary – she’s one of eight new guest editors of the Nursing Times. Her story is reported by the Northampton Chronicle & Echo and her first Nursing Times blog post – about ‘transition shock’ (from what was taught in the classroom to it being experienced on the wards) was published just before Christmas.
The ‘festive flu’ struck just before Christmas, with the number of patients in hospital with symptoms shooting up to about 70%. Visiting Professor of Nursing Dr Steve O’Brien gave his expert advice to BBC Radio Three Counties and BBC Radio Northampton. Listen again (starts just before 1hr and 49mins).
Renfrewshire News wrap up a year of successes for Scottish Leather Group, including the award-winning Knowledge Transfer Partnership project with University of Northampton.
PhD student Amir Darwish experiences that led him to UON and combining his interests in poetry and the history and politics of the Middle East feature in the Northampton Chronicle & Echo.