Accidental discoveries during academic research have changed the world. AAP/Leon Neal
Foundation essay – “If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research, would it?” While slightly flippant, this comment by Albert Einstein captures the unpredictability of research beautifully. There are many examples of this.
A mathematical approach which was first applied to using radio-telescopes to search for exploding black holes turned out to be fundamental to solving the wireless networking “multipath” problem.
That, in turn, led to CSIRO’s patented technology that underpins many of today’s high speed wireless local area networks and inspired countless additional innovations and improvements to our way of life.
Breakthroughs in linguistics from UTS and other institutions allowed improved communication between hospital medical practitioners culminating in significantly improved patient outcomes.
Professor Hung Nguyen, Dean of Engineering and Information Technology at UTS, initially designed robots to play chess. After recognising the links between the artificial intelligence of robotics and neuroscience, he went on to focus one area of his research to utilise robotics for people with severe disabilities. That resulted in the development of the thought controlled wheelchair.
Significant breakthroughs such as these take a long time to develop, and there is a media friendly outcome at the end, making them an easy story to tell.
But for the full benefit of research to be achieved, it is critical that the outcomes of current research and the latest thinking are made accessible to the general public. And that means publishing not only traditional journal papers, conference presentations and books, but beyond.
The more obvious facets of research – the latest in health and medical breakthroughs or must have gadgets, already shape the way we live.
However we sometimes forget the significance of research outcomes that enable our everyday decision making. They provide robust input to our opinions, or help foster an engaged community and shape public consciousness.
Research has the ability to provoke debate around some of the major global issues we are facing – and in turn support fact-based government policy.
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