News and research highlights

Helping to shape the news around us, our academic community is delivering world-leading and internationally excellent research.

With a focus on integrating academic rigour with the needs of governments, industry and the not-for-profit sector, our research delivers solutions to global challenges and brings economic, social and cultural benefits. We’re highlighting our top 10 Brunel academics for media coverage this year and showcasing how their research is making an active impact on the news around us.

Dr Hayleigh Bosher

Dr Hayleigh Bosher's intellectual property law expertise led her to be interviewed about music copyright court cases involving Mariah Carey, Ed Sheeran and Beyoncé, speaking to outlets including BBC News, The Week and The New Statesman. She also wrote an article for The Conversation to explain what your rights are if a video of you goes viral without your consent.

Dr Gareth Dale

Dr Gareth Dale wrote for The Conversation about how China's 'white paper' protest movement echoes freedom struggles across Asia and the world. The political economist appeared on Radio 4's Moral Maze to take part in a debate about our moral responsibility to the future, and wrote several articles published in The Ecologist and Truthout on topics ranging from fracking for shale gas to the conflicting Western and Russian readings of Mikhail Gorbachev's premiership.

Limor Gottlieb

Limor Gottlieb, a doctoral researcher in evolutionary psychology, spoke to Metro about how being a little selfish in a relationship is actually a good thing, and that sacrifices should be minimal and mutual. She also wrote comment pieces for Quillette on the reconsideration of fidelity, and on what the Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard legal case showed about domestic violence.

Dr Kristian Gustafson

Dr Kristian Gustafson was quoted in the i newspaper as saying Ukrainian forces would likely face stiff resistance against entrenched Russian troops in an urban setting. And when the first episode of ITV's Trigger Point had audiences hooked, the intelligence and war expert said that characters' back stories of military service in Afghanistan made the story plausible.

Prof Shireen Kanji

Prof Shireen Kanji, who researches inequalities in workplaces and in the home, studied unpaid chores and the gender pay gap in four Global South countries, which was reported on by The Independent. She was quoted in a piece in The Guardian about divorcing couples fighting over custody of their pets, and she told The Financial Times that the rising age of mothers could challenge parental reliance on grandparents for childcare.

Prof Costas Karageorghis

Prof Costas Karageorghis's best running songs were listed in Runner's World. He told The Washington Post how to start running even if you 'kind of hate it', and he featured in several articles in The Times about the positive effect of music on exercise. His work is showcased in a new exhibition at the Science & Industry Museum, which was reported on by The Telegraph.

Prof Andreas Kortenkamp

Prof Andreas Kortenkamp's research into how a cocktail of everyday chemical pollutants, including plastic hardeners and even paracetamol, are lined to falling sperm quality was reported widely in the UK and internationally, such as in The Sun and France's Libération. In a story in The Times about how most of Earth's rainwater contains dangerous levels of PFA chemicals, the human molecular toxicologist commented that the Drinking Water Inspectorate's current safety limits are far too high.

Dr Dan Lomas

Dr Dan Lomas provided intelligence and security expert comment in lead-up to Russia's eventual invasion of Ukraine, and then about the information war surrounding the conflict, including to the i newspaper and to CNN.

Dr Hannah Lowe

Dr Hannah Lowe's poetry collection The Kids, which drew on a decade of teaching at an inner-city London sixth form, won the Costa book of the year - a high-profile national prize, so the news was reported in all the major news outlets, including BBC News Online and The Times.

Dr Hanieh Yaghootkar

Dr Hanieh Yaghootkar, an expert in the genetics of cardiometabolic disorders, found that fat stored under the skin is considered less harmful than fat stored around organs such as the liver and heart. So if your genes predispose you to subcutaneous fat and you have a high body mass index, you’re more likely to remain relatively healthy. The study was reported by more than 200 news outlets, including Sky News, The Telegraph and The Guardian.