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In summer 2007 the vice-director of the Museo Nacional del Prado asked Professor Joannides to co-curate The Late Raphael, a major international loan exhibition held at the Prado and the Musée du Louvre in 2012-13. Extensive research by Joannides and his co-curator, Professor Tom Henry (University of Kent), from 2008 onwards shaped the content and form of the exhibition, which was supported by a scholarly but accessibly-written catalogue setting-out their findings. The exhibition brought significant financial benefits for both museums through increased visitor numbers and sales of the catalogue — now reprinted by Thames and Hudson for commercial distribution. The exhibition has raised awareness of the work that Raphael and his two closest pupils produced between 1513 and 1524 to the exhibition's visitors, to scholars and to the public at large through extensive international media coverage.
The impact described in this case study is the significant enhancement of the public understanding and appreciation of the work of the French writer Guillaume Apollinaire, notably through greater awareness of the quality of the work resulting from his creative dialogues with Pablo Picasso and other visual artists. This impact has been achieved through Peter Read's collaborations with museum curators (especially at the Centre Pompidou in Metz, France), and through the dissemination of his archival research findings in major exhibition catalogues, illustrated books, magazine and newspaper articles, public lectures, and radio broadcasts. Read's research has also been cited in influential works by other critics, biographers, and historians. As a result, Read's research is now a key point of reference in the public discussion of Apollinaire, Picasso, and other Paris-based writers and artists of the early twentieth century.
Professor Nicholas Cronk, has in collaboration with others, created an app which is an enhanced edition of Voltaire's Candide, freely available, for use on tablets. Candide is a timeless and universal text with perennial appeal, and this digital edition renders it accessible to a wide variety of new readers. Cronk has been encouraging engagement with Voltaire's texts through more traditional channels but this latest innovation has won new readers for Voltaire, especially among a young generation often more familiar with new media than with traditional books. The app, with its dual level of annotations, illustrations, manuscript images, commentaries, and the Polyadès recording, has been well received by a wide range of readers, and functions in a curatorial capacity to preserve an important work of French classical literary heritage in a new, sustainable format. The Candide app represents a revolutionary tool for both independent learning, and also for classroom teaching.
Research on John Brett, undertaken by Christiana Payne, was disseminated through an exhibition, held at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham, the Fine Art Society, London and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, in the summer and autumn of 2010. In total, c.28,000 visitors saw the exhibition. The Birmingham showing was accompanied by a study day and gallery talks, in which Christiana Payne participated. The exhibition had a qualitative impact on visitors, who found Brett's work uplifting and inspiring, and an economic impact on the local and national economy by attracting visitors to the three venues. The reappraisal of Brett has had an impact on museum policies and practices.
Max Saunders' case study is based on his work on the critical edition of Ford Madox Ford's tetralogy of novels Parade's End (1924-8). This edition was used for the BBC/HBO series, adapted by Tom Stoppard. Saunders was literary consultant for the series, wrote about it in the media and gave the creative team advice. The adaptation has been watched by 2.5m viewers many of whom will not previously have been aware of Ford or his novels. BBC2 drama doubled its normal viewing figures for drama. The impact of the edition and of Saunders' wider scholarship on the adaptation is demonstrable in statements by the producer and director of the series.
Research by Oxford scholars on ancient Macedon has played a significant role in promoting public knowledge of this important kingdom [text removed for publication]. The beneficiaries of this research on Macedonia are [text removed for publication] members of the public, both in the UK and abroad, who have had their historical knowledge and understanding enriched through contact with research on Macedonia in written form and at museums [text removed for publication]. This impact has been achieved in a number of ways through a major museum exhibition, through public lectures and popular histories, and through accessible scholarly publications. This research has also had a significant economic impact.
Beyond Macbeth: Shakespeare Collections in Scotland, an AHRC-funded research project into Scottish receptions of Shakespeare, culminated in a major exhibition at the National Library of Scotland (NLS) in 2011. The project contributed to economic prosperity, education, and cultural life. It brought direct financial benefits to the NLS, in the form of £88k to mount the exhibition and media coverage with an advertising-value equivalent to £19k. The exhibition received over 26k visitors, a 30% increase on the previous winter exhibition. The project also shaped the way in which the NLS presents important elements of the cultural heritage in its custody, and influenced the development of its learning activities and online learning resources for UK schools. Visitors were led to examine their assumptions about Shakespeare, the history of his reception, and his significance for Scotland, and the exhibition was cited in the Scottish Parliament as an example of how the NLS meets its remit.
Sara Haslam's research on Ford Madox Ford has contributed significantly in the last decade to the public re-discovery and resurgent interest in his life and work. She has been the chair of the Ford Society since 2008, and has published a monograph, an edited essay collection, and critical editions of two of Ford's novels. Haslam's research and cultural networking has informed the recent dissemination of his work to a broad popular audience through the acclaimed BBC/HBO adaptation of Parade's End (August-Sept, 2012) and the BBC Culture Show special, `Who on Earth was Ford Madox Ford?'
2011 was the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, one of the most significant documents in the history of the English language. In 2010, Professor Gordon Campbell published a monograph on the history of the KJV and an edition of the 1611 text. These two books played a central role in the process whereby the KJV moved from being the private possession of believers and students of literature and achieved renewed significance as the cultural property of the wider Anglophone world. In England, the KJV became the property of school children when the British government bought 21,144 copies of Campbell's edition of the Bible, and presented a copy to every primary and secondary school in the country. Campbell's books generated income that ran well into six figures, and an extensive series of lectures and discussions have deepened understanding of the KJV throughout the world.
Andrew Biswell's research since 1995 has focused on the literature of Anthony Burgess. This work has brought about an international resurgence of public interest in Burgess's artistic legacies, with particular emphasis on his novels, short stories, letters and music. The underpinning research has generated demonstrable impacts in cultural life (enriching the lives and imagination of readers); school education (the creation of educational IT resources for school-age students); public discourse (contributing to a debate about crime and society); tourism (creating visitor experiences through a public exhibition); commercial activity (development of an innovative electronic resource); and commemoration and remembrance (concerts on BBC radio and at the Imperial War Museum North).