• Question: How does your research benefit current society and how does it plan to help future science study?

    Asked by to Ben, Emily, Hattie, Jemma, Veronica on 19 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by , , , , , , , , .
    • Photo: Emily Hayward

      Emily Hayward answered on 19 Jun 2014:


      Excellent question Tegankd!

      My research currently doesnt have a huge benifit practically to society right this second, however advancing knowledge is generally benifitial.

      Within the next couple of years my research should show more benifit to society as when the technology gets implimented in factories this will ensure less pollution is released into the environment, less money is wasted, and we have cleaner better water. With companies saving money on water treatment they should be able to pass that saving on to us too, e.g. food companies not having to spend as much cleaning up their waste will hopefully mean we can have slightly cheaper food. It is also much less wasteful, and thats always a good thing environmentally, financially and politically!

      My reseasrch hopes to help future science study by gaining a better understanding as how we can treat wastewater, and make it cleaner. Advancing technologies generally starts small, and as more is known it improves more 🙂

    • Photo: Harriet Aitken

      Harriet Aitken answered on 19 Jun 2014:


      Hi Tegankd,

      I’m hoping that by the end of my PhD there will be a working prototype that I can test out somewhere – this would mean that I could at least try to benefit a few people! If it was successful and my system could treat water for a small community (maybe 100-200 people) there would be the potential to supply other communities, particularly in remote rural areas that have to alternative sources of drinking water.

      At the very least, hopefully other scientists can learn from what I’ve done and perhaps use it in a better way than I can! Sometimes things other scientists do give you a spark of inspiration, which could help you in your project! One of the systems I am working on came about because another student was involved in a project that used current to coat ball bearings with metal – the reactor that was used by that student was then changed up a bit and it now is used to treat water polluted with arsenic.

      Hattie

    • Photo: Ben Butler

      Ben Butler answered on 20 Jun 2014:


      Hi tegankd,

      Great question. I wouldn’t say my research has benefited current society yet, but it will help us get a better understanding of how and why sea ice is melting so fast which should mean we can predict the future of sea ice a bit better.

      Ultimately, understanding how our natural environment works will always benefit current society, because at the end of the day we live on a planet that is controlled by nature, and we should try and preserve it as much as we can for future generations to enjoy…

    • Photo: Jemma Rowlandson

      Jemma Rowlandson answered on 20 Jun 2014:


      Hi guys!

      My research has not done anything for society at the moment, but it’s early days. To power cars at the moment we use petrol and diesel, which are made from oil. Burning them releases carbon dioxide and nasty gases into the atmosphere. Using hydrogen cars would make the air a lot cleaner (especially around cities) as they only produce water as waste.

      At the moment storing hydrogen is a big problem as it’s a gas, so it takes up a lot of space. I hope the materials I am making will soak up lots of hydrogen like a sponge so it takes up much less space. If they work then they could make hydrogen cars a lot cheaper, this means more people could buy one which would help the environment.

      Even if my materials do not work it would still help other scientists. There are so many possible materials we can use that I would be crossing a few more of the list. Other scientists could then look at different materials which might turn out to work really well.

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