Log in
Significant climate change is forecast for the Middle East by the end of this century, leading to — amongst other things — greater water scarcity and falling agricultural productivity. LSE research resulted in the development of the Palestinian Authority's first climate change adaptation strategy. This in turn led to the creation of a Palestinian national committee on climate change and, with the implementation of specific recommendations from this research, the strengthening of climate change planning within the Palestinian Authority. The research also shifted regional priorities for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which subsequently included climate change in its 2011-2013 Strategic Framework as a policy priority for development work in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The research impact elaborated in this case study was facilitated through the Human Rights and Terrorism project, which was led by Conor Gearty between 2005 and 2008. Through a series of seminars on accommodating the demands of human rights alongside the interests of national security, the Human Rights and Terrorism project engaged with policy makers and those concerned with criminal justice and anti-terrorist measures. Research produced by Gearty in connection with the seminars shaped parts of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 so as to integrate it within the traditional criminal law model.
Professor Jude Howell served from 2009-2011 as lead researcher on a fundamental review of the Australian Government's approach to civil society in its developing country aid programmes. She and her collaborators produced a report with seven key recommendations. These led to a new Government policy statement on Effective Governance and a new Civil Society Engagement Framework. The initial impacts of rolling out this Framework in 2012-13 have been 1) significant changes in the Australian Agency for International Development's (AusAID) operations in relation to engagement with civil society at both headquarter and country levels, and 2) a substantial increase in the amount of money and attention going to the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other organisations that form the backbone of civil society in the 37 developing countries in which AusAID works.
Professor Mary Kaldor convened a study group that proposed a new human security doctrine for the European Union at the request of its High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy. This doctrine defined a new approach for EU involvement in situations requiring a security and defence response, with special attention to conflict and disaster in developing countries. It has influenced security and defence policy at the EU and country member levels, and has proved to dramatically reduce violence and contribute to peacekeeping efforts and a return to civil society when applied in conflict-ridden contexts such as Chad, Somalia, Iraq and Libya.
Fuel poverty is a serious social problem. Research within the Unit has changed official understanding and measurement of fuel poverty. High quality work within the Unit examining poverty measurement, specific issues around fuel poverty, impacts of energy efficiency measures for housing, and of the distributional effects of energy price increases, resulted in the Government inviting Professor Hills, in 2011, to lead a review of how fuel poverty is measured. His March 2012 report recommended a new `low income high costs' framework as the indicator for fuel poverty. In September 2012, the Government's consultation paper proposed that this be adopted for future official statistics. The Government confirmed this decision in July 2013 and published a Framework for Future Action on the problem, based on the review's analysis.
Research undertaken at LSE since 1995 has changed the terms of debate about land use planning and contributed to substantive changes in government policy. Planning was previously thought of as purely an environmental/design issue, but the underpinning research has demonstrated substantial economic effects on housing supply and affordability, housing market volatility, and on the productivity of economic users of space: it has shown that England's planning policies add up to 35% to housing costs, act as a tax equivalent of up to 800% on the cost of office space and since 1996 have reduced the productivity of a representative English supermarket by 32%. The work had significant influence on the two Barker Reviews and subsequent housing policy changes introduced by the Blair and Brown Labour governments. More recently it has influenced Coalition thinking and policy on planning's wider economic impacts.
Research by Professor Leonard Smith and the LSE Centre for the Analysis of Time Series (CATS) on forecasting in non-linear and often chaotic systems, with particular attention to weather, has led to advances in three areas: 1) national and international weather industry products and services that are built upon state-of-the-art research and knowledge, 2) dissemination of state-of-the-art practice in forecast production and verification to national, regional and local weather centres around the world, and 3) the introduction of, and new applications in, state-of-the-art forecasting methods in industries facing high uncertainty and risk, e.g. insurance and energy.
In partnership with the Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History Arne Westad convened three week-long summer seminars for school-teachers between 2009 and 2011 on the Global Cold War. Co-taught by Tanya Harmer and Svetozar Rajak, the seminars introduced 87 participants to new research, primary sources and teaching methods. Teachers came from different types of schools across North America, Russia, Eastern Europe and the UK. As a result of these seminars, many changed their syllabi and altered classroom practices to incorporate new information, analytical frameworks and sources. The seminars also led to unique international networks of teachers and students and planning for new modules on the International Baccalaureate.
The Unit's work has had a direct impact on the child protection system in England. In 2010, the Secretary of State for Education invited Eileen Munro to review the child protection system, giving her a wide remit enabling her to address systemic factors (such as the inspection framework, statutory guidance and performance management systems) as well as front line practice. All 15 recommendations of her final 2011 report [B] have been accepted and are being implemented. Munro's research has had significant reach: she has given evidence to two state government reviews of child protection in Australia; and in Queensland a charity is running a campaign to persuade the state government to learn from her work.
LSE research played a key role in shaping the political and public debate around unpopular and ill-founded plans to introduce identity cards in the UK, showing the proposals to be unsafe, ineffective and costly. Plans for national biometric identity cards were scrapped by the coalition government in May 2010.
Former Home Secretary David Blunkett described the detailed, cross-disciplinary report from academics at LSE as having "changed the culture and atmosphere around, and attitudes towards, the scheme and its intention". An alternative, privacy-friendly identity policy is being developed in its place with LSE researchers playing a significant role in its development. Lessons from the UK continue to influence government identity policy in other countries including India, the Caribbean and Latin America.