Question: what makes your research important?

Hazel Gibson answered on 16 Mar 2018:

My research is important because it will help people who are involved in or living near near a new energy technology development to have better conversations about their concerns. Basically, I want to help people make themselves understood better. When we are talking about big problems like where our energy comes from, it can be easy to feel left out, or like you can’t join in a conversation, because you don’t think you know enough, or you are scared of people shouting at you, or you are trying to protect your reputation, or you think others don’t care about you. I want to try and help people avoid those situations so we can all work together much more productively to solve big problems.
It doesn’t sound like much, but, to me, helping ensure people have the best chance to have their voices heard is really important.