• Question: do you ever wonder about the impact your scientific research has on normal people and what the world would be like without your feild of expertise

    Asked by anon-214653 to Helen, Farah, Dave, Cheryl, Bastian, Alun on 12 Jun 2019.
    • Photo: Dave Underhill

      Dave Underhill answered on 12 Jun 2019:

      Unfortunately there really aren’t many people interested in my research! I would love to think the public really cared about evolution but it really doesn’t affect peoples day to day lives

    • Photo: Bastian Saputra

      Bastian Saputra answered on 12 Jun 2019:

      I would like to see the impact of my research in protecting the environment. Doing research about heavy metal pollution may help to restore the contaminated land (due to industrial activities), so the land could be reused for good purposes. I think if no one does research in this field, we will have massive contaminated land which can be dangerous or toxic for living organisms (including humans).

    • Photo: Cheryl Williams

      Cheryl Williams answered on 12 Jun 2019:

      There is no research in my job, but I know that without my field of expertise, doctors would not be able to diagnose the vast majority of patients that they see in hospitals and GP surgeries. The tests that Biomedical Scientists do inform the doctors on what is wrong with a patient. If you have been into hospital or to your doctor and had a sample of blood taken, a swab of a wound, or even a wee or poo sample, a Biomedical Scientist would have tested it and told the doctor how to treat it.

    • Photo: Farah Elahi

      Farah Elahi answered on 13 Jun 2019:

      Yes definitely. Research encourages you to think about the impact it will have on people’s lives. In fact when you apply for research funding (because to complete research you need to have money) you have to explain why your research is valuable and how it will help the community. I think my research will contribute to a growing field of developing technology treatments for mental health. Technology has become routine in our everyday lives, and so using technology appropriately for managing your physical and indeed mental health makes sense. This combined with the fact that there aren’t many therapists in the NHS, mean that people can’t always get face-to-face treatment. So it will be positive for their mental health if they can get psychological support immediately online (using apps, websites) or via Virtual Reality (which is what my PhD is about). My PhD is about improving people’s access to appropriate psychological treatment, so without this and other similar research, people will continue to struggle with their mental health.

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