• Question: how will your research help?

    Asked by michel1 to Alice JB, Andy, Barbara, James, Jo on 13 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Andy Norton

      Andy Norton answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Good question! The idea of my research (i.e. smashing ceramics) came because people don’t really understand this at the moment. For example, people in the military are making plates to go on the outside of tanks – these are made of ceramics, like the type of thing that you eat off (although a bit more fancy!). So that they can make these as strong and as hard as possible (hard enough to stop bullets from both hand-held guns and maybe even from tanks), people needed to investigate how and why ceramics break when they are hit. If we can work out how they break when smashed (either with a bullet, or in a compressing machine like I use), then maybe we can work out how to make them better.

      So, my experiments will hopefully help because we can get a better idea of how these ceramics break up when hit with things, and so we can work out ways to make them stronger, tougher, harder etc., and so we can get better armour for people and for tanks. So even though I am doing a very small aspect of a very big topic, my results should hopefully help get better equipment for soldiers, which is pretty cool.

    • Photo: Alice Jones Bartoli

      Alice Jones Bartoli answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      The point of my research is to identify the reasons why some children have difficulties with their behaviour, and to use that information to think of new ways to treat those problems.

      There are lots and lots of treatments for behaviour problems, but there are some children who don’t respond to them – their behaviour doesn’t seem to get better – these are the children I am most interested in.

      If we can help children to understand and manage their own emotions and behaviour, then I hope that we can allow them to grow up able to get something useful from their time at school (like learning to read and write), and to help them to keep out of trouble when they’re older. Antisocial behaviour in teenage years and in adulthood can be very damaging, and it’s important to try and prevent behavioural problems from getting that far.

      We can also use this information to help teachers and parents better understand their children. If you are a parent with a child with very difficult behaviour, it can be very stressful and depressing – especially if you are trying to do everything you can. Talking to parents and teachers about the work that I do lets them know that some children have very specific problems, and that there are things that we can try. Working with them like this, helps parents and teachers to feel less stressed and better supported.

    • Photo: Barbara Guinn

      Barbara Guinn answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      I’m hoping my research will help develop a vaccine for cancer which will stimulate T cells to kill tumour cells but not harm normal cells. We also are developing a way to look at T cell numbers so we can monitor whether the vaccine is working or being given at the right time to get the best response in patients.

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