• Question: Does your work help to save people's lives? How?

    Asked by mitch to Becky, Carrie, Kelly, Robin, Usaid on 14 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Robin Stafford Allen

      Robin Stafford Allen answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      I cannot explain how I save people’s lives, but my work on body scanner magnets which are used in hospitals for scanners, does help. Now I am helping to develop what is hopefully going to be the next generation of nuclear power stations which are much better for the environment. Regards Robin.

    • Photo: Caroline Roberts Haritonov

      Caroline Roberts Haritonov answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      By continuously trying to get oil and gas production to be more reliable, it also means it will be safer. The aim of my work is to try to avoid disasters like the Gulf of Mexico oil spill from happening in the first place. But even at a smaller scale, every time I am able to keep equipment working longer, it means that less maintenance work has to be carried out. Maintenance work itself is very dangerous offshore, so reducing that means improving safety over all.

    • Photo: Becky Selwyn

      Becky Selwyn answered on 14 Mar 2012:

      Not directly no, but one application of my work is to keep medicines cool in hot countries. A lot of important medicines need to be kept cold so they don’t stop working. In places like Africa a lot of people don’t have access to these medicines, but if we could develop a fridge that just needs the sun to power it and is easy to move around then doctors can take the medicines to remote villages and treat poorly people. So maybe one day it will save a life.

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