Topic Opinion pieces

Last updated: 12 November 2025

Focus on engineering to overcome global challenges

The Tamar (1962) and Royal Albert (1859) bridges over the River Tamar are well known examples of local civil engineering, visited during the course.

Professor Deborah Greaves writes as the university launches its School of Engineering

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Last updated: 12 November 2025

Time to get our teeth into improving children’s oral health

NHS Digital

With yet another report condemning the state of children's oral health, one of the UK's leading dentistry academics has her say

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Last updated: 12 November 2025

Sugar and diet – a taxing problem?

Sugar: the new villain of the Western diet

Sugar is the new villain of the Western diet - but is taxation the answer?

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Last updated: 12 November 2025

Pressures on the NHS – the answers are out there

NHS pressures

With the NHS in crisis, a Plymouth academic writes about his study on avoiding unnecessary acute hospital admissions

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Last updated: 12 November 2025

All smiles for the sugar tax!

sugar tax teeth

Welcome for the levy on sugary drinks but a warning that we have responsibility for the oral health of our children

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Last updated: 6 November 2025

Social work and its role in tackling loneliness

Social Work

Exploring research which demonstrates the potential for social workers to make a difference to people experiencing social isolation and loneliness

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Last updated: 1 November 2025

Getting the most out of life at sea

Commercial Shipping

This Seafarers Awareness Week, PhD student Sophie Homer offers advice on how mariners, who spend long periods away, can look after their mental health

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Last updated: 24 October 2025

It’s the small things that build up

Ambulance on the streets of Barcelona following a terrorist attack on the city in 2017 (Picture: jikatu via Wikimedia Commons)

Masters student Sasha Johnston writes about some of the lasting mental health challenges faced by paramedics working all over the world today

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Last updated: 14 October 2025

There’s no place for energy drinks in our children’s diets

Energy drink cans - image courtesy of Getty Images

As the Government proposes a ban on the sale of energy drinks to children, Dr Clare Pettinger explains why the evidence suggests it’s a good thing

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Last updated: 24 September 2025

How do we protect our native bee species?

Apis mellifera mellifera - the black bee

Understanding the diversity and decline of our local bee populations

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