• Question: how will your work change our future?

    Asked by anon-214662 to Helen, Farah, Dave, Cheryl, Bastian, Alun on 12 Jun 2019. This question was also asked by anon-214187.
    • Photo: Cheryl Williams

      Cheryl Williams answered on 12 Jun 2019:

      In my job I get involved in testing new technology that will diagnose bacterial and viral infections in a shorter time than what we do now. In the future, using these new technologies will shorten the amount of time a patient will have to spend in hospital and may help to alleviate the pressure on hospitals in winter, when A+E departments are packed with people who are suffering from flu. They will get their test results quicker and go home. In a perfect world, the NHS would be using this technology already, it is all dependent on money.

    • Photo: Farah Elahi

      Farah Elahi answered on 13 Jun 2019:

      My work looks at developing virtual reality therapy treatments for people with mental health difficulties. I specifically look at how we can use these technologies to support people with a condition called psychosis (when people experience both hallucinations and delusions), so that they can improve their social functioning (their ability to socialise with others). So far my research (and other people’s research which is similar to mine) have shown positive and promising results. Technology is on the rise and is used for many aspects of our daily life. So why not for therapy? People already use apps for example to monitor their physical health (even for something as simple as recording your food plans), so people are already using technology productively. Virtual reality is primarily used for entertainment purposes at the moment (i.e. video games), but my research hopes to show that it can be used fo therapy as well. So in the future people will have access to virtual reality therapies and also face-to-face therapies (which is how people receive help at the moment). I hope this helps!

    • Photo: Dave Underhill

      Dave Underhill answered on 14 Jun 2019:

      I am not sure mine will unfortunately, my work doesn’t push medical boundaries or supply answers to existing problems – my work just enhances our collective knowledge really – knowledge for knowledges sake is an important aspect of a civilised society. You could argue that only by knowing where we have come from will we know where we are going, and I do probe the fundamental aspects of our biology, psychology and sociology – but I am long passed the belief that I will have any effect on the world unfortunately! 🙁

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