If you were to win the competition, how much do you think the prize money would impact on your reseach? Also do you

Question: If you were to win the competition, how much do you think the prize money would impact on your reseach? Also do you think the extra reseach you could do would bring stem cell research more commonly accepted?
- Keywords:
  accepted,
  commonly,
  competition,
  extra,
  impact,
  money,
  prize
Asked by abbiew to Emma, James, Jayne, Kara, Sharon on 15 Mar 2011 in Categories: Money.
- Sharon Sneddon answered on 15 Mar 2011:
  
  Good question.
  
  I don’t think the money would impact my research sadly. £500 just really enough for what we do, research is very expensive! Thankfully the government, or charities do give us money for our research and its very hard to get this money, scientists have to prove that they deserve it and that the work they plan to do is worthwhile.
  Whoever wins the money in this competiton can use it instead to excite you ( and lots of other students) about science and what it’s like to be a scientist. This could mean lots of things – visiting schools, putting up a website, printing leaflets, painting a mural or arranging class visits to a laboratory.
  
  I have a stem cell workshop that allows students to see stem cells in action, and hopefully learn more about them and why they are so important. £500 would allow me to visit lots of schools instead of having them coming to my university, which is not always possible. this may make research much more commonly accepted!
  
  What would you like to see the money spent on?
- James Chan answered on 15 Mar 2011:
  
  I’m hoping to spend the prize money on making a documentary on young scientists – to check out what they get up to and see how science is fun and can make a difference to society. It won’t have any direct impact on my research. Although £500 is a lot of money for us, in research terms, it is peanuts! You often need hundreds of thousands of pounds, or millions, to be able to make much progress because all the equipment you use will be very expensive!
  
  I think if you show that your research can help people whilst not harming others, then people will begin to accept it. It’s always hard to change people’s perception because they are often swayed by the media and do not really understand the reality. There are of course ethical issues concerning embryonic stem cells, but there really isn’t any for adult stem cells because they can be found in all of us and taking them does not endanger any babies or people at all.

Question: If you were to win the competition, how much do you think the prize money would impact on your reseach? Also do you think the extra reseach you could do would bring stem cell research more commonly accepted?

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