The Tip of the Iceberg podcast - Beyond Refrigeration

STEM in the Classroom: Stories of Sparks, Surprises and Future Engineers

This episode brings together three STEM Ambassadors who lift the curtain on what it is really like to stand in front of a classroom and try to spark an interest in engineering. Chris Chisman, Mark Forsyth and Margaret Rafter share the highs, the nerves and the moments that keep them coming back. You will hear how you should never underestimate a confident fourteen-year-old, how a Mexican wave became an unexpected but perfect way to show a scientific principle, and how, despite the terror, hard work and unexpected interactions, none of them regret getting involved.
Want to find out more about the STEM Ambassadors Programme or access the IOR's STEM resources? Visit ior.org.uk/careers

F Gas Phasedown Reform Consultation

This episode explores the UK Government’s consultation on reforming the HFC phasedown under the GB F Gas Regulation. These proposals will influence how the RACHP industry manages refrigerants, invests in new technology, and meets future environmental targets.
This episode, recorded in November 2025, brings together government and industry experts to explain the consultation, discuss its potential implications, and outline how the sector can coordinate an effective response. 

13 - Teenagers, careers and changing perceptions of engineering

In this episode I spoke with a student doing work experience at the IOR discussing how their views - and those of their friends - have changed about the sector and careers now they know more about refrigeration air conditioning and heat pumps.  We talked about what kind of careers advice young people get at schools, what they think of engineering and what we can do to raise awareness of this sector.  If you are not sure about whether you should take on a student for a weeks work experience we hope this podcast will help convince you of how much value they can add!
 

12 - Live from COP28 - collaboration and capacity building with the ACES project

This is our second podcast recorded live from the COP28 in Dubai in December 2023. This time we talked to two UK experts who are involved in the Africa Centre of Excellence, an international project that is addressing the cold chain and building capacity in Africa. Yosr Allouche of the International Institute of Refrigeration and Judith Evans of London South Bank University tell us why international collaboration is key to addressing climate change and how the ACES project is leading the way in capacity building and engaging all the right people.
For more about the ACES project which is led by the University of Birmingham's Centre for Sustainable Cooling and involves amongst other UK Government DEFRA, LSBU and the International Institute of Refrigeration, see these links mentioned in the podcast
https://coolingafrica.org/ 
https://www.sustainablecooling.org/
www.ior.org.uk/beyondrefrigeration 

11- Live from COP28 - new perspectives on cooling

In this episode I speak to UK cooling experts at the COP28 meetings in Dubai in 2023. We discussed why cooling is gathering momentum as a key part of global climate change talks, what impact the "Cool COP" and the Global Cooling Pledge signed this year by countries including the UK will have, and explore how asking questions in a different way can give us a new perspective on sustainability.  Im joined by Catarina Marques FInstR of LSBU and an IOR Board Trustee and Graeme Maidment and Rachel Steller who have been involved in the initiatives such as Mission Innovation, the Global Cooling Stocktake and Global Cooling Pledge.
 
Links to some of the items discussed
UK's Transport Industrial and Commercial Refrigeration Net Zero Project led by LSBU www.netzerorefrigeration.uk
The Global Cooling Pledge https://www.unep.org/resources/report/global-cooling-pledge
And you can watch the Global Cooling Pledge launch event held at at COP28 here https://youtu.be/cfjlEUJ2th0?si=xyQiJ0mRUr0ujdbO
Emissions Stocktake https://unfccc.int/topics/global-stocktake 
IOR Beyond Refrigeration Environment Initiative www.ior.org.uk/beyondrefrigeration 

10 - Extreme heat - the challenges for the refrigeration industry

This episode explores the issues raised by the IMechE Report "Adapting Industry to withstand rising temperatures and future heatwaves" and how the refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump industries need to address them.
I am joined by Rob Lamb, Chris Green and Brian Churchyard, IOR members active on the IOR Beyond Refrigeration Environment group. We discussed the need for the new ways of working to ensure resilience and availability of cooling in the future - the importance of collaboration, of good design and maintenance but also of getting the right resources in place to adapt to changing condition, including non refrigeration technologies - we conclude that the industry needs to change the way it does things and start designing for more capacity and less energy.  
You can read the IMechE Report here https://www.imeche.org/policy-and-press/reports/detail/adapting-industry-to-withstand-rising-temperatures-and-future-heatwaves
And explore the Environmental Audit Committee work on living with rising temperatures here  https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/62/environmental-audit-committee/news/196119/how-can-we-learn-to-live-with-rising-uk-temperatures-and-what-steps-should-we-take-to-adapt-to-their-effects/ 

9 - Heat pumps and the net zero agenda - with IOR President Graeme Fox

In this podcast IOR President Graeme Fox argues the case for heat pumps as a critical part of the net zero agenda. He looks at the challenges of greater integration not just of heating and cooling but also joined up thinking by engineers, designers and policy makers. 
 
The podcast is an extract of a talk given in December 2022 and includes a question and answer session chaired by Dermot Cotter on behalf of the Institute of Refrigeration. The full paper is available to download at https://ior.org.uk/presidentsaddress2022
Find out more about the IOR's Beyond Refrigeration net zero work at www.ior.org.uk/beyondrefrigeration 

8 - Expert advice for achieving best system performance

In this episode we talked about the issues around how to achieve the best system performance with Lisa-Jayne Cook of GEA and Ian Fisher of Mattair.   Our experts shared some ideas about what we can learn from the best and worst examples in industrial processing and building cooling.   Some of the topics we discussed:
- whether design or maintenance is more critical to achieving good performance
- how we need to get better at explaining how cooling technologies work
- getting smarter about how systems are managed. 
Find out more about these critical elements of our path to net zero in this podcast. 

7 - Careers in STEM

This episode was recorded on International Women in Engineering Day in June 2022 and I was joined by Steve Gill of World Refrigeration Day, Lisa-Jayne Cook, IOR Women in RACHP Group and Sam Buckell STEM Ambassador.
We discussed how careers in Science Technology Engineering and Maths fields are evolving and what can be done to bring more diversity into our sector in order to attract the best people and skills.
You can find out more about some of the initiatives mentioned in this episode at
https://ior.org.uk/women-in-rachp
https://ior.org.uk/careers
https://worldrefrigerationday.org/
Check out the new IOR podcast "States of Matter" for more from the IOR Women in RACHP Group https://ior.org.uk/launch-of-the-iors-women-in-rachp-podcast 

6 -Towards sustainable cold chains in developing countries

This podcast comes from a panel debate at the 2022 International conference on cold chain sustainability.  Experts from international collaborative projects discussed what the critical factors are for the successful implementation of climate-friendly cold chains in developing nations.  They seem to agree on the need to address wider multi-disciplinary issues and involve Government high-level objectives.  Who are the key players and how can, should and are they working together in practice?
The Debate is chaired by Lily Riahi of UNEP/the Cool Coalition and includes:
Olivier Dubois of the FAO
Brian Holuj of UNEP
Leo Blyth of The World Bank
Ayman Eltalouny of UNEP
They discussed the ACES pan African project sited in Rwanda and you can find out more about that work at https://coolingafrica.org/ 
The Cool Coalition projects can be explored at https://coolcoalition.org/