Submitting Institution: Sussex (University of)

REF impact found 75 Case Studies

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Agents of Change: Photography and the Politics of Space

Summary of the impact

As a result of Benedict Burbridge's work on photographic practices, he was asked to co-curate the Brighton Photo Biennial 2012, entitled Agents of Change: Photography and the Politics of Space. The Biennial had an impact on viewers' understanding of photography, photographic practices and the contingent meaning of photographic images. It also affected the artistic practice of participants and influenced a number of students to see connections between art and politics. Burbridge's research shaped the Biennial's thirteen exhibitions: he invited its artists and organised the exhibition of work in unusual spaces and modes that highlighted connections between image and context by underlining the influence that setting has on meaning.

Submitting Institution

University of Sussex

Unit of Assessment

Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Creative Arts and Writing: Art Theory and Criticism, Film, Television and Digital Media, Visual Arts and Crafts

Augmented digital representations of cultural heritage enabling interactive virtual museums

Summary of the impact

Research at Sussex has enabled the development of interactive virtual museums, which include the Church of Santa Chiara in the Victoria and Albert Museum`s Medieval and Renaissance Galleries, and Sierra Leone digital collections both online and also recently exhibited at the British Museum. These developments apply Internet, XML, 3D visualisation and database technologies in novel ways. Impacts of the research are social and cultural, through support for social cohesion and the public`s greater awareness and understanding of their cultural heritage; impacts are also in the area of public services, by enabling 2017memory institutions` to improve their service delivery by increasing the global reach of their exhibits and the depth of their engagement with visitors.

Submitting Institution

University of Sussex

Unit of Assessment

Computer Science and Informatics

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Creative Arts and Writing: Film, Television and Digital Media
Language, Communication and Culture: Cultural Studies
History and Archaeology: Curatorial and Related Studies

Automatic grammatical analysis enabling advanced text processing in commercial applications

Summary of the impact

Research carried out at Sussex into the automatic grammatical analysis of English text has enabled and enhanced a range of commercial text-processing applications and services. These include an automatic SMS question-answering service and a computer system that grades essays written by learners of English as a second language. Over the REF period there has been substantial economic impact on a spin-out company, whose viability has been established through revenue of around £500k from licensing, development and maintenance contracts for these applications.

Submitting Institution

University of Sussex

Unit of Assessment

Computer Science and Informatics

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Cognitive Sciences
Language, Communication and Culture: Linguistics

Boosting poor households’ incomes through temporary worker schemes in the Pacific

Summary of the impact

Thousands of poor rural workers from 11 island states in the Pacific have benefited from the findings of twin research programmes led by Alan Winters of the University of Sussex — one on small island economies and one on the temporary mobility of labour. New Zealand's Recognised Seasonal Employers Scheme (RSE), which welcomes workers from poor Pacific Islands for the agricultural season, is a direct outcome of his research. Winters was also instrumental in designing and implementing the RSE in a way that permitted formal evaluation and which has become an exemplar of good practice. The evaluation shows that households in Vanuatu and Tonga benefiting from the scheme have experienced average increases in income of 35-40 per cent.

The RSE has been described by World Bank staff as `among the most effective development projects ever evaluated'. Persuaded by the positive evaluation, the Australian government has overcome longstanding reservations and introduced a nearly identical scheme, which is potentially much larger. The RSE also inspired the imaginative US response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, providing 1,000 temporary visas for unskilled Haitian workers. And Winters' research on temporary labour mobility and the RSE underpins developing countries' efforts to start serious negotiations on the issue in the WTO's Doha Round of trade negotiations.

Submitting Institution

University of Sussex

Unit of Assessment

Economics and Econometrics

Summary Impact Type

Economic

Research Subject Area(s)

Economics: Applied Economics
Studies In Human Society: Demography

Bringing post-1968 feminism to life for new audiences: enriching public appreciation and understanding of the British Women’s Liberation Movement

Summary of the impact

In March 2013, the British Library (BL) launched the first national oral-history archive of the British Women's Liberation Movement (WLM). A permanent public resource preserving the voices of 1970s/1980s feminists, the archive was the outcome of 'Sisterhood and After: The Women's Liberation Oral History Project', a three-year Leverhulme-funded research-partnership project led by PI Margaretta Jolly, in partnership with curators at the BL and the Women's Library (WL). Through the national prominence this archive has achieved and the numerous curatorial, educational, cultural and community activities directly associated with it, the research is having a significant impact on the public perception of feminism, bringing it to life for new audiences.

Submitting Institution

University of Sussex

Unit of Assessment

Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management 

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Sociology
Language, Communication and Culture: Cultural Studies
History and Archaeology: Historical Studies

Campaigning for children: Child and Family Law policy development and law reform

Summary of the impact

Research investigating the long-term impact of child contact arrangements in the context of parental separation under the existing law has rapidly and demonstrably impacted upon Parliamentary discussion, policy setting and recommendations by the Children's Commissioner, upon the strategies of cross-disciplinary groups of family justice practitioners who deal with children's issues, and in judicial practice, such that prior presumptions in relation to child contact have altered. Prof. Jane Fortin of the University of Sussex carried out a Nuffield-funded empirical research project between 2010 and 2012, the report of the project, describing the research and providing detailed recommendations, was subsequently published as a book and later dealt with in journal publications.

Submitting Institution

University of Sussex

Unit of Assessment

Law

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology
Law and Legal Studies: Law

Challenging Domination and Promoting Cooperation in Israeli-Palestinian Water Politics

Summary of the impact

This case study focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian water conflict within the context of the Oslo peace process. It documents four areas of impact, the underpinning research and associated engagement and dissemination activity having: (1) [text removed for publication] (2) significantly enhanced public and policy understanding of, and debate on, the Israeli-Palestinian water conflict, within Israel, the Palestinian territories and internationally; (3) [text removed for publication] and (4) contributed to the emergence of influential critiques of international policy on water `cooperation'.

Submitting Institution

University of Sussex

Unit of Assessment

Politics and International Studies

Summary Impact Type

Political

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Political Science
Law and Legal Studies: Law

Challenging rape myths and re-directing juries

Summary of the impact

The research of Prof Jennifer Temkin on rape myths and stereotypes has influenced the way in which rape trials are conducted and drawn the attention of participants in the criminal trial process to the dangers of stereotyping victims and defendants.

The effects of Temkin's research include:

  • bringing about change to the instructions given by judges to juries in rape trials; see the revised guidance introduced by the Crown Court Benchbook used universally by the relevant judges;
  • training prosecutors, advocates and judges in rape myths and the risks of stereotyping;
  • raising public awareness about rape myths and stimulating media debate around rape, sexual stereotyping and the assumptions made about victims and alleged perpetrators of sexual offences; and
  • informing government policy on measures relating to rape investigations.

Submitting Institution

University of Sussex

Unit of Assessment

Law

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Criminology
Law and Legal Studies: Law

Changing crowd management practices through research on effects of crowd participation

Summary of the impact

Drury's research on the psychological effects of crowd participation has provided new rationales that have changed the crowd and emergency management practices used by a number of bodies and institutions; the concepts and principles he has helped to develop have become part of their guidance literature. Specifically the impacts are in two areas. The first is the policing of crowds, where new guidance embodies recommendations from his research to reduce the likelihood of conflict. The second is psychosocial care for people affected by emergencies, where his research on informal resilience in crowds has contributed to the rationale for a new approach evident in NATO and the Department of Health guidance and training.

Submitting Institution

University of Sussex

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Criminology, Sociology
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

Changing policy and practice in teaching reading comprehension to children

Summary of the impact

Sussex research has led to changes in how children are taught reading comprehension across the UK and increasingly in South America. The 2013 Primary National Curriculum for English emphasises the acquisition of skills for reading comprehension. The Independent Review of the Teaching of Early Reading, which cites many of Oakhill's research papers, fed directly into the revised National Curriculum, English. The increasing emphasis on skills for reading comprehension led Whatmuff to develop `inference training', a published training programme inspired by Oakhill's studies now used across the UK. Independently, a group of Educational Psychologists in Argentina developed a programme for primary age children, comprising a theoretical manual and work book that draws directly from Oakhill's research findings and is being implemented across South America.

Submitting Institution

University of Sussex

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

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