Students and academics from Liverpool Hope University have been making headlines across the world in recent days.
And these stories, published in the national news media, don’t just showcase Hope’s scientific expertise, they shine a light on what our exceptional graduates and undergraduates, too.
Energetic Jordan Hadaway, 18, is working towards a degree in Sports & PE combined with Special Educational Needs at Hope.
He also just happens to be the ‘youngest senior manager in British football’ - as he’s boss of Caerwys FC, an historic club formed 100 years ago and currently plying its trade in the fifth tier of Welsh football.
Jordan is also on the payroll of Spanish giants Real Madrid, as he works for the club as a Clinics Coach.
And his incredible story was picked up by the likes of LADbible and talkSPORT, while the Liverpool Echo also went along to a training session to see him in action. You can watch that video here.
Incredibly, even Crystal Palace FC manager Roy Hodgson reached out to Jordan, inviting our star to London to view a training session. That meeting was curtailed earlier this week by Coronavirus - but Jordan plans to attend later in the spring.
Coronavirus has been dominating global news agendas.
And our academics have had their own take on the pandemic.
Dr Grace Farhat is a lecturer in food science and nutrition at Hope.
Prompted by her concern at ‘fake news’ being spread on social media, she advised readers of the Metro newspaper that the ketogenic diet would not act as a barrier to COVID-19, despite what they might have read to the contrary.
In a similar vein, and in a separate article, Dr Farhat also warned that consuming apple cider vinegar in large quantities wouldn’t protect against Coronavirus either.
She added: “There are many people on social media who are currently advising washing hands with apple cider vinegar. My advice would be to wash your hands with antibacterial soap. It’s much more efficient – and your hands will smell much nicer!”
Dr Perpetua Emeagi is a Lecturer in Human Biology at Hope, and she’ll be helping to lead Hope’s newest degree offerings - Applied Biomedical Health and Human Biology.
Dr Emeagi also had her say on Coronavirus - and warned how visiting the lavatory with your phone might be a sure-fire way to aid virus transmission.
This piece featured widely, including the Metro, Mirror and Daily Star.
Dr Zoi Nikiforidou is a Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Studies at Hope.
And she worked with the Mail Online on a well-received article about ‘cotton wool kids’, and the potential pitfalls of helicopter parenting.
In this piece, which garnered hundreds of shares and comments, she revealed: “Failure, mistakes, and accidents are all part of learning. Bruises should be seen as trophies of playtime. Being able to appreciate and confront uncertainty is fundamental in modern times where so many changes and developments - like technological, environmental, social - are speedy and drastic.”
The impact of heading in football has also been a hot topic in recent weeks.
And Hope’s postgraduate research student Jake Ashton is busy writing-up the results of his own study into the effects.
He told the Mail On Sunday how heading a football just 20 times could be enough to have a detrimental effect on brain function.
Speaking as the Football Association moved to either ban or limit the amount of heading that can be done in training, he added: “I agree with the ban. But five headers a week is not going to equip young players with a good heading technique and they could come up with situations when they are beyond 18 that they are not able to deal with.”