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Local authorities, the UK government and the European Commission have benefitted from the widespread application of new molecular methodologies, developed in 2005 and applied by the University of Reading's Vertebrate Pests Unit (VPU) to identify and quantify anticoagulant rodenticide resistance in rodent populations. Rodents are a major global pest that consumes our food, causes contamination with urine and faeces, damages structures through gnawing, transmits diseases, and impacts on species of conservation concern. Due to historical success and recent regulatory restrictions, anticoagulant rodenticides are the most common control method for these pests. However, physiological resistance to anticoagulants is now widespread and the VPU has been involved in mapping this resistance and identifying the genetic basis for the resistance. Their research has led to new methodologies to identify anticoagulant resistance that have been adopted by the global plant science industry and to new guidance in treating resistant populations that has been adopted by the European biocides industry.
Research by Marianne Odlyha and her group at the Department of Biological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, has led to the development of minimally invasive analytical methods and portable tools (dosimeters) for assessing damage to historical artefacts. These dosimeters are now in use at locations around the world, including the Tate Gallery's store rooms, English Heritage properties (Apsley House) and museums in Ghent, Cracow and Mexico. Methods for assessing damage, and for mitigation of pollutant impact on objects in museum enclosures, have been disseminated to conservation professionals through workshops and training courses held across Europe. The assessment and prevention of damage is vital to conserve the cultural as well as the monetary value of artefacts.
Dr Christopher Hall's research on second language (L2) lexical development stressed the hybrid nature of lexical mental representation in learners of English. This led him to reflect more critically on the local experiences and needs of learners and non-native users, and to develop a `plurilithic' account of the ontological ambiguity, unfairness, unhelpfulness, and unsustainability of monolithic conceptions of English for learning/teaching. Informed by this research, Hall (Reader in Applied Linguistics) and colleagues Dr Rachel Wicaksono (Head of the Department of Languages and Linguistics), and Clare Cunningham (formerly Wardman, an ECR and Lecturer in Linguistics) have taken steps to raise awareness of the implications of monolithic thinking among UK and international English Language Teaching (ELT) stakeholders, thereby challenging some firmly established tenets of language education policy.
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.
Research led by the School of Geography at the University of Leeds has enabled, for the first time, the use of on-the-ground observations to evaluate directly the role of tropical forests in the global carbon cycle and to assess their sensitivity to change. Findings from the research have had a significant impact on international debates on the future trajectory of climate change and appropriate policy responses, and are influencing national-scale efforts across the tropics to manage forests in the face of climate change and to reduce carbon emissions resulting from deforestation [D, E, G, H, J]. The success of this Leeds-led initiative has been achieved through the extensive network of scientists involved in this global forest observatory: more than 250 scientists from over 50 institutions across more than 30 countries are now involved.
Research on faults and fluid flow led by the University of Leeds has dramatically increased the ability of the petroleum industry to predict the impact of faults on fluid flow in petroleum reservoirs. The work has allowed the industry to reduce the risks associated with the exploration of fault- bounded reservoirs, and to identify areas of un-drained reserves in producing reservoirs. The research has won a series of important industrial and academic awards, and has provided a platform for the growth of Rock Deformation Research, a successful consultancy spin-out company whose turnover rose from £1.93 million in the period 2008-2010 to £4.0 million today.
The Scottish Centre for Enabling Technologies (SCET) operates as a core element of UWS's Knowledge Exchange Strategy. Formed in 2008 to redress the effects of increasing offshoring in the UK IT industry (high-valued jobs being sourced outside the UK), SCET has assisted over 175 companies with short-term project interventions in creative technologies (database, web and mobile applications) since its formation. SCET's activities have been evaluated, and economic impact has been shown to exceed £80m. Companies report increased investment in innovation by £4.6m, 200 new products or processes introduced, almost 500 new jobs created, 940 jobs safeguarded and 9 new companies formed.
In the 1990s Dr D Moore, who has extensive experience in fluid dynamics, worked with collaborators at the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) on parallelising an ocean modelling code. This resulted in the Navy Layered Ocean Model (NLOM) and later the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM). NLOM and HYCOM, which were/are distributed through the NRL and HYCOM consortium, are open access ocean modelling codes that are used to forecast ocean currents. They have proved particularly impactful for the forecasting of ocean oil spills and the corresponding management of the environmental risk. NLOM and/or HYCOM have been used extensively in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 as well as the Montara Well Release oil spill in Australia in 2009, providing valuable forecasts to assist with the response to the disasters.
The International Institute for Sign Languages and Deaf Studies (iSLanDS) is a world leader in the systematic comparative research on sign languages (Sign Language Typology), and conducts the world's largest typological projects on sign language structures, using a large international partnership network. The impact of this work, often in developing countries, is seen in the domains of:
a) improved educational attainment and professional development for marginalised groups (deaf sign language users); and
b) linguistic rights for sign language users through engagement with international policy makers, non-governmental organisations and professional bodies (in India, in Turkey and with international bodies).
This case study details the impact of a pioneering theoretical approach to English language testing. Recognised as the most influential test validation theory in modern assessment, the socio-cognitive framework, conceived by Weir and O'Sullivan, and operationalized and developed further by O'Sullivan at the University of Roehampton, focuses on three key elements: the test taker (social), the test system (cognitive), and the scoring system (evaluative). This framework is applied to give a meaningful measure of a candidate's performance, appropriate to the underlying traits or abilities being assessed. This research has had a significant impact in two distinct phases: 1) through a series of commissioned projects since 2008, the research has had a significant impact on testing bodies, organisations and test takers internationally, and 2) it has underpinned the development of innovative new business products by a leading international educational and cultural organisation since 2012.