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In a series of training studies on children between the ages of 5 and 12 years, a research team at the Department of Psychology successfully demonstrated that substantial improvements in roadside decision-making and behaviour can be achieved in children as young as 5 years. Based on their findings, the team developed and evaluated a training intervention (Kerbcraft) aimed at improving children's pedestrian skills through practical roadside activities which was formally adopted by the UK government. Since 2008, the majority of 5-7 year old children in the UK have received formal pedestrian skills training using Kerbcraft either in its full or adapted form. Kerbcraft now plays a key role in the UK Government's road safety strategy and has been cited as an example of best practice by the World Health Organisation and safety agencies across Europe, the US, Australia and in developing countries such as Ethiopia and Bangladesh.
Professor William Stimson has led research into rapid diagnostic tests for the food industry from 1996 to the present day. These tests reduce the time for microbiological testing of food pathogens from 2-5 days to within a working day. The new technology is fully automated, uses less material and involves fewer manipulations than previously available kits, leading to a reduction in cost and time. A spin out company, Solus Scientific Solutions Ltd., has attracted €1.36M EUROSTARS funding for further Research & Development, and has created 24 jobs. Sales of testing kits produced revenue of £3.4 million by year end 2012, and have increased since this date.
Research in solid state lasers and non-linear optics in the Department of Physics has led to the creation of innovative laser companies in Glasgow serving global scientific and industrial markets. World-leading products have opened up applications in biomedical imaging, security, defence, pollution monitoring, material processing and fundamental spectroscopy. The companies Coherent Scotland Ltd and M Squared Lasers Ltd can trace a direct link to the research in the Department of Physics and are the central theme of this case study. Since 2008, these two companies have created an estimated 600 person years of employment and £135M of sales from products underpinned by research undertaken at Strathclyde. The wider cluster of companies, researching, designing and developing laser products, including Thales Optronics and more recently the Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics, which has a close working relationship with the University, has made Glasgow one of the leading European centres for innovative laser manufacture.
As a result of his research using new techniques in the digital analysis and visualisation of Shakespeare's language Professor Jonathan Hope was invited to work with the company of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Hope's findings highlighted unusual interaction patterns between characters, a focus on objects (props), and very frequent references to space and movement in the language of the play. Actors used Hope's research findings to inform rehearsal and performance of the play which was performed to 14,509 teachers and pupils from more than 100 London schools over a two-week period in February and March 2012. Hope's engagement with the Globe Theatre has generated impact through its effect on the actors and their performances, through the pupils' engagement with the play, and in its contribution to the Globe Theatre's status as a national leading arts educational organisation. The impact has been extended to the 2013 schools production of Romeo and Juliet, playing to 16,325 school teachers and pupils from 128 schools.
A low-cost, efficient, blood cell salvage technology (HemoSep) has resulted from research carried out at Strathclyde between 2008 and 2013. The novel technology has been patented and licensed to Brightwake Ltd., who manufacture the device in the UK and market it through a global distribution network. HemoSep has now been used in clinical centres across Europe, North America, and South Africa since its commercial launch in late 2012. The use of the device has been shown to reduce the need for donor blood transfusions in open-heart surgical patients by at least 1 unit (450 ml) with an associated reduction in transfusion related complications such as heightened inflammatory response and bleeding. The reduction in blood transfusions associated with the use of HemoSep has a considerable cost benefit to healthcare providers (in North America blood costs up to $1600 per unit). In addition, commercialisation of HemoSep has led to the creation of new manufacturing, marketing and sales jobs in the UK and overseas.
Research by Smyth and colleagues into diversification of the teaching profession resulted in the formation of Refugees Into Teaching in Scotland (RITeS) funded initially by the European Refugee Fund and then the Scottish Government. RITeS has enabled professionals who were teachers in their country of origin and arrived in the UK seeking asylum to maintain their professional identity and revitalise their professional skills in a new education system, leading to employment opportunities through identification as teachers rather than refugees. The project provided information on the specific needs of 387 refugee teachers to the General Teaching Council for Scotland and to employing local authorities. RITeS has been used as a model for similar projects with teachers in England and other refugee professionals in Scotland.
Research at Strathclyde University, led by Professor Helen Grant, provided data that contributed to the withdrawal of the DePuy ASRTM metal-on-metal hip resurfacing implant from the market in September 2010. This withdrawal was based on the increased rates of failure, due mainly to release of metal ions from the cobalt-chrome alloy implant into patients' blood circulation. Over 93,000 patients are affected worldwide. The impacts of the research were (i) clinical - with concerted focus on patient health, removal of implants if required, prevention of long term metallosis; (ii) procedural - a reduction in the use of metal-on-metal implants more generally in the UK and worldwide, decline in use of metal-on-metal articulations, and renewed focus on regulation of orthopaedic implants; and (iii) economic - income to patients who have successfully sued the manufacturers.
Research at Strathclyde has led to a significant increase in the delivery of school-based counselling in the UK, with services established in all secondary schools in Northern Ireland and Wales since 2007 and 2008, respectively. It is estimated that there are approximately 70-90,000 service users per year across UK secondary schools. School-based counselling significantly reduces young people's psychological distress, and helps them gain self-confidence, achieve their goals, and concentrate more in class. Strathclyde's research has led the way in demonstrating the effectiveness of this type of intervention, and has played a pivotal role in supporting its roll-out and development, thereby improving the well-being of large numbers of young people across the UK.
The Cancer Research UK Formulation Unit at the University of Strathclyde performed the pharmaceutical research and development of new chemotherapy treatments for malignant brain and prostate cancer (temozolomide and abiraterone acetate). These two drugs are now marketed globally, with FDA approval for the US market in 1999 and 2011 respectively, and have directly improved the quality of life and increased survival rates during treatment for over a quarter of a million cancer patients annually since 2008. Temozolomide achieved $1 billion sales per annum in 2008, and Abiraterone global sales reached $1.45 billion by 2013. Both drugs have produced economic benefit to the charity Cancer Research UK through royalty payments.
The Confidential Incident Reporting and Analysis System (CIRAS), was developed in response to concerns about the role of human error in UK railway accidents. In 2008, CIRAS became an independently operated unit within the Rail Safety and Standards Board and is now available to everyone working in the UK rail industry; it codes reports about health and safety concerns and then facilitates a resolution between the individual and the relevant company or companies. 2.75 million passengers and 400,000 tonnes of freight use the railways in Great Britain every day and CIRAS impacts on the safety of all railway staff and passengers by ensuring that there are no barriers to reporting and resolving potential problems and hazards. It has also led to the construction of a database allowing safety issues to be classified and resolved before they can occur. Between 2008 and 2012 CIRAS received 2228 reports; 45% of these resulted in tangible safety improvements and approximately 33% contained important information about safety that was new to the company concerned. CIRAS has directly influenced the development of a confidential reporting system used in the USA.