Exeter has been named ‘University of the Year’ at the prestigious national awards programme celebrating outstanding support for social mobility. The University triumphed at the Social Mobility Awards in London, last night (Thursday), in recognition of its work across multiple national and regional projects dedicated to championing equal opportunities and improving life outcomes for young people. These include the Success of All programme, which focuses on widening participation, closing gaps in student outcomes, and building a diverse and inclusive learning environment, and the work undertaken to embed social justice and inclusion at the heart of its strategy, and in its curriculum and teaching. The award also recognises the University’s leadership of the South West Social Mobility Commission, new educational programmes to develop skills that improve employment opportunities, and engagement with policymakers through its Centre for Social Mobility. Professor Lisa Roberts, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Exeter, said: “We are thrilled to have been named University of the Year at the UK Social Mobility Awards. This achievement acknowledges the incredible work undertaken by colleagues across our University to make a real and lasting impact to people and communities, here in the South West and across the UK. “The award speaks…

An Exeter professor presented her new report on the impact of the pandemic on children and young people’s mental health when she gave evidence to the Government’s Covid Inquiry yesterday.   Professor Tamsin Newlove-Delgado, Associate Professor in Child Public Mental Health at the University of Exeter, worked with Professor Cathy Creswell at Oxford University on the report. It was written to assist the Inquiry in understanding the impact of the pandemic on children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. The report also provides recommendations on preventing and mitigating the impact of any future pandemic.  In the report, the professors discuss the evidence on the impact of the pandemic on child and adolescent mental health. They make a series of ten recommendations on how governments could respond to future pandemics, including ensuring children and young people are heard: “Children and young people’s voices and interests should be represented and respected in all relevant policy… and not be an afterthought. Protecting and promoting health in the early years is a crucial plank of prevention and is an investment in the longer-term health of the nation”.  Other recommendations include:   If measures are required that impact children and young people, these must be proportionate and include…

A moving new exhibition shows the encroachment of smartphone addiction into rural Iran, and the surreal impact of the internet on remote communities.  Professor Maziyar Ghiabi spent a decade observing the arrival of 3G and 4G on families in the 70 Peaks Valley in central Iran.  Despite the country’s isolation from the global capitalist economy there is a vibrant digital platform economy.  Professor Ghiabi, Director of the Centre for Persian and Iranian Studies and an anthropologist of health at the University of Exeter, observed how the arrival of wifi transformed life not only in urban areas but also for those living in remote environments, producing deep-seated cultural and social shifts.  These changes are shown in the new photographic exhibition and video documentary featuring an unlikely protagonist: Ali, a young shepherd living in a remote village in the valley with his father, mother, younger brother and sister.  Ali spent the 2010s building up a Telegram chat – then the leading social messaging service in Iran – group of 5,000 members, carefully tending an active and vibrant online life, which he described with the term majāzi — “the virtual.”  Telegram chats in Iran have been partly overtaken by TikTok, Instagram Reels, and AI-generated images.   Professor…