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REF impact found 11 Case Studies

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Case Study 2: Improving the teaching and learning of conceptual scientific content in schools.

Summary of the impact

This longstanding research and development programme on teaching and learning conceptual scientific content has resulted in beneficial impacts on the day-to-day teaching practices of secondary school science teachers within and beyond the UK. The programme has resulted in three broad areas of impact:

  1. the content of curriculum materials used by teachers of physics, chemistry and biology in their practice;
  2. the initial training of science teachers;
  3. professional development programmes for science teachers.

Submitting Institution

University of Leeds

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

Cognitive research leads to improved lie detection processes and training adopted by professionals in forensic, intelligence, security and commercial settings

Summary of the impact

The innovative Cognitive Load (CL) technique, based on cognitive theory, yields significantly superior lie detection results by capitalising on the fact that interviews can be devised that are more difficult for liars than truth-tellers. This CL technique, pioneered by Vrij, is used for ethical information-gathering interviewing and undercover and interrogation purposes by police, military and intelligence agencies worldwide. Training of these law enforcement professionals as a result of our research has been implemented. An insurance company has adopted a revised protocol as a result of applying our research and has implemented an industry-leading product for reducing fraudulent insurance claims.

Submitting Institution

University of Portsmouth

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Clinical Sciences, Public Health and Health Services
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

Improved land management and rainforest conservation in South East Asia

Summary of the impact

Between 1996 and 2011, Swansea staff published a series of papers into effects of logging practices, land-use change and recent climatic change on rainforest erosion, hydrology and ecology in Sabah (Malaysian Borneo). This research has led to improved logging practices and land management policy and enhanced the spatial extent, design and security of rainforest conservation in the region — for example, in 2012-13, the Sabah Government more than doubled the area of legally protected rainforest to form an east-west (E-W) contiguous 5000 km2 rainforest area in eastern Sabah. This zone will be more robust in its responses to climatic change and less prone to wildfires than if the forest had been fragmented. This is of global conservational significance because the zone contains the largest remaining area of primary lowland rainforest (and orang-utan habitat) in SE Asia. The impact of our research was achieved through direct, long- term links between Swansea staff and local forest management and governmental bodies.

Submitting Institution

Swansea University

Unit of Assessment

Geography, Environmental Studies and Archaeology

Summary Impact Type

Environmental

Research Subject Area(s)

Earth Sciences: Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience
Environmental Sciences: Environmental Science and Management
Biological Sciences: Other Biological Sciences

Improvements to the training and professional development of Police in investigative interviewing

Summary of the impact

The University of Portsmouth research into effective use of the Cognitive Interview (CI) by police forces in the UK and overseas has led to recommendations for changes to training of police officers in this field throughout their careers being adopted in several countries across the world. The work, led by Dr Becky Milne, has also been used to inform the decision making processes of a variety of national policy reviews and professional bodies. Research has improved the standard of interviewing, particularly for sensitive investigations such as rape and child abuse.

Submitting Institution

University of Portsmouth

Unit of Assessment

Social Work and Social Policy

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

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

Military Ethics Education Network

Summary of the impact

This case study focuses on the impact of the body of research produced by various members of the UoA's Military Ethics Education Network (MEEN). This impact has been achieved through two main routes. The first comprises the impact of MEEN research on the teaching of ethics education in military and war colleges in Europe, North America, Australia and Israel. The second comprises the inclusion of explicit ethical considerations in training and pre-deployment briefings within the armed forces of the relevant countries. These forms of impact have been achieved both through publications and also through direct dissemination of ideas. The publications have formed the explicit basis of discussion at specially-organised targeted conferences and other teaching events and are used widely in the curricula of military ethics courses in military academies internationally.

Submitting Institution

University of Hull

Unit of Assessment

Politics and International Studies

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Philosophy and Religious Studies: Applied Ethics, Philosophy

1: New design methods from piling research that improve the foundation safety and economy of offshore structures

Summary of the impact

The Imperial College Pile `ICP' effective-stress pile design approaches for offshore foundations offer much better design reliability than conventional methods. Their use delivers substantial economies in many hydrocarbon and renewable energy projects, better safety and confidence in developing adventurous structures in others. The ICP has enabled production in otherwise unviable marginal hydrocarbon fields, new options in high-value deep-water projects and helped eliminate installation failures that can cost hundreds of £million. We present evidence that the research delivered direct benefits exceeding £400m since 2008 in projects known to us, with larger worldwide benefits through project risk reduction and independent exploitation.

Submitting Institution

Imperial College London

Unit of Assessment

Civil and Construction Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Engineering: Civil Engineering, Resources Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy

Professor Stephanie Atkinson’s Research in Design and Technology (D&T) Education in the Secondary and Tertiary Phases of Education.

Summary of the impact

Stephanie Atkinson has a long track record of research into aspects of D&T education, focusing particularly on how people design, and the significance of factors such as creativity, motivation, designing styles, gender and achievement which has had considerable impact on government policy and practice, in the training of D&T teachers, on practice in secondary schools, public examinations, and amongst the international D&T education community more widely. Her students (over 1000 since 1990) have either gone on to either become successful industrial and engineering designers or they have become teachers, Heads of Department, University Lecturers & officials in Ministries of Education in several countries, where the impact of her research can be seen in how designing is taught in numerous secondary schools throughout the UK, Cyprus, Botswana, Bahrain, & Brunei.

Submitting Institution

University of Sunderland

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

Smoking cessation support by text message: the impact of the txt2stop trial

Summary of the impact

The txt2stop trial, led by LSHTM, provided robust evidence that smoking cessation support delivered by text messaging doubles biochemically verified quitting at six months and is highly cost-effective. The research resulted in a new smoking cessation service delivered by text message in England, with over 34,000 smokers having joined the programme by the end of March 2013. The research was noted in international forums and used by WHO in a presentation to member countries; at least four countries have taken steps to roll out their own programmes. The trial findings received exceptionally wide media coverage in 2011.

Submitting Institution

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Unit of Assessment

Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services

Faster CCTV video content analysis

Summary of the impact

The explosive growth in the number of CCTV cameras has meant that analysing the volume of data produced has become almost unmanageable. Dublin based start-up Kinesense Ltd was incorporated in 2009 by Dr Mark Sugrue, who had carried out his PhD in Video Analytics at Royal Holloway. New methods to detect motion, track objects and classify behaviour in CCTV now enable the efficient scanning of video for important events. Kinesense Ltd has developed a range of forensic video analysis tools, which reduce the time required to search and analyse video footage by up to 95%. It has attracted investment funding of over €820,000, employs 7 full time staff and has made sales to police forces and security agencies in over 17 countries. Kinesense products benefit law enforcement professionals and organisations by providing more efficient surveillance and detection of criminal activity, allowing better use of investigator time, reducing the length of criminal investigations and increasing their success rate. The general public worldwide benefits from increased crime detection and the consequent prevention and reduction of criminal activity.

Submitting Institution

Royal Holloway, University of London

Unit of Assessment

Physics

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services

Fundamental Research on Memory Enables a Robust Criminal Justice System

Summary of the impact

The development of a robust criminal justice system is vital in any civilised society and benefits victims, witnesses, police, suspects, and the general public. Research in the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London has investigated fundamental principles underlying memory retrieval in the context of criminal justice scenarios in which memory may be particularly vulnerable. This research has had major impacts on the way in which police interview witnesses to a crime, and on the way in which video identification parades are conducted. It has also led indirectly to significant developments in the way in which evidence from very young children is treated in court.

Submitting Institution

Royal Holloway, University of London

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Studies In Human Society: Criminology
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

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