In the news: 20-26 March 2020

The University is giving more than 400 vacant student accommodation bedrooms and hotel rooms to house healthcare staff and patients, to help ease the pressure on the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic. The story has been reported by national media (including the Independent, Metro and Daily Mail), regional media such as ITV Anglia as well as local titles such as the Chronicle and Echo and Northampton Life. Estates and Campus Services Manager Becky Bradshaw also appeared on BBC Radio Northampton outlining the offer (starts 2h 28m).

Public Health Lecturer, Lewis Waterfield, appeared on the BBC’s Horizon programme talking about how he was one of the children affected by the Corby steelworks contamination scandal.

Subject Lead for Early Years, Dr Eunice Lumsden, spoke to BBC Radio Northampton about the importance of reassurance, routine & regulation and discussing Covid-19 in a factual way to help young children through the pandemic (starts 1h 45m).

Before he joined the University of Northampton, Dr Mils Hills worked in Government planning & testing the national response to extreme scenarios, like the Covid-19 pandemic. He spoke to Annabel Amos on BBC Radio Northampton about what’s happening in Government; how behind-the-scenes decision-making will be happening alongside business as usual operations; the excellent private sector response to stocking our shelves; and more importantly, the positive impact this could have for society. Interviews can be found at 1h 13m; 1h 40m; 2h 10m and 2h 42m.

Director of our Institute for Logistics Intelligence, Liam Fassam, was quoted in the Financial Times on Friday, talking about the pandemic’s strain on the supply chain (article is behind a paywall).

Visiting Professor, Dr Stephen O’Brien, spent Tuesday morning back in the BBC Radio Northampton studio with Breakfast Show presenter Annabel Amos. He was there to answer listeners’ questions about coronavirus (clips at 1h 12m; 1h 54m; 2h 11m and 2h 55m).

Senior Lecturer in Journalism, and former Westminster hack, Kate Ironside was on BBC Radio Northampton’s Tim Wheeler show on Monday evening, responding to Boris Johnson’s plea for people to stay at home (starts 3h 7m).

Our former Senior Lecturer in Journalism, Ted Sullivan, wrote a guest blog for the Press Gazette which covers how the world’s media is responding to the pandemic.