Media thirst for Melbourne research

The summer months saw a number of important research studies make the news, with intense interest in Melbourne research projects.

Overall, February 2012 was the highest performing February for the past three years, with more than 2,300 hits across print, radio, TV and online. International media hits also increased by more than 50% on the same time last year.

Professor Richard Teese from the Melbourne Graduate School of Education was the University’s top media performer for February, discussing a leaked education report critical of Australia’s current infrastructure. With 250 mentions across all media, it has been the University’s biggest story during the first quarter of 2012. 

February generally saw strong research stories dominate the media mentions list, with the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences (Mr Driss Ait Ouakrim and Dr Simon Laham) and the Faculty of Science (Joelle Gergis) rounding out the top three media faculties for the month. 



Mr Ouakrim received 97 mentions for his study into how Australians are avoiding going to bowel cancer screening; Dr Laham received 95 mentions for research into hard to pronounce names being a disadvantage in life; while Dr Gergis’ work into citizen weather data collection was featured in Voice but also received 80 mentions.



By David Scott