This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast features an interview with Amanda Barnard, who began her career as a theoretical physicist and now leads a multidisciplinary research group that applies computational science across a wide range of fields including nanotechnology, materials science, chemistry, and medicine.

Barnard is also deputy director and computational science lead at the School of Computing at the Australian National University in Canberra. She talks about her interest in applying machine learning to a wide range of problems, and about the challenges and rewards of doing university administration. Barnard is editor-in-chief of the journal Nano Futures, and she talks about how this role enhances her understanding of the field.

Also in this episode, medical researcher Jordan Squair talks about a new medical implant that could help regulate blood pressure in people with spinal-cord injuries. Squair, who is based at EPFL in Switzerland, tells Physics World’s Tami Freeman about how the device was created and how it was successfully tested on a human subject.

Freeman also congratulates Squair on winning the BioInnovation Institute & Science Prize for Innovation for his development of the implant.