University

Rising Engineering research star receives prestigious Fellowship

Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Sat, 08/15/2020 - 12:53am

One of the University of Exeter’s rising research stars has been awarded a prestigious Engineering Research Fellowship, it has been announced.

Dr Alex Powell, from Exeter’s Physics and Astronomy department and the newly formed Centre for Metamaterial Research and Innovation (CMRI), has been awarded a highly competitive fellowship from the Royal Academy of Engineering.

These fellowships, awarded to 16 of the UK’s best early-career researchers each year and worth around £500,000, are designed to advance excellence in engineering by enabling early-career researchers to...

Mystudenthalls.com, cycling,

The 25 best universities for cycling in the UK

Authored by News Desk
Posted: Tue, 08/11/2020 - 8:15pm

Research released today has officially named the University of Edinburgh as the best in the UK for student cyclists, beating bike-famous Cambridge - as students prepare to ditch public transport for social distancing in September.

The research, from student accommodation search engine, Mystudenthalls.com , has ranked the UK’s universities using measures including campus bike storage, pro-cycling and bike campaigns, university cycling societies, accessibility of local bike shops and quality of resources for would-be cyclists; points were deducted for bike theft and air pollution...

New test better predicts which babies will develop type 1 diabetes

Authored by News Desk
Posted: Sat, 08/08/2020 - 12:43pm

A new approach to predicting which babies will develop type 1 diabetes moves a step closer to routine testing for newborns which could avoid life-threatening complications.

Scientists at seven international sites have followed 7,798 children at high risk of developing type 1 diabetes from birth, over nine years, in The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY) Study. The TEDDY Study is a large international study funded primarily by the US National Institutes of Health and U.S. Centers for Disease Control, as well as by the charity JDRF.

In research...

‘Price of life’ lowest in UK during COVID-19 pandemic, study finds

Authored by News Desk
Posted: Tue, 08/04/2020 - 11:01pm

The price the UK government was prepared to pay to save lives during the COVID-19 pandemic was far lower than in many other developed nations, a study has revealed.

In a cross-country comparison across nine nations – Belgium, the US, Germany, Korea, Italy, Denmark, China, New Zealand and the UK – researchers used epidemiological modelling to calculate how many lives were lost through delaying lockdown, estimating that a UK lockdown date just three days earlier would have saved 20,000 lives.

They then linked those policy decisions to the financial cost lockdown had on GDP...

Exeter graduates celebrate with online ceremony featuring celebrity alumni 

Graduates at the University of Exeter celebrated finishing their degrees in an online ceremony to mark their achievements - with some wearing home-made mortar boards and gowns.

The COVID-19 pandemic meant that physical graduation ceremonies were postponed until a later date, but an online conferment took place today (31st July 2020), to honour the students’ achievements. A physical graduation will be planned for a later date.

The conferment video was posted to the platform Flipgrid to students internationally with the Vice Chancellor Sir Steve Smith, the Chancellor Lord...

Pioneering spin-out company’s test identifies fungal lung disease in COVID-19 patients

Authored by News Desk
Posted: Wed, 07/29/2020 - 1:08am

A revolutionary point-of-care test developed by experts from a University of Exeter spin-out company has been used to safely diagnose a lethal fungal lung disease during the Coronavirus pandemic.

The ground-breaking company, ISCA Diagnostics, has created a simple, affordable and rapid test to detect pulmonary aspergillosis.

A frequently fatal lung disease, which usually attacks immune deficient individuals such as cancer patients and bone marrow transplant recipients, it has also recently emerged as a super-infection of Coronavirus patients in Intensive Care Units known...

Exeter student creates 40 pieces of artwork for the 40 million people trafficked into modern slavery

Megan Buchanan-Smith, a student at the University of Exeter, learned about the transatlantic slave trade during her History degree. She was shocked to realise that there are now more people in slavery than ever before. Megan decided to use her passion for art to raise money for anti-slavery organisation, International Justice Mission.

This Thursday 30th July is World Day Against Trafficking in Persons – a day to raise awareness of human trafficking and increase action to end it.

Megan spent most of her History degree studying the transatlantic slave trade, including...

University of Exeter recognised for life-changing work to promote social mobility

The University of Exeter has been recognised for life-changing work to support disadvantaged young people and help them achieve their potential.

The University has been shortlisted for two categories - Innovation and University of the Year - in the UK Social Mobility Awards . The awards, which recognise and celebrate the achievements of businesses and organisations across the country in their work of advancing social mobility, will take place in October.

University of Exeter staff work with several thousand pupils and their teachers each year via outreach activities to...

Research to reveal the evolutionary reasons why we get by with a little help from our friends

Authored by News Desk
Posted: Tue, 07/21/2020 - 3:41pm

The quest to discover why friendship plays such a pivotal role in social and mental well-being has been given a significant boost, it has been announced.

Professor Lauren Brent, an expert in animal behaviour from the University of Exeter has been awarded substantial funding to help uncover the evolutionary origins of friendship and social bonds.

Prof Brent has received a €2 million grant to conduct ground-breaking new research to investigate not only social bonds are so important to the health and longevity of so many species, but also why evolution allows social...

Collecting footballing memories for the future

Exeter City Football Club’s Grecian Archive has been gathering ‘memories for the future’ with the help of the University of Exeter.

Researchers at the University of Exeter are asking ‘what is the heritage of now?’ to ensure that current events and items are correctly documented and preserved for people to look back on in the future.

Gabriella Giannachi, Professor in Performance and New Media, initially led the creation of the archive to catalogue historic items and try trace their history. Now, she is using those historic documents to engage fans with the history of the...

Pages