Reading in the news - Thu 18 May

Film skills: Continued coverage of funding received from the BFI for a new collaborative University initiative to develop a local pool of production crew talent. Dr Shweta Ghosh (Film, Theatre, and Television) is quoted by The BBC, RDG Today, Wokingham Today, Yahoo!, and BBC Radio Northampton. ITV News reports that British film producer, Gareth Ellis-Unwin, has been working with students on campus to tackle the skills shortage. Read our news story. 

Global temperature threshold: Scientists now predict a high likelihood that global emissions will surpass the 1.5-degree threshold in the coming years. Professor Richard Allan (Meteorology) was interviewed by BBC Radio 5 Live and Dr Rob Thompson (Meteorology) was interviewed by BBC Radio Berkshire on what this means. Read our expert comment. 

#PlanetPartners: working with global partners to protect the environment 

• Professor Paul Williams (Meteorology) was interviewed by U.S. news channel, WUSA9 on how climate change is affecting turbulence. 
• Professor Martin Lukac (Agriculture) is quoted by media online including Sky News, Smooth Radio, Heart Radio, Star Radio, MKFM, Capital FM, and Yahoo! supporting an ongoing project to revive a Celtic rainforest in Snowdonia.
• Professor Keith Shine (Meteorology) is quoted by Physics World, commenting on a study which confirmed model predictions align with observations on the impact of climate change on the Earth's atmosphere.
• Continued coverage of a grant secured by the University which will fund the decarbonisation of Whiteknights Campus's heating system by The Reading Chronicle. Dan Fernbank (Energy and Sustainability Director) is quoted.
• Heart Radio Berkshire report on the University's efforts to cut carbon emissions from their own experiments in labs. Read our news story. 

Business and society:

• Dr Rita Fontinha (Henley Business School) is quoted by The Age, Brisbane Times, WA Today, and The Sydney Morning Herald on the pros and cons of the four-day workweek as Australian companies take on the new work structure. 

Health and wellbeing:

• Professor Ian Jones (Biological Sciences) is quoted by i News, VN Explorer, MSN, commenting that despite recent news of human cases of bird flu, the risk of infection and transmission remains low.

Ukraine:

• Professor Marko Milanovic (Law) is thanked by Amnesty International and Relief Web for being amongst a panel of experts to conduct independent reviews of the Ukraine Organisational Report.

 #UniForReading: our role as a civic university  

• RDG Today reports on an upcoming mental health and wellbeing conference to be hosted at the University's Palmer building on the 27^th June. 

Other Coverage:

• Dr James Hallett (Chemistry) is quoted by New Scientist on the use of octopus-inspired ink which changes colour when exposed to light. 
• Further worldwide coverage of new Reading research revealing the bizarre evolution and mating habits of tiny skin mites that live in the pores of our faces, including Postimees. Read our news story.
• Dr Chris Organ's (Biological Sciences) article in The Conversation on how humans evolved from fish is republished by Vozpopuli.
• Wokingham Today mentions the University's FoodSEqual project, which is exploring food systems in underserved communities in the UK.

Alumni:

• The Independent and Yahoo! report that comedian, Ricky Gervais, worked as a gardener at the University in the past. 
• Bio Space and others report on the appointment of Henley Business School alumnus, Eliot Forster as chairperson of Ochre Bio's board of directors.