Scientific revolutions and Australian collaborations - ABC interviews Alice Gast

Imperial has published 3,000 research papers in collaboration with Australian institutions over the last five years.

Science is undergoing a series of revolutions, Imperial's President told Australia's leading science show.

In an interview with ABC’s Science Show, Professor Alice Gast discussed the leaps forward that are taking place in nutrition, physics, genetics and ecology research. 

President Gast spoke to legendary science journalist Robyn Williams. Their conversation covered Imperial-led breakthroughs such as biomedical engineers developing 3D-printed body parts as an alternative to total knee replacements, bio-inspired aerial robots that “mimic seagulls” as they dive in and out of water, and data scientists revealing the Martian surface in ways that “heretofore had not been seen at such high resolutions.” 

Alice Gast and Robyn Williams in Sydney

Professor Gast said, “It is really exciting to me to see how collaborations are coming together” to bring about the “incredible revolution in nutrition” that can be seen at Imperial’s National Phenome Centre using some of the equipment from the 2012 Olympics to analyse microbes and see the signatures of diseases.  

She emphasised the significance of Imperial’s Australian collaborations, including with ANU, Monash, UQ and CSIRO, such as the work of oceanographer Dr Erik van Sebille in dealing with ocean plastic pollution and microbeads.  President Gast also spoke about Imperial's plans in White City and the opportunity to “bring fundamental science to society through collaborations.” 

The full interview can be heard online and on ABC's Radio National this Thursday at 21.00 local time. 

Top photo credit: Hai Linh Truong