Aside from the pure pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, research is linked to problem solving,” John

Armstrong, a respected global higher education and research professional, writes for The Conversation.
“What this means is the solving of other people’s problems. That is, what other people experience as
problems.

“It starts with a tenderness and ambition that is directed at the needs of others – as they recognise and
acknowledge those needs,” he continues. “This is, in effect, entry into a market place. Much research, of
course, is conducted in precisely this way beyond the walls of the academy.”

Ultimately, when we begin to look at research for what it truly is – a catalyst for solving complex issues –
we begin to understand the impact it truly has on our everyday lives. The University of Surrey, set just a
10 minute walk from the centre of Guildford – ranked the 8th best place to live in the UK in the Halifax
Quality of Life Survey – is a prime example of a university producing high-impact research for the benefit
of our global society.

What would the modern world look like without the bedrock of research?

First and foremost – without research, there’s no way you’d possibly be reading this right now, as the
Internet was pioneered and developed (via a whole heap of exhaustive research…) by the European
Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, the same association that produced the Large Hadron
Collider.

Without research, we’d likely also be utterly defenceless to the brutal forces of nature. For example,
without meteorology, we’d be unable to predict