Today the Coventry City of Culture Trust announced the first events that will form part of the 365-day programme of UK City of Culture 2021, which kicks off in May 2021.

A showcase of work by Coventry artists, funded by the city’s universities and produced during lockdown, will launch online on Monday 5 October.

The UK Vegetable Genebank at our Wellesbourne campus is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Learn more about the scientific centre, which supplies seed to projects across the UK and worldwide.

Two building projects recently completed for the University have been shortlisted in the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) regional awards in the Midlands, with final judging for the winner taking place later in the year.

The two projects are the Professor Lord Bhattacharyya Building hosting the National Automotive Innovation Centre (NAIC) and Phase 1 of the Cryfield Village Student Accommodation. Both buildings dramatically enhance the University campus and provide world class facilities for research, teaching and living.

They are extremely energy efficient (EPC A) and sustainable (Breeam Excellent), incorporating renewable energy systems and are assisting the University in the journey towards carbon net zero. Most importantly the buildings are now enriching the experience for staff, students, visitors and the Universities industrial partners, bringing more employment to the region.

Image: Nick Dimbleby

Sharifah Sekalala, Associate Professor in Warwick School of Law, will be taking on two significant projects aimed at ensuring that human rights don’t get eroded in the national and international response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Supported by funding from the University of Warwick’s ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, Dr Sekalala will lead a project scrutinising the emergency laws introduced in the UK and around the world in response to COVID-19. The project team will submit evidence to the UK Parliament’s Joint Select Committee on Human Rights, which has announced an inquiry into COVID-19 and human rights, and also write a global human rights impact assessment on global emergency laws for the World Health Organisation Bulletin which is read by public health officials, legal counsels and policy makers.

More than 1000 face masks, donated to the University of Warwick by its partner Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) in China, will help protect key workers in care homes across Coventry and Warwickshire.

Warwick is working with NHS community distribution channels to ensure that the entire batch of personal protective equipment is delivered to care homes throughout the local community — where supplies are limited during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the retail sector, a new study by WMG, University of Warwick, and Blue Yonder has examined how retailers have responded to the situation. The study identified the human vulnerabilities across the supply chain and the need for future investment in flexibility, visibility and automation to improve future resilience.

Six Warwick social science researchers have become members of the West Midlands Police & Crime Commissioner’s new Academic Advisory Board.

Dr Ana Aliverti, Professor Jo Angouri, Professor Jackie Hodgson, Professor Vanessa Munro, Professor Tom Sorell and Professor Azrini Wahidin will share research and expertise with the West Midlands Police & Crime Commissioner, David Jamieson.

The board brings together academics from the region’s universities who have expertise in political governance, policing, social cohesion, criminology and social work to share research and identify new and creative ways they can work together with the police to reduce crime in the West Midlands.