Professor of English, Professor Peter Mack discusses his new role as Director of the Warburg Institute

Hilary Pilkington talks about her new book Russia's Skinheads: Exploring and rethinking subcultural lives

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PVCIT (Premium Vehicle Customer Interface Technologies) is a Centre of Excellence part funded by Advantage West Midlands (AWM) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to provide support to industry based within the region. The centre is a unique research and development facility that provides companies direct access to the latest product evaluation technologies and processes along with the expertise to identify solutions appropriate to real world engineering problems. Along with project partners, the aim is to build a facility that will stimulate the local economy and help to sustain the technical capability of the region.

A medieval system of marking stone in building work could be a cheap and effective way of ending the modern day frustration of constructing ‘flat-pack’ furniture, according to a University of Warwick academic. Mason’s Marks refer to marks made on the blocks of walling stone and on moulded stone as part of the construction process, and have been in use for centuries. Academics studying the use of the marks at the University of Warwick claim self-assembly furniture manufacturers could learn a lot from the ancient system and save thousands of pounds in production costs.

Professor Erica Carter from the University of Warwick’s Department of German Studies talks about the release of her new book Béla Balázs: Early Film Theory, the first English translation of the Hungarian's work, and the accompanying exhibition

IAS Visiting Fellow Prof Cathie Jo Martin, Professor of Political Science at Boston University and chair of the Council for European Studies talks to the University of Warwick's Professor Wyn Grant about her research and new book which focuses on the origins of coordinated capitalism and the circumstances under which employers are persuaded to endorse social policies, promoting economic productivity and social solidarity.

Warwick PhD students Andrew Hammond and Ben Jacoby from the Department of Politics and International Studies interview IAS Visiting Fellow Professor Vivien Schmidt about her research in political theory, the role of the state and democracy in Europe. Professor Schmidt also explains her search for better methodological approaches to studying politics focussing on the interactive processes of discourse.

The Department of Politics and International Studies hosted the third annual Warwick RIPE Debate in IPE in collaboration with the Review of International Political Economy. The main speaker at the 2010 debate was Professor Vivien Schmidt of Boston University. She spoke on the theme of 'The Fall, Rise, Fall and Rise of the State within Modern Capitalism - and how to explain it'. The debate was chaired by the Head of PaIS, Professor Ben Rosamond. Additional speakers were two other hugely influential political economy scholars, Professor Colin Hay (University of Sheffield) and Professor Colin Crouch (Warwick Business School), speaking on the same theme. The event took the form of a roundtable discussion about the state and global capitalism.

Professor Charles Sheppard from the Department of Biological Sciences talks to Peter Dunn about his research into the biogeography and biodiversity of Indo-Pacific coral reefs, including the development of wide scale reef monitoring programmes. He discusses how important these government protected areas and their wildlife are to sustaining the lives of millions of people living around the Indian Ocean rim. Part of a team of international environmental marine researchers Professor Sheppard aims to preserve a fragile but healthy network of islands that make up the Chagos archipelago in the Indian Ocean. The team are confident that this special remote area of the world will now avoid the threat of overfishing, pollution and climate change that threatens the life of coral reefs across the world.