All-staff talk: Engaging the media

Vice-Chancellor Robert Van de Noort introduced the session saying that media engagement is essential to fulfilling our strategic aims for excellence in research and teaching and a University engaged in local, national and global communities. He was joined by:

• Hannah Cloke - a hydrologist who researches floods and natural hazards
• Simon Clarke - a microbiologist who studies bacteria and has worked on vaccine development
• Gabor Thomas - a medieval archaeologist, whose projects focus on Anglo-Saxon monastic and political life
• Pete Castle - External Communications and PR Manager in Marketing, Communication & Engagement

Hannah Cloke spoke of how her media work creating new opportunities for her, including joining the government’s SAGE committee and appearing on Jim Al-Khalili’s Radio 2 show, ‘Life Scientific’. She encouraged all academic colleagues to engage with the media, as it is important for an academic to communicate their research to the wider public. She said, “it might be frightening, but it is important that the world understands your field!”

Simon Clarke developed a substantial national media profile during the pandemic, explained how it began when contacted by the Press team in February 2020 to speak on Radio Berkshire about vaccines for the then newly emerged coronavirus and developing from there. For him, the main benefit of media engagement during the pandemic was to be able to push back against false information and allow “science and truth to get the chance to be heard.”

As an archaeologist, Gabor Thomas spoke about the benefits researchers without a policy angle. Thanks to media coverage of two recent discoveries in the Thames Valley, his crowdfunding campaign for preserving discovered artifacts easily exceeded its £7,000 target. He strongly recommends contact the Press team as early as possible and to trust their advice as they can help “make a niche subject hit the right buttons for wider audiences.”

Last year there were 38,000 mentions of University of Reading in media around the world, with more that 400 academics enjoying some media engagement

Pete Castle emphasised the importance of media engagement strategically for the University, as it can showcase excellence, our work around sustainability, our huge diversity in terms of subjects, staff and students and allows to engage with the local community.

The Press team are available to help academic colleagues promote their work more widely and can be contacted at pressoffice@reading.ac.uk. They publish a daily media report on the University’s new site, and gives a flavour of the work they do.

You can also access the recording on Microsoft Stream. 

Previous talks

• Disability and Neurodiversity Review (Wednesday 9 February)
• University's role in plans for development of Shinfield (Wednesday 2 February)
• Portfolio Review Pathway update (Thursday 13 January)
• A review of 2021 (Thursday 16 December)
• A conversation with University Council members (Wednesday 1 December)
• Environmental sustainability (Thursday 18 November)
• Stories of immersive teaching (Thursday 21 October)
• Update on USS pension reform (Tuesday 19 October)
• Strategic Foundations Programme update (Wednesday 6 October) 
• ‘2021/22 academic year – what to expect (Wednesday 8 September) 
• Path to our centenary (Wednesday 22 September)