Question: why do you think your work is so important?

Lynne Thomas answered on 13 Jun 2014:

This is a good question! And if I didn’t believe it was important I obviously wouldn’t be doing it! My work is all about making materials and understanding how they work and what they could be used for. If you think about it, life has been revolutionised by computers and by things like mobile phones. The size and weight of the battery that powers your phone has decreased significantly and we now have touch screens which mean we don’t need a keyboard any more and we can have very large screens. These improvements have only been possible because of the scientists who have made new materials and found new ways to put them into devices. And it is an understanding of the atoms and molecules that has allowed us to make these advances. So hopefully the work that I am doing will result in even better devices in the future. But not just in terms of electronics, but also as sensors that can maybe detect very low amounts of dangerous materials in the atmosphere or in ways to improve the way that medicines can be absorbed into your body. I’m involved in a very big project which will be looking at these problems and many others and its very exciting to think about what we might find out!