The UK is holding a national day of reflection to mark the one-year anniversary of the pandemic in the UK and the start of the first lockdown.

Staff and students are invited to observe a one-minute silence at 12 midday on Tuesday 23 March to remember those who have died. This will be followed by a national vigil later that evening with households encouraged to light up their doorsteps.

Along with prominent buildings and landmarks across the UK, the University’s Trent Building will be lit up with blue floodlights.

Media coverage

To mark the anniversary, the Media Relations team will be placing a focus on expertise from the university. The team will be briefing local and national media on the range of experts available to speak on the future impact of Covid-19, covering topics including vaccine development and deployment; the long-term impact of lockdown on children and how we would potentially better prepare for pandemics in the future.

In addition to this, the team is aiming to run a series of ‘Ask the Experts’ short videos with some of our leading coronavirus experts showcasing their knowledge on these topics on the Press Office twitter during the week commencing Monday 22 March. Expertise has played a huge role in helping the University to achieve its most successful year ever for the amount of coverage it achieved in the media in 2020.

Recent analysis has revealed that Covid experts from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Professor Jonathan Ball and Emeritus Professor Keith Neal, were the institution’s top media performers over the course of the pandemic, with coverage featuring their comment appearing in more than 60 countries around the world.

Virologist Professor Ball, of the School of Life Sciences, achieved a global audience of more than 35 billion people. The 8,700 separate pieces of coverage he garnered had an equivalent advertising value (EAV) of more than £330 million. Infectious diseases epidemiologist Professor Neal achieved a global audience of more than 30 billion people from 10,223 pieces of coverage with an EAV of more than £285 million.

Covid-19 Day of Reflection video

As we mark this #DayOfReflection, we wanted to take a moment to say: thank you.