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        <title>Communications - Opinion</title>
        <description>Opinion posts from Communications</description>
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            <title>Communications - Opinion</title>
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            <link>https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/opinion/stick-or-twist-why-net-zero-will-stall-unless-we-change-how-we-govern-it/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[Stick or Twist? Why Net Zero will stall unless we change how we govern it]]></title>
            <pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[For over a decade, the UK was regarded as a climate leader. The Climate Change Act created a durable cross‑party mandate, and emissions fell to less than half their 1990 levels - largely through cleaning up the power sector, a shift that required little from the public directly as we shifted away from coal and built-up renewable power generation. The investment in offshore wind has placed the UK as a global leader behind China, with just under 16GW of installed capacity in 2025, a further 8.4 GW allocated in the 2026 Contract for Difference round and policy ambitions of 50GW&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/opinion/driving-innovation-for-scotlands-future/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[Driving innovation for Scotland's future]]></title>
            <pubDate>Wed, 24 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[As Scotland comes together to celebrate&nbsp;its first&nbsp;National Innovation Week, the University of Aberdeen is proud to highlight our ambitious vision for shaping the future of enterprise, entrepreneurship, and societal impact.
We kicked off the week by launching a brand-new course, &lsquo;The Founder&rsquo;s Journey&rsquo;, to inspire and help students and staff turn their business ideas into reality.&nbsp;Through this initiative, we are realising our ambition to provide a resource for all new and returning students, to ensure every single one of them, regardless of their discipline or level of study, has an unmistakable entry point into our entrepreneurial curriculum. We are also&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/opinion/decarbonisation-is-not-deindustrialisation-its-the-uks-best-chance-for-economic-renewal-and-a-just-transition/</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/opinion/decarbonisation-is-not-deindustrialisation-its-the-uks-best-chance-for-economic-renewal-and-a-just-transition/</guid>
            <title><![CDATA[Decarbonisation is not deindustrialisation - it's the UK's best chance for economic renewal and a just transition]]></title>
            <pubDate>Fri, 29 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[There is a substantive amount of debate about the nature and shape of the future UK economy in the context of achieving Net Zero. This has, rightly so, been focused on the regions, places and sectors that have been dependant on fossil fuel industries for generations and how we can ensure that this process of change is fair, inclusive, provides high skill high wage jobs and minimises the impacts on workers and communities. We haven&rsquo;t got it right and there are many challenges that are facing our communities as the transition moves forward. There is also a wider context to&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/opinion/the-case-for-introducing-strategic-infrastructure-led-permits-to-replace-traditional-offshore-licensing/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[The case for introducing strategic infrastructure led permits to replace traditional offshore licensing]]></title>
            <pubDate>Thu, 21 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[We live in uncertain times and energy security has risen to the top of the political agenda.
Until renewable sources are in place, oil and gas will continue to serve some of our energy needs. Yet the sector faces severe headwinds including the prospect of no new licences or fields. But could there be a way for the Government to meet their manifesto pledge yet enables the drilling of climate compatible prospects rather than carbon intensive imports?
The North Sea basin is a mature oil and gas province. As with other global exemplars, geophysicists and geologists identified the big structures&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/opinion/how-did-we-arrive-at-this-point/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[How did we arrive at this point?]]></title>
            <pubDate>Tue, 30 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[By Professor John Bone, School of Social Sciences, University of Aberdeen
The events at the Trump rally on 13 July 2024 provided yet one more tragic illustration of how political behaviour can all too readily move from rational debate to violent action.
Political violence is, of course, sadly far from new and can happen in a wide range of circumstances. However, from the standpoint of the present, this incident appears as just another, albeit serious, symptom of the wider malaise that has been growing in the US and elsewhere for some time, where the fabric of our societies has seemingly&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/opinion/witch-hunts-early-example-of-profiling/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[Witch hunts early example of profiling]]></title>
            <pubDate>Wed, 25 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Dr William G Naphy is a Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Aberdeen specialising in the Reformation and social control
&nbsp;
As Halloween approaches, the perennially popular witch costume will be donned by guisers across the country.
Images of witches have appeared in various forms throughout history&mdash;from evil, wart-nosed women huddling over a cauldron of boiling liquid to hag-faced, cackling beings riding through the sky on brooms wearing pointy hats.
The real history of witches, however, is dark and, often for the witches, deadly.
Many will know of the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts&nbsp;through popular culture or&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/opinion/getting-to-the-heart-of-the-matter/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[Getting to the heart of the matter]]></title>
            <pubDate>Wed, 08 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Professor Dana Dawson is from the University of Aberdeen&rsquo;s Cardiology and Cardiovascular Research Unit and a consultant cardiologist at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
Can you die of a broken heart? For those unfortunate enough to have experienced it, it can certainly feel like that.
I am part of a group of scientists researching a phenomenon called Takotsubo cardiomyopathy which we now know can be triggered by extreme emotional distress, leading to its nickname of broken-hearted syndrome.
It happens as a reaction to a surge of adrenaline to the heart which has been caused by upsetting events such as the death of&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/opinion/you-are-when-you-eat-how-time-of-eating-influences-body-weight/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[You are when you eat - how time of eating influences body weight]]></title>
            <pubDate>Wed, 28 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Did you eat breakfast this morning, or skip this meal to rush to work, or to sleep longer? If you don&rsquo;t eat breakfast, is it because you don&rsquo;t feel hungry and can&rsquo;t face food first thing?
If you prefer to hit the snooze button for a longer sleep, or choose to eat much later in the day, you&rsquo;re not alone. The most common pattern of eating in the UK is to consume most of our daily calories in the evening &ndash; roughly 40% of our daily energy intake &ndash; and fewer calories in the morning.
Not feeling hungry in the&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/opinion/cop-conferences-continue-to-hold-world-leaders-to-account/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[COP conferences continue to hold world leaders to account]]></title>
            <pubDate>Tue, 15 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[After Glasgow in 2021, the focus of global attention on international climate change negotiations has moved on to Sharm-el-Sheikh as Egypt takes on the presidency of the UN&rsquo;s Climate Change Convention for COP27. The University of Aberdeen is represented at COP27 by a team of five staff and students, who are here to showcase the university&rsquo;s work, advocate for specific causes and observe proceedings.
COP26 in Glasgow left much unfinished business, not least an insufficient commitment by countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming to less than 1.5 degrees C. This target was agreed in Paris&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/opinion/why-are-chickens-used-for-breeding-kept-hungry/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[Why are chickens used for breeding kept hungry?]]></title>
            <pubDate>Tue, 04 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[&nbsp;
I&rsquo;ve been researching the ethics of farming animals for fifteen years now. That convinced me some time ago that industrial animal agriculture is highly problematic for farmed animals, as well as for human welfare and the climate and biodiversity crises. But details about the systemic cruelty current farming practice inflicts on farmed animals still have the capacity to make me fume. This month I was writing about how chicken are farmed and the issue that struck me was this: Did you know that the chickens used to breed chickens farmed for meat have to be kept hungry?
Judging by&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/opinion/the-universitys-role-in-a-key-breast-cancer-research-resource/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[The University's role in a key breast cancer research resource]]></title>
            <pubDate>Tue, 04 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[
I have been fortunate enough to enjoy a 30-year-long career in cancer research and I would absolutely say that my greatest achievement has been my involvement in setting up and running the Breast Cancer Now Tissue Bank (www.breastcancertissuebank.org).&nbsp;&nbsp;


First established in 2010, we opened the Tissue Bank&nbsp;up to researchers in 2012. Our primary objective was to give researchers access to breast tissue samples from breast cancer patientswith a view toimproving the pace and accuracy ofcancer research.&nbsp; Since its inception, the Tissue Bank has done just that, vastly acceleratingour progress towards faster diagnosis and better cancer treatments.&nbsp;


Today, the Tissue Bank&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/opinion/a-generous-patron-of-science-whose-gift-has-led-to-100-years-of-groundbreaking-nutritional-research/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[A generous patron of science whose gift has led to 100 years of ground-breaking nutritional research]]></title>
            <pubDate>Thu, 08 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Dr David Watts, a Social scientist and historian based in the&nbsp;Rowett Institute, explores the story of the man behind the name of the Institute and how his generous gift a century ago has supported ground-breaking nutritional research for 100 years. &nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Although most accounts date the founding of the Rowett Institute to 1913, its official centenary is actually 2022. It was on September 12th 1922 that Queen Mary toured the new Institute buildings, near Bucksburn about 10 km (6&frac14; miles) north-west of Aberdeen, declared them open and planted a commemorative tree.

This occasion was made possible by the generosity&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/opinion/school-uniform-guidance-consultation-in-scotland-what-to-consider/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[School uniform guidance consultation in Scotland: What to consider]]></title>
            <pubDate>Fri, 26 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[In Scotland a consultation on Statutory School Uniform Guidance opened in May 2022 and closes on 14th&nbsp;October 2022. There is currently no national guidance on school uniform in Scotland. This was highlighted in&nbsp;a briefing&nbsp;in November 2020. There are five questions to answer in the&nbsp;online consultation&nbsp;and below suggestions on what to consider when completing the consultation are provided. These suggestions come from the statutory guidance that already exists in&nbsp;Wales&nbsp;and England (general guidance&nbsp;and&nbsp;cost guidance) and the non-statutory guidance in&nbsp;Northern Ireland. Firstly, it should be pointed out that along with many others, the&nbsp;Education Endowment Foundationhas not found evidence to show that a school&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/opinion/diets-need-to-change-to-address-food-insecurity-climate-change-and-global-health/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[Diets need to change to address food insecurity, climate change and global health]]></title>
            <pubDate>Thu, 25 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[The food we eat affects not only our own health but that of our planet. Production and consumption patterns today are having a detrimental impact on the environment, threatening food security in many countries. The food system is said to be responsible for about 20-30% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
We know that malnutrition, which includes under- and overconsumption, and micronutrient deficiencies, has a devastating impact on health. According to a recent United Nations study, globally more than 800 million people went hungry in 2020, while at the same time obesity is increasing with approximately one billion obese people in&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/opinion/is-there-a-role-for-blue-hydrogen-in-a-green-energy-transition/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[Is there a role for blue hydrogen in a green energy transition?]]></title>
            <pubDate>Tue, 19 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[With its potential as an energy carrier that supports an increasingly renewable electricity grid, hydrogen can complement and accelerate other technologies required to deliver net-zero by 2050. Incorporated into the decarbonisation strategies of the UK and other major emitters, hydrogen is gathering momentum as a key pillar of the global green energy transition and has the potential to play an important role in ensuring decarbonisation targets are met.
Blue and green hydrogen
There are two current methods widely considered for large-scale generation of decarbonised hydrogen. Green (zero-carbon) hydrogen is produced either by water electrolysis driven by renewable electricity or directly&#8230;]]></description>
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