Month: March 2016

Faith in Action – Episode 8

Faith,

Krish Kandiah – Faith in the Family

Transcript:

Richard: Hello, I’m Richard Sargeant and this is Faith in Action, a podcast about how faith affects the way we live and work today. The family is a haven in a heartless world, but do the faithful have a distinct vision of how to create that refuge? With me to discuss this is Krish Kandiah, founder and director of Home for Good. Krish, welcome.

Krish: Thank you. Nice to be here.

Richard: What is Home for Good?

Krish: Home for Good is a movement of people passionate about making sure the most vulnerable in our society get the love and attention that they need. Currently, in the UK, there’s around four thousand children that are waiting for adoption. They’re often not babies. They’re older children, siblings, children with additional needs, children from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. And we’re also short of foster carers to the tune of 8,600. We believe that fostering and adoptions are fantastic contribution that you can make to the life of a child. A lot of people tell me they’re interested in justice and they’re passionate about that, so I say, well, here’s a real way that you can kind of make the rubber hit the road. Open up your home. Open up your family and let’s welcome children that need loving parents in their lives. Let’s welcome them into our households.

Richard: That sounds fantastic. I don’t know very much about fostering or adoption – you said that there are a lot of people waiting – is that something that’s gone up in recent years? Continue reading →

Faith in Action – Episode 7

Faith

Helen Johnson – Faith in Science

Transcript

Sargeant: Hello, I’m Richard Sargeant, and this is Faith in Action, a podcast about how faith affects the way we live and work today.

Science is intrinsic to the way we understand the mechanics of the modern world, but it’s often been seen in tension with faith, even though some of our greatest scientists have also had a personal faith. With me to explore the role of faith in science is Helen Johnson, a research fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Helen, what do you, what are you researching at the London School?

Johnson: My field is in the mathematical modelling of infectious diseases. So, we’re interested in computer simulations of how infections spread. And that might be affected by how people meet together, the networks which they form, the frequency with which they meet. In some ways, it’s affected by the biological properties of virus and bacteria, so it spans several different fields. And the idea is, by looking at this computationally, we can predict what they’re likely to do in the future, and plan vaccines, screening, intervention programs.

Sargeant: Fantastic. So, what the flu is going to be like next winter? Continue reading →