Impact Global Location: Kuwait

REF impact found 24 Case Studies

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Assurance of Durable Concrete Structures Using Novel Testing Technologies Developed at QUB

Summary of the impact

By ensuring the durability of notable concrete structures in China, such as the Bird's Nest National Stadium Beijing, Dayawan Nuclear Power Station, Harbin-Dalian Railway Bridges, Qingdao Bay Bridge and Beijing-Tianjin Railway Bridges using Autoclam Permeability System and Permit Ion Migration test, developed by Queen's University Belfast (QUB) and sold by a QUB spin-out Amphora Non-destructive Testing Ltd., the savings in future repair costs are estimated to be hundreds of millions of Chinese Yuan (RMB) (the repair expenditure for the three-year period 2009-'11 was RMB 10.2 billion).

Research on permeability and diffusivity testing of concrete on site since 1993 has led to the incorporation of both the Autoclam and the Permit in a corporation standard issued by the Central Research Institute of Building and Construction (CRIBC), China and the test protocol of Permit in a Chinese railway standard.

The training of construction professionals (including more than 200 senior managers from the Chinese construction industry) since 2008 has impacted on improved sales of Autoclam Permeability System and Permit Ion Migration Test, securing around £500k commercial income, and generating new employment in the UK. Since 2008 these test instruments have been sold to 12 countries.

Submitting Institution

Queen's University Belfast

Unit of Assessment

Civil and Construction Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Engineering: Civil Engineering

A standardised test of young children’s understanding and production of language

Summary of the impact

Language impairment is common in children and, without effective early intervention, presents a risk for educational, social and emotional disturbance. The team used their considerable experience in child language research to produce a novel assessment of child language development — The Reynell Developmental Language Scales 3 (RDLS3) — the first test of child language development to be standardised in the U.K. to assess both understanding and production of language in young children. Use of the test has improved language assessment and diagnosis for children with language impairments and, as such, has enabled health and education professionals to target therapy and monitor the effectiveness of interventions to improve child language development. The test has been widely used in the U.K. and is now also being used widely internationally. Recent research by the team has informed a revised version of the test — The New Reynell Developmental Language Scales (NRDLS). Sales figures of the RDLS3 and the commissioning of the NRDLS are testament to its outstanding reputation and enduring legacy worldwide.

Submitting Institution

University of Reading

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

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

Design of a block cipher used in TETRA secure radio

Summary of the impact

Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) is a very well known, international specification for secure mobile radio and `walkie-talkie' communication, that is extensively used and relied upon by emergency and public safety services such as police, ambulance and fire services, as well as governmental and private bodies. The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) began standardising TETRA in the 1990s and it is now widely used throughout the world. Foundations of its success include resilience and reliability, but security is a major feature, being underpinned by expert cryptographic design. In particular the authentication and key generation mechanisms in TETRA rely on a block cipher (HURDLE) which was designed by a team of cryptographers at Royal Holloway.

The work carried out at Royal Holloway underpins the integrity and security of TETRA safety- critical networks throughout the world to the present day. A secure design for emergency service communications minimises both the amount of disruption criminals can cause to service operations, and the amount of operational information such criminals can glean from eavesdropping, contributing to the safety and security of society as a whole as well as the economic benefits to manufacturers of TETRA-based equipment.

Submitting Institution

Royal Holloway, University of London

Unit of Assessment

Mathematical Sciences

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Computation Theory and Mathematics, Data Format

Health and economic benefits of a self-management training programme for Type I diabetes

Summary of the impact

DAFNE (Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating) is a structured training programme in Type I diabetes self-management whose development was led by researchers at the University of Sheffield. As a direct result of these research findings, and the demonstration of improved outcomes, there has been a change in the approach to management of Type I diabetes from hospital based, doctor/nurse centric care to patient centred self-management. The Department of Health now mandates structured training in England and Wales, with DAFNE courses provided in a third of UK centres.

Submitting Institution

University of Sheffield

Unit of Assessment

Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

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

Managing hypoglycaemia to improve quality of life in people with diabetes

Summary of the impact

Research conducted at King's College London into the mechanisms underlying hypoglycaemia unawareness in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and novel technology for reducing the risk of hypoglycaemia has led directly to innovative changes in the management of diabetes. These include UK and worldwide development and dissemination of the government-recommended `Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating' (DAFNE) programme and on-going development of continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (pump) therapy, now used by over 18,500 people with T1DM in the UK.

Submitting Institution

King's College London

Unit of Assessment

Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Clinical Sciences

6. Peering into the pore space: digital rock physics to improve oilfield management

Summary of the impact

Since Prof Blunt's appointment as a Professor of Petroleum Engineering at Imperial College in 1999, his Consortium on Pore-Scale Modelling has developed numerical tools to analyse the pore spaces of reservoir rocks, predict multiphase flow properties and determine field-scale impacts on oil recovery. This technology is now exploited by at least two start-up service companies with annual revenue of around $20 million, and is widely employed by major oil companies, leading to better reservoir management and improved oil and gas recovery. Statements submitted from just one company (Kuwait Oil Company, KOC) suggest a benefit of $100 million from efficiency savings and improved recovery in a just single field.

Submitting Institution

Imperial College London

Unit of Assessment

Aeronautical, Mechanical, Chemical and Manufacturing Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Earth Sciences: Geophysics
Engineering: Resources Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy

Psychosocial factors and impact on knowledge and understanding about diabetes care

Summary of the impact

Dr Lloyd's research examines the relationship between diabetes and mental health, particularly in under-served or marginalised communities. Through extensive international collaborations research findings have been disseminated to a wide audience. Locally, service users have been involved in the development of alternative ways of obtaining informed consent, to allow greater research inclusivity. Culturally appropriate tools, for identifying depressive symptoms as well as knowledge deficits in diabetes self-care, have been designed and tested. As a result, a psychotherapy service for people with co-morbid diabetes and psychological problems has been successfully established in a diabetes centre attended by more than 6,000 individuals.

Submitting Institution

Open University

Unit of Assessment

Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services

Case Study 1 - Securing Networked Systems

Summary of the impact

The Network & Information Security Technology Lab (NISTL) at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) conducts research in securing networked systems against the growing threat of cyber crime. The research has generated a correlated set of new security protocols, novel system composition methods and efficient digital forensic analysis schemes for more effective layered security protection. Their main impacts for the period 01/2008 - 07/2013 are highlighted below:

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  • Thales (engaging in commercial secure system development) has continued collaboration with us to exploit our findings on system composition since 2008. This enabled Thales to deliver three invention disclosures and one security-enhanced commercial solution. The open source software version produced was downloaded 14,323 times since 04/2009.
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  • Our research in forensic analysis led to the generation of a patent in 2009, which was later implemented by the lab into a software tool. Merseyside Police used the tool to enhance its efficiency in digital forensic analysis by 8.5 times.

In addition to the above direct impacts, our work is also beneficial to other organisations and even the general public, as they all require security techniques for information protection.

Submitting Institution

Liverpool John Moores University

Unit of Assessment

Computer Science and Informatics

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing, Data Format, Distributed Computing

Standards in Public Life: Clarifying the principles and informing ethics governance

Summary of the impact

Ethics regulation across UK institutions has undergone two decades of rapid change and has sometimes resulted in fragile, controversial and difficult regulatory processes. Research by Hine, Peele and Philp has given rise to a better understanding of the conditions under which institutional ethics regulation and standard setting is more likely to be effective. Their findings have contributed to the clarification of the ethical principles that guide the codes of conduct in the UK public sector; shaped the institutional strategies of regulators (in particular the Committee on Standards in Public Life and the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority); and influenced international debate on standards in public life.

Submitting Institution

University of Oxford

Unit of Assessment

Politics and International Studies

Summary Impact Type

Political

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Studies In Human Society: Policy and Administration
Law and Legal Studies: Law

Strengthening land rights and gender equality in the Muslim world

Summary of the impact

Research conducted at UEL has been instrumental in efforts to strengthen land and property rights and gender equality in Muslim countries. These impacts arise particularly from its influence on the incorporation by the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) of a much stronger emphasis on Islamic issues in the implementation of land tools. The research has also contributed to UN-Habitat policies; enhanced the capacity of over 200 officials and representatives from dozens of Muslim countries; and contributed to the development of land laws, particularly in the Benadir Region of Somalia. Beneficiaries include United Nations agencies, governments, GLTN members, professionals and members of civil society working on pro-poor land governance as well, ultimately, as the many millions of people whose land and property rights have been enhanced.

Submitting Institution

University of East London

Unit of Assessment

Law

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Law and Legal Studies: Law
Philosophy and Religious Studies: Religion and Religious Studies

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