• Question: how would your work help people/the environment? why should we vote for you?

    Asked by anon-175296 to Alex, Alison, David, Ella, hayleypincott, Thomas on 12 Jun 2018.
    • Photo: Alison Hughes

      Alison Hughes answered on 12 Jun 2018:

      My research has many elements to it that will help both people and the environment. I study microalgae, which you may have seen as a green “scum” on top of ponds and lakes. These guys produce chemicals that can be used to improve human health and prevent or cure different illnesses or diseases. Microalgae are photosynthetic, which means they need light and carbon dioxide to grow. We can use microalgae to use up the massive excess of carbon dioxide being produced (that causes global warming and problems in the coral reefs). The microalgae we grow can be used as biodiesel, a fuel that is much cleaner than what we use today, and so will reduce pollution massively.

      I think you should vote for me because I do not think a lot of people know about how awesome marine research is, and I would love to help them discover it!

    • Photo: David Mills

      David Mills answered on 12 Jun 2018:

      My work doesn’t really impact the environment as such.

    • Photo: Hayley Pincott

      Hayley Pincott answered on 12 Jun 2018:

      I work in a sensitive area of pathology where we look at organs that can be easily recognised and for that reason we can’t have work experience students in the lab, so if people can’t come to pathology then I’m going to take pathology to the people. If I win I’m hoping to promote pathology and make more people aware of our role in healthcare and in the NHS and also hopefully from this some students and pupils will be aware of pathology as a career choice. I really feel this is important as there aren’t many students coming through to study pathology which is a really bad thing because we are very important in diagnosing patients and helping doctors decide how to treat patients.

      I’m arranging an event in Techniquest for National Pathology Week and during this we’ll be looking at blood grouping, how biochemistry analyse blood samples, we’ll also look at microbes and how important they are in keeping us healthy but also find out about antimicrobial resistance. So I think you should vote for me because I have a really important message to spread about my work in pathology and at some point in your life you will depend on pathology.

    • Photo: Ella Mercer

      Ella Mercer answered on 13 Jun 2018:

      My work tries to understand what goes wrong in the brains of people who have a disease called Multiple Sclerosis. When we understand what goes wrong… we can then work to find a treatment and hopefully one day a cure to help these poorly people! Why should you vote for me? Well, I’m quite a new scientist so I’m still learning how to talk to people about my research so they understand it easily and think it’s exciting! If I win then I’d like to use the money to practice this more so one day I’ll be really good!

    • Photo: Thomas Perriment

      Thomas Perriment answered on 18 Jun 2018:

      So my work is allllll in the environment! Any time someone wants to build something new, I have to look at the site working with ecologists and environmental specialists to make sure that the land is safe for people to work on. A lot of the time there are protected species or dangerous contamination in the soil which would put humans at risk, so a huge part of my job is making sure that the site is suitable and safe, and that once everything is built it won’t collapse! We see oil spills, buildings crack, landslides, and chemical contamination happening all of the time and it’s almost always because someone didn’t do their job properly (or couldn’t at the time!). My work is directly involved in preventing natural disasters from having a disastrous effect on humans and ecosystems, and to protect the environment from construction projects that might otherwise harm the local animals and plant-life. I think that all of us could really use your vote so that I’m a Scientist can support our outreach work, but I think you should vote for me because I hope to bring as many students to site and as many scientists into your classrooms as possible! It’ll be great to show you what we do, how you can do it, and what challenges the planet faces as climate change bears down on us.

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