Impact UK Location: Huddersfield

REF impact found 57 Case Studies

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Identification and quantification of anticoagulant resistance in Norway rats and house mice: informing guidance and risk mitigation strategies.

Summary of the impact

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.

Submitting Institution

University of Reading

Unit of Assessment

Biological Sciences

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Biological Sciences: Genetics

Academic, educational and commercial benefits of effective textual search and annotation

Summary of the impact

Based in the School of English, the Research and Development Unit for English Studies (RDUES) conducts research in the field of corpus linguistics and develops innovative software tools to allow a wide range of external audiences to locate, annotate and use electronic data more effectively. This case study details work carried out by the RDUES team (Matt Gee, Andrew Kehoe, Antoinette Renouf) in building large-scale corpora of web texts, from which examples of language use have been extracted, analysed, and presented in a form suitable for teaching and research across and beyond HE, including collaboration with commercial partners.

Submitting Institution

Birmingham City University

Unit of Assessment

English Language and Literature

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

Design Against Crime Research Centre at the University of the Arts London

Summary of the impact

The Design Against Crime Research Centre (DACRC) undertakes practice-led socially responsive design research, including visualisation of crime problems and innovative responses for design education, government and industry. Research outcomes deliver crime prevention by design, addressing bag theft, bike theft, ATM crime, shoplifting, graffiti and counter-terrorism. Outputs include products, resources, conferences, exhibitions, competitions and papers. Research has been applied by national/international bodies undertaking practice, policy, and guidance in design and crime prevention. The Centre's work has been recognised by the Sir Misha Black Award (2006), was described by an AHRC Impact case study (2008) as `pioneering', and shortlisted in the Environmental Impact category of the UK Impact Awards (2009).

Submitting Institution

University of the Arts London

Unit of Assessment

Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Information Systems
Studies In Human Society: Criminology, Policy and Administration

Developing technical textiles products and processes

Summary of the impact

Heriot-Watt University (HWU) led the development of a supportive infrastructure for the sustainable advancement of Technical Textiles (the fastest growing textiles sector in an industry worth $25bn globally and £3bn per year to the UK economy). 452 companies have had their products or processes created or improved. (e.g. patents awarded, new companies established and research and development sustained). The research transformed how Technical Textiles were understood as marketable products in their own right; from purely functional entities to materials that operate at the interface of design and technology. This enabled the development of new technologies that enhance wellbeing and quality of life, e.g. in the health and defence sectors.

Submitting Institution

Heriot-Watt University

Unit of Assessment

Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory

Summary Impact Type

Economic

Research Subject Area(s)

Chemical Sciences: Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry
Engineering: Manufacturing Engineering, Materials Engineering

Education plc: new philanthropy and old inequalities

Summary of the impact

Professor Stephen Ball has produced a series of highly provocative analyses of English education policy and the neo-liberal education concepts and practices that have taken root in an increasing number of countries. He has also raised awareness of the growing significance of international edu-businesses and philanthropists. His work has proved valuable not only to national and global teachers' organisations but to pressure groups and think tanks seeking to protect the state education system. Teachers have also derived comfort and insight from Ball's research as it allows them to gain a better understanding of the mundane but powerful managerial and market forces that influence how they work and relate to themselves.

Submitting Institution

University College London

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Specialist Studies In Education
Studies In Human Society: Sociology

Plenum

Summary of the impact

Plenum is an installation conceived by Simeon Nelson in 2010 as a collaborative art-music artwork. It was performed six times between 2010 and 2013 at sound and light festivals in Poland, Estonia and the UK, at the Cambridge Music Festival, and at an Australian contemporary arts venue. Audiences totalling over 240,000 saw the work, with website visitors extending its reach to over 300,000; the Durham Lumiere alone, of which Plenum formed an integral element, created an estimated £4.3 million for the local economy. Festival and arts curators have described Plenum as `thought provoking' and `inspiring'.

Submitting Institution

University of Hertfordshire

Unit of Assessment

Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Creative Arts and Writing: Film, Television and Digital Media, Visual Arts and Crafts
Language, Communication and Culture: Cultural Studies

Plenum: Projecting music and science into the light

Summary of the impact

Plenum is an algorithmic work composed by Rob Godman in 2010 as part of a collaborative art-music installation. It was performed six times between 2010 and 2013 at sound and light festivals in Poland, Estonia and the UK, at the Cambridge Music Festival, and at an Australian contemporary arts venue. Audiences totalling over 240,000 heard the work, with website visitors extending its reach to over 300,000; the Durham Lumiere alone, of which Plenum formed an integral element, created an estimated £4.3 million for the local economy. Festival and arts curators have described Plenum as `thought provoking' and `inspiring'.

Submitting Institution

University of Hertfordshire

Unit of Assessment

Music, Drama, Dance and Performing Arts

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing, Information Systems
Studies In Creative Arts and Writing: Film, Television and Digital Media

Enabling Older Adults, Carers and Clinicians to Measure and Manage Pain

Summary of the impact

Around half of older people, aged 65 and over, experience persistent pain; it can be isolating and seriously affect quality of life. This research, much of it done by service users, has produced tools and information for older people themselves, and for the professionals who work with them, to correctly assess and treat chronic pain. It is setting national standards, being adopted by the key national charities and NHS pain clinics, and garnering international interest. Specifically the work has:

  • had a direct impact on older adults by helping them to develop and implement strategies to manage their own pain, using self-help materials;
  • indirectly helped assessment and management of pain in older people by improving the knowledge and skills of health care professionals through education, new national guidelines and the use of new technologies.

Submitting Institution

University of Greenwich

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

Improving the wellbeing of employees by assessing and enhancing quality of working life

Summary of the impact

The Work-Related Quality of Life (WRQoL®) scale and its derivatives have been used to assess and enhance the quality of working life in 10% of UK universities, ten NHS Trusts, five Trade Unions, 15 schools, a professional body (the British Psychological Society) and parts of other large national organisations (Police, BBC, RNLI). The research and data provided by the Quality of Working Life (QoWL®) team at the University of Portsmouth also now forms a significant element of the UK Government's definition and approach to tackling organisational stress. The WRQoL® scale is available in 11 languages and 50+ countries, and is directly and indirectly saving organisations thousands of pounds and helping contributing to the improved wellbeing of millions of employees.

Submitting Institution

University of Portsmouth

Unit of Assessment

Business and Management Studies

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services: Business and Management
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

Introducing the practice of ‘contextual dramaturgies’ to professional contemporary performance makers and audiences.

Summary of the impact

Dr Tomlin has applied the findings of her theoretical research to the rehearsal room both by working dramaturgically with companies such as Point Blank, Tin Box, Nodding Dog, Little Earthquake and Shooting Fish and through her own creative practice as playwright in collaboration with other professional artists. Her research has helped to transform the processes of devising work, and has disseminated new ways of working to the artists involved, and, through their subsequent work, to their audiences in turn.

This impact is demonstrated here through a site-specific production to which Dr Tomlin contributed in 2012, in which she developed new forms of creative practice which influenced the working processes and artistic methodologies of professional artists and enabled them to deliver innovative and politically relevant theatre to the general public. The primary impact benefitted the companies and professional artists with whom she collaborated; the secondary impact benefitted audiences of the performances, which numbered approximately 450 across 5 intimate venues throughout the UK.

This impact is not merely a one-way dissemination of theoretical analysis to a receptive body of professional artists, but a practice-based research process undertaken in collaboration with the professional artists in question, thus forming a feedback loop: research — impact/application to practice — further research and experimentation — impact/application to practice. Practice-based research, in this sense, conducts both research and impact activity simultaneously.

Submitting Institution

University of Birmingham

Unit of Assessment

Music, Drama, Dance and Performing Arts

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology
Studies In Creative Arts and Writing: Visual Arts and Crafts
Language, Communication and Culture: Cultural Studies

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