Impact Global Location: Myanmar

REF impact found 21 Case Studies

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Weller

Summary of the impact

This project, which commenced in 2000 and continues to this day, has addressed the settlement of conflicts within states. The project has yielded important findings in the areas of complex power-sharing, autonomy and self-governance, political participation mechanisms for non-dominant groups, peace-making and transitional arrangements in peace agreements. These findings have flowed into the policies and practices of major international actors (United Nations, Council of Europe, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), and have been implemented in a number of sensitive contexts. The project findings were also applied directly in a significant number of international negotiations and settlements. This includes the independence of Kosovo and South Sudan, the peace negotiations on Darfur, UN planning for the transition in Libya, the United Nations-led negotiations on a settlement for the conflict in Syria, and the peace agreement and transitional arrangements addressing the deep crisis in Yemen.

Submitting Institution

University of Cambridge

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

C5 - Impact of research on the solvent effects on East Asian lacquer by Imperial College chemistry department on the conservation of decorative art objects

Summary of the impact

A model of collaborative research excellence describes the work led by Imperial College on the conservation of the Mazarin Chest. Renowned as one of the finest pieces of Japanese export lacquer in the world, the Mazarin Chest is viewed by over 3 million people per year in London's V&A museum. Its preservation has allowed it to travel and culturally enrich global audiences, most recently at exhibitions in USA and Japan. The research on the solvent effects on the preservation of Asian lacquerware is universally recognized as changing the working practice of conservators and curators and is now well established in the teaching and mentoring of heritage organisations around the world.

Submitting Institution

Imperial College London

Unit of Assessment

Chemistry

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Chemical Sciences: Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural)
History and Archaeology: Curatorial and Related Studies

Diagnosing malaria using magneto-optic sensors

Summary of the impact

Malaria is endemic in more than 100 countries but its rapid and accurate diagnosis in locations remote from clinical laboratory facilities remains challenging yet desperately needed. This case study describes how scientific discoveries made in the field of digital data storage have been developed and applied to deliver a rapid, reliable and low cost malaria diagnosis sensor suitable for field application. Diagnostic devices have been both laboratory-tested and clinically trialled on over 900 patients under adverse field conditions in malaria endemic countries with very promising results. The health impact includes not only significantly reducing unnecessary treatments but potentially saving millions of lives.

Submitting Institution

University of Exeter

Unit of Assessment

General Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Biological Sciences: Biochemistry and Cell Biology
Medical and Health Sciences: Medical Microbiology

The Act of Killing

Summary of the impact

Michael Uwemedimo's research on re-enactment in non-fiction filmmaking has contributed to the development of innovative methods and approaches to documentary practice as a means of precipitating critical national and international reflections on histories of political violence. The Act of Killing (2012, 116mins) demonstrates the potential of film production and exhibition as a means of popular mobilization and political intervention through which accepted discourses around history and genocide are reframed. This work has had a significant impact in the following contexts:

  • Influencing critical understandings of documentary practice and reaching new audiences;
  • Intervening in and reframing the cultural representation of the 1965-66 Indonesian genocide both nationally and internationally
  • Mobilising debate about Indonesia's history of political violence.
  • Contributing to wider public understanding of basic standards of human rights.

Key indicators of the reach of this impact include the range of stakeholders in the project, such as local advocacy networks in Indonesia, the Indonesian Government's National Human Rights Commission, human rights NGOs, and international documentary makers, programmers and audiences.

Submitting Institution

Roehampton University

Unit of Assessment

Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management 

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: Historical Studies

Extreme weather services benefiting industry and humanitarian relief

Summary of the impact

Research conducted within the Aon Benfield UCL Hazard Centre has underpinned the development of innovative extreme weather services for the real-time monitoring of global tropical storms and European extreme weather. These services have achieved significant commercial and humanitarian impacts worldwide. Within the REF impact period these impacts included £1.319 million of income generated by sales of commercial products; 24,000 subscribers receiving free storm alerts and/or seasonal forecasts; seasonal forecasts distributed to reinsurance companies worldwide; and a contribution to lives saved in Bangladesh from tropical storm Mahasen (2013). Twenty-two international organisations have also benefited from the commercial extreme weather services; for example, they support the claims division at RSA in assessing risk, allocating resources and detecting fraudulent weather claims; and they enable the Norwegian Hull Club to alert its portfolio of over 9,200 vessels worldwide to steer clear of approaching dangerous storms.

Submitting Institutions

University College London,Birkbeck College

Unit of Assessment

Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences

Summary Impact Type

Economic

Research Subject Area(s)

Earth Sciences: Atmospheric Sciences, Oceanography
Engineering: Maritime Engineering

HIS05 - History and global health policy

Summary of the impact

As a result of research by Prof. Sanjoy Bhattacharya since October 2010 at York into the history of disease control, the social determinants of health, and primary healthcare, the Department of History's Centre for Global Health Histories (CGHH) was invited to formalize and develop the WHO's Global Health Histories (GHH) project, including its annual flagship seminar series in Geneva. This research programme has had a major impact on institutional practice within the WHO headquarters and its regional offices: (i) through the promotion of greater transparency and openness toward internal and external stakeholders; (ii) in leading the WHO to use historical research for staff training and development; (iii) by leading the WHO to encourage partner governmental and non-governmental organizations to make greater use of historical research in developing and running health policies. Due to the success of GHH in these areas, historical analysis has now been designated an Office Specific Expected Result for departments within the WHO HQ. It is now an officially required and audited activity for evaluations of major campaigns and for teams planning new projects.

Submitting Institution

University of York

Unit of Assessment

History

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Studies In Human Society: Anthropology, Policy and Administration

Improving global efforts to reduce child poverty and deprivation: the impact of the Bristol Approach and its contribution to identification, measurement and monitoring.

Summary of the impact

Research conducted by the Centre for the Study of Poverty and Social Justice (CSPSJ) led to a new way of assessing child poverty in developing countries. This novel method (termed the Bristol Approach) resulted in the United Nations General Assembly's adoption, for the first time, of an international definition of child poverty (2006). It also underpinned UNICEFs Global Study on Child Poverty and Disparities (2008-10), which was run in over 50 countries. In the last ten years, the CSPSJ's work has put child poverty at the centre of international social and public policy debates. Its researchers have advised governments and international agencies on devising anti-poverty strategies and programmes that specifically meet the needs of children, and have significantly influenced the way child poverty is studied around the world. The Centre has developed academic and professional training courses for organisations like UNICEF on the issues of children's rights and child-poverty. Our work has also spurred NGOs such as Save the Children to develop their own child-development indices, and so has had a direct and profound impact on the lives of poor children around the planet.

Submitting Institution

University of Bristol

Unit of Assessment

Social Work and Social Policy

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Studies In Human Society: Policy and Administration, Sociology

Promoting Gender Equity in Public Sector Governance

Summary of the impact

The findings of empirical research conducted by Professor Jim Barry and Dr Trudie Honour of UEL were shared at two focused capacity building sessions held in 2008 and 2009 for women leaders in middle and senior positions of responsibility and decision-making in the public and third sectors of a number of developing countries. Workshops were attended by women from Albania, Bahrain, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Tunisia, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. Participants considered the relevance and application of the research findings for their own countries, and worked together and with the researchers to formulate potential capacity development implementation strategies for women in positions of responsibility in those countries.

Submitting Institution

University of East London

Unit of Assessment

Business and Management Studies

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Policy and Administration, Sociology

Statelessness and Citizenship

Summary of the impact

Impact generating research was produced by staff associated with the International Observatory on Statelessness (IOS): Brad Blitz, Rajith Lakshman; and Greg Constantine, a current Ph.D. student. The Observatory, previously at Kingston University, moved to Middlesex University in 2013. The impact stems from engagement with national governments, UN and public bodies regarding the development of humanitarian policy and protection of about 12 million stateless people world wide (UNHCR estimates). Evidence of impact includes statements by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her deputy; their drafting of a UN Human Rights Council Resolution; changes to UK immigration rules; statements by UNHCR's High Representative; US Supreme Court decision Ruben Flores-Villar vs. United States of America (0905801); and public awareness through award-winning photographic exhibitions, short films and books. Beneficiaries are potentially stateless people across the globe.

Submitting Institution

Middlesex University

Unit of Assessment

Social Work and Social Policy

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Studies In Human Society: Sociology

UOA01-05: Alerting the World to Artemisinin Resistance

Summary of the impact

Researchers at the Mahidol-Oxford Research Unit (MORU) in Thailand performed the first comparative trials to unambiguously show artemisinin resistance in Plasmodium falciparum parasites in western Cambodia, as well as its emergence on the Thailand-Myanmar border. These studies emphasised the importance of urgent containment, leading to rapid responses from the World Health Organization (WHO) and international governments for the tracking and containment of drug-resistant malaria.

Submitting Institution

University of Oxford

Unit of Assessment

Clinical Medicine

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Clinical Sciences, Medical Microbiology

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