Impact UK Location: Stirling

REF impact found 57 Case Studies

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Africa in Motion: Enhancing Public Awareness of African Cinema in Scotland, the UK and Internationally

Summary of the impact

The Africa in Motion Film Festival (AiM), based in Glasgow and Edinburgh, directly emerged from research led by David Murphy and a community of postgraduate students at the University of Stirling. The festival has attracted new audiences for African cinema (over 20,000 spectators since 2006) and contributed to wider debates about it amongst the general public, NGOs, as well as cinephiles in Scotland and more widely. In particular, two projects on the `lost classics' of African cinema allowed neglected films to be discovered both by a general audience and influential film critics/journalists.

Submitting Institution

University of Stirling

Unit of Assessment

English Language and Literature

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

Changing Perceptions and Practice of Literature Professionals through trans-national research on contemporary reading events.

Summary of the impact

The Beyond the Book project has had impact upon the personal and professional development of practitioners, especially public librarians, but also book event organizers, and publishing professionals. The project has achieved this impact by identifying the pleasures that readers derive from shared reading, the limitations of large-scale reading events for producing social change, and by situating the organization of such events within an international context. The project has also had an impact on graduate students in several nation-states through the generation of new methods for studying contemporary readers and reading practices.

Submitting Institution

University of Birmingham

Unit of Assessment

English Language and Literature

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Specialist Studies In Education
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

CIRCA - a novel technology to support people with dementia

Summary of the impact

CIRCA, Computer Interactive Reminiscence and Conversation Aid, is a novel touchscreen computer system designed to support conversation between people with dementia and their caregivers. CIRCA was based on research into the memory and communicative problems of people with dementia. The beneficiaries of this research are: i) practitioners and professionals in healthcare services, who have improved training and caregiving relationships - a total of 46 NHS, third sector and private care organisations from across the UK have installed CIRCA since 2009; and ii) people with dementia, who have enhanced social interactions and quality of life.

Submitting Institution

University of St Andrews

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

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

Conservation of Bumblebees

Summary of the impact

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust (BBCT), a conservation charity launched at the University of Stirling in 2006, was aimed at bridging the gap between research findings and conservation practice. BBCT now has 11 staff, offices and staff based in England, Wales and Scotland, 8,000 paying members, and has involved >12,000 people in bumblebee recording or conservation. Other impacts include awareness raising through extensive media coverage for bumblebee conservation, creation of an education pack for primary schools, joint initiatives with a nationwide Garden Centre chain (Wyevale) and a supermarket (Morrisons), helping to create >2,000 ha of flower rich habitat, involvement in a reintroduction attempt for the locally extinct short-haired bumblebee, political lobbying and influencing national and international policy.

Submitting Institution

University of Stirling

Unit of Assessment

Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Environmental Sciences: Environmental Science and Management
Biological Sciences: Ecology, Genetics

Decomposition, defect correction, and related numerical methods

Summary of the impact

Spatial decomposition methods have been extended to apply to spatial, scale, and temporal domains as a result of work at the Numerical and Applied Mathematics Research Unit (NAMU) at the University of Greenwich. This work has led to a numerical framework for tackling many nonlinear problems which have been key bottlenecks in software design and scientific computing. The work has benefitted the welding industry in the UK because these concepts are now embedded, with parallel computing, in the industry's modern welding design process software.

Submitting Institution

University of Greenwich

Unit of Assessment

Mathematical Sciences

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Mathematical Sciences: Pure Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Numerical and Computational Mathematics

Developing the capacity of National Sport Associations (NSAs)

Summary of the impact

As a consequence of research carried out at the University of Stirling, as set out in this case study, enhancement of the capacity of National Sport Associations has been achieved:

  • A set of development actions have been established by the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) in order to guide future planning for the NSAs.
  • The National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Bosnia and Herzegovina has adopted the capacity development process followed in this research
  • Olympic Solidarity has developed a web platform to allow the NSAs in all 204 National Olympic Committees to carry out capacity development.
  • The NOC of Iraq has passed a resolution to build the capacity of the NSAs in Iraq.

Submitting Institution

University of Stirling

Unit of Assessment

Sport and Exercise Sciences, Leisure and Tourism

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Human Geography, Policy and Administration

Development of athlete career transition support

Summary of the impact

As a consequence of research carried out at the University of Stirling, as set out in this case study, the following developments to athlete career transition support have been achieved

  • A proactive athlete career transition support programme has been developed in the Republic of Ireland. At this point, 219 athletes across 24 sports have been supported by the programme.
  • A multi-dimensional intervention has been created in the Republic of Ireland containing the proactive and reactive support processes, identified by the research, aligned with critical support stages before, during and after the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
  • The research findings have informed the training of psychologists and advisors in the Republic of Ireland and Scotland who work with athletes who retire from their sport.
  • The sportscotland Institute of Sport has developed an explicit high performance sport transition model in order to guide practitioner transition-based decision making, and where required, professional intervention and athlete/coach support processes.

Submitting Institution

University of Stirling

Unit of Assessment

Sport and Exercise Sciences, Leisure and Tourism

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

Early Years Pedagogy and Practice

Summary of the impact

Pedagogical practices, actions and interactions in early years educational settings are of considerable significance for children's subsequent lives. Stephen's research has influenced provision and practice in Ireland, Australia and the USA, as well as in the countries of the UK. Her work on early years Gaelic provision has shaped national policy in Scotland.

Submitting Institution

University of Stirling

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Education Systems, Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

Promoting Literacy and Creative Writing Skills at HMP Edinburgh

Summary of the impact

This case study describes the impact of research on reading and writing in prisons for prisoners at HMP Edinburgh, through a partnership between the BA (Hons) English Suite at Edinburgh Napier, Fife College (previously `Carnegie College') and the Scottish Prison Service (SPS). Dr Anne Schwan's research into the literary and cultural significance of literacy in prisons has resulted in a partnership that benefits prisoners who receive one-to-one tuition from student volunteers. The students engage in literacy and creative writing exercises at the prison. These activities provide tailored support that could not be offered within the resource constraints of regular educational provision.

Submitting Institution

Edinburgh Napier University

Unit of Assessment

English Language and Literature

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Criminology
Language, Communication and Culture: Literary Studies
History and Archaeology: Historical Studies

Enhancing community engagement with the historic environment

Summary of the impact

Successive Scottish Governments, local authorities, statutory bodies and sector agencies have sought to address issues of community (re)engagement with their historic environment within community-building and place-making social agendas. Through History Tomorrow, our commercial history unit, we have been central to initiatives designed to restore property of the past to communities. Our major impact is with Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) projects like Prestongrange, Kilmun, and the Ochils Landscape Partnership (OLP), where community volunteers were trained and empowered to undertake their own research, thereafter becoming trainers themselves. Imparting such training skills to community volunteers restores a sense of possession of their `own' histories and effectively inculcates post-funding sustainability amongst them.

Submitting Institution

University of Stirling

Unit of Assessment

History

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Built Environment and Design: Architecture
Studies In Human Society: Policy and Administration

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