Science and creativity may seem like an unlikely pair, but as Liz Turner Head of Science at IGS explains, they are more interconnected than we often realise. In a conversation with Paul Galea, Liz challenges the traditional divide between the Arts and Science, arguing that both disciplines rely on creativity, perspective and the drive to understand the world around us.
Through real-world examples, including the rapid development of the COVID-19 vaccine and innovative cancer treatments, Liz highlights how scientific breakthroughs require the same curiosity, experimentation and vision that drive artistic expression. She also reflects on the role of Science at IGS, where students are encouraged to explore their unique pathways—whether in the Arts, Science or a fusion of both.
Read on or listen to as Liz shares her insights into how Science is not just about facts and formulas but a deeply human pursuit that shapes and is shaped by the world we live in.
Paul Galea:
Well, I’m here today with the Head of Science, Liz Turner, to discuss how creative you can get in Science. Just as a lead into that, in recent times, we’ve seen Jessica Trevelyan, who’s working in Cambridge, working on lithium ion batteries, the sort of batteries that are in your car. We’ve been talking about Miro Astore, who’s working in New York at the Flatiron Institute doing his work in helping to understand cystic fibrosis and we’ve also got people like Ellie Hebden, Alex Jarkey and Sheridan Gho doing amazing things in Mechatronics. One of the things that Liz and I have been talking about is whether in a “creative” school, like IGS, where does Science fit in and how can Science be a creative subject as well? Liz, you’ve got a few thoughts on that, I believe.
Liz Turner, Head of Science:
Paul, I think that’s a great question because isn’t that the age old debate of Art versus Science? And creativity versus maybe something that’s not really creative. I guess people think about Science and it’s just facts and things that are observable and measurable and they’re very sort of objective and maybe not so subjective. But my question is actually are Arts and Science more complementary than you think they are, or even similar, or even dare I say it- are they more part of each other? And do they use elements of each other in the creative process or in that scientific process? And the reason that I asked these questions is because what comes to mind when I hear the words, artistic or maybe even dance or something like that, and I hear science, I think these things. I think creativity, I think perspective, I think investigation, I think innovation, progress, discovery, vision, and culture, but also knowing and understanding. Because I think that both of them try to get to the heart of what something is. Whether that’s our inner world or our outer world, both Arts and Science are trying to learn how that works and they’re trying to synthesise all of these really complex and abstract ideas and put them into some kind of form that communicates that meaning. I think that part of that is like trying to engage someone in it and draw them in and help them to understand it. So if you think about it, both of them are really about communicating. And so in order to do that, you have to really do a lot of trial and error. You’ve got to ask questions. You’ve got to do little experiments, and you’ve got to really try and work out how something works to make that final product. And I think both allow us to think about the society and the culture that they’re both created in. In a way, they’re both reflections of those. And I think that both society and culture play into and shape both Arts and Science. One really recent example was the COVID vaccine. We probably didn’t think we needed a COVID vaccine. We had all of these processes that took a lot longer, but our society became very focused on getting a solution there. So what we did is we took all of these things and we thought, well, how can we make this better? So in a sense, both pursuits, we might think just happen of their own accord but if you think about the interest and the funding and the result that we get out of them, they are both shaped by what’s around them. I think another really good example of that was Professors Georgina Long and Richard Scolyer and you are thinking about Richard Scolyer discovering that he had brain cancer, but they were working in the field of melanoma, so they had to make this jump and they had to see things from a different perspective in order to use that melanoma treatment to treat brain cancer.* So I think that whether you’re an artist or whether you’re a scientist, you’re really using a lot of the same processes and skills to try and get to know and try and discover what it is you are studying so that you can make some sort of outcome or discovery or product that can make our lives better in some way.
Paul Galea:
Wow. Great answer. I mean, I think what you’re saying there is -just tell me if I’m wrong but you’re saying that being a scientist is being a human just as much as being an artist is being a human. You’re drawing on your humanity and applying it to your studies and it’s going to have, well, hopefully, beneficial effects on our society. That to me, that’s what our pursuit at this school is often about and that with Science, we’ve got the teachers and we’ve got the resources for people to enjoy and pursue science to the highest level and then to go on with it, as we have seen with some of our Alums. Would you say that, Liz?
Liz Turner, Head of Science:
That is true, I really like that. I think that science is a really human endeavour and I think that IGS asks us to find our unique selves and to follow our pathways and I think that Science can be one of those pathways, which is really, really rewarding, really interesting and really creative and you can have a great future in it, like some of our Alums.
Paul Galea:
Thank you very much for talking to me today, Liz. A really interesting perspective and let’s hope that we’ve got some budding little scientists out there ready to help change the world.
Liz Turner, Head of Science:
I’m looking forward to working with them.
*2024 Australians of the Year