Question: why is this work so important to you?

Ceri Brenner answered on 13 Jun 2011:

in a way, it’s like my way of making a contribution to our future. i strongly believe that things like fusion are sooooo important for civilisation (it’s our best solution yet) and to think that the work i do in laser plasma research might help get us there, well that’s something i can look back on for years to come and be so proud of. Also, radiobiologists are very interested in using proton beams as a MUCH better alternative to using gamma ray radiation for cancer therapy, but they’re crying out for affordable, compact accelerators that they can build onsite of a hospital or treatment centre. If we succeed in building compact accelerators using lasers plasmas, then these could be used for advanced and very effective cancer treatment. So, this work is important to me because, along with all the other researchers i work with, we are working together to provide solutions to two of the most important problems that we face: cancer and the energy crisis. I feel so proud to be involved in work that is getting us to the solution quicker.