Broadcast - a media review
Many wonderful moments of celebration are captured during University of Sussex graduation ceremonies, but never before have they included an on-stage marriage proposal.
Jacqui Bealing, Senior Press Officer
When Jing Liu knelt down and produced a ring for his girlfriend Qin Mei on the Brighton Dome’s stage, shortly after receiving their degree certificates from Chancellor Sanjeev Bhaskar, there was barely a dry eye in the house.
The romantic request made page three of the Argus and was among several student stories featured in coverage of the ceremonies, while BBC news veteran and honorary graduand, John Simpson, also attracted the attention of the Argus and Latest TV.
More new engagements were announced this month after the University chose Balfour Beatty as the preferred bidder for the redevelopment of student accommodation for East Slope on campus. The news was widely reported in the business press (FT, Daily Telegraph, City AM and the construction trade press).
In global news, the Greek elections created media comment opportunities for Professor Dan Hough, who wrote for The Washington Post and spoke to BBC Radio 5 Live and Channel 4 News Online about how Greece will fare under the far-left Syriza party, while Dr Dimitris Dalakoglou talked to Channel 4 News about his research into urban politics in Athens.
Media coverage of new Sussex research this month included several articles about Dr Neil Harrison’s findings that just looking at someone shiver can lower your own body temperature (Mail Online, Daily Telegraph, the Sun and international media), while Dr Priya Deshingkar’s study about women working in the construction industry in India was picked up by Thompson-Reuters.
Past research was also back in the spotlight, with Dr John Drury’s studies into how people behave in disasters being referenced in a BBC Future article, and Dr Richard de Visser’s analysis of the effects of last year’s Dry January continuing to trickle into the media (Newsweek, The Times) during the 2015 no-drinking campaign,
As for the future, Professor Anil Seth was called upon by the New Scientist to give his prediction of what to look forward to in 2015, but Sussex politics student Solomon Curtis hopes to be the future. BBC South East and other local media reported that he is standing as MP for Wealden at the age of just 18.
See Sussex in the News for a fuller round-up of media coverage for January 2015.