Chemotherapy. Browsing the internet. Predicting hurricanes and storms. What do these things have in common? For one, they all exhibit the importance of research in everyday life; we would not be able to do these today without preceding decades of trial and error.
Before, research meant scouring libraries and texts or seeking experts far and wide to approach them with your questions.
Now, anything and everything can be Googled or found with the correct prompts on ChatGPT.
You can forgo the clunky and dusty textbooks for their online counterparts; you can speak to experts in the field through a virtual call instead of making your way across the globe to hear their opinions.
Outside of academia, research is steeped in everything we do. From finding the best movies of the year to helping you with packing for university abroad, and from deciding which language is the easiest to pick up to utilising the right kind of music to enhance your studies, we use research almost effortless every day.
Hence why recognising the importance of research in everyday life is crucial — especially during this time when we can access it so easily — and why it is such an integral part of higher education today.
The importance of research, in three parts:
The Thales research laboratories in Palaiseau, France, are developing ultra-high-performance defense technologies. Some are inspired by the butterfly wing or the human brain. Source: AFP
Research increases the quality of life
Modern problems require modern solutions. Research is a catalyst for solving the world’s most pressing issues, the complexity of which evolves over time.
Canada’s University of British Columbia has done so with its liposome (an artificial microscopic bubble that helps carry important things, like medicine, in your body) research, with research leading to multiple spin-off companies and three approved drugs: abelcet, myocet, and marquibo.
In Australia, the University of Sydney is using research to identify the impacts of climate change on the mental health and wellbeing of vulnerable populations. The research results will lead to the creation of a policy brief for the country’s state and federal governments in hopes of supporting those affected by the cause.
PhD graduates from South Africa’s University of Cape Town are paving the way to a better future with the work too.
One recent thesis topic explores how institutions have navigated shifts from colonial and apartheid contexts to becoming relevant in today’s African cities and speculating on their future societal roles. Another is setting a new standard for sustainable construction, presenting a groundbreaking approach to making concrete more resilient and environmentally friendly.
The entire wealth of research findings throughout history has led us to this very point in civilisation, which brings us to the next reason why research matters.
You no longer have to physically attend classes to learn something. Source: AFP
Research empowers us with knowledge
Though scientists conduct research, the rest of the world benefits from their findings.
We get to know the way of nature and how our actions affect it. We gain a deeper understanding of people and why they do what they do. Best of all, we get to enrich our lives with the latest knowledge of health, nutrition, technology, and business, among others.
One example is the podcasts produced by the University of Oxford. There, they cover various topics, from conversations between researchers and collaborators about projects at the university’s Centre for the Study of African Economies to hearing how leading figures of major international organisations tackle global challenges.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the world’s best university according to QS World University Rankings 2025, is another place that shares its knowledge freely.
The MIT OpenCourseWare offers a free and open collection of material from thousands of MIT courses, covering the entire MIT curriculum. With no enrollment or registration required and no start or end dates, the information is at your fingertips whenever you seek it.
Every year, the importance of research becomes more and more significant. Source: AFP
Research drives progress forward
Thanks to scientific research, modern medicine can cure diseases like tuberculosis and malaria. We’ve been able to simplify vaccines, diagnosis, and treatment across the board.
Even COVID-19 — a novel disease — could be studied based on what is known about the SARS coronavirus. Now, the vaccine Pfizer and BioNTech have been working on has proven 90% effective at preventing COVID-19 infection.
Mankind has charted such progress thanks to the scientific method. Beyond improving healthcare, it is also responsible for the evolution of technology, which in turn guides the development of almost every other industry in the automation age.
Take the University of Tokyo’s new lithium-ion battery, for example. Researchers at the university have presented a viable alternative to cobalt — a component in batteries that contributes to some environmental, economic, and social issues.
Better yet, the new battery can outperform state-of-the-art battery chemistry. It has the potential to change electrochemical processes and devices for the better — yet another perfect example of the importance of research and how it drives progress.
Turkey’s Boğaziçi University has done its part too. Alongside MIT, a joint research project is finding a method to make earthquake-resistant buildings.
“Even if we can predict the intensity of the earthquake based on historical information we cannot predict the exact moment it will happen,” says Dr. Cem Yalçın of Boğaziçi University. “But because we can guess the intensity we can find if the components of the building can exhaust the energy or not. Our methods, in this case, can predict the building load better and can divide it to the components.”
The world is the way it is today because academics throughout history have relentlessly sought answers in their laboratories and faculties; our future depends on what we do with all this newfound information.
Disclaimer: This article was last updated on January 9, 2025.
