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The research described below has impacted on policy and practice relating to Personal Development Planning (PDP) - the structured and supported process by which learners reflect upon their own development and plan their future development. The impact has primarily been on the UK Higher Education (HE) sector, but has also extended beyond the UK and into other types of organisation (e.g. graduate recruitment networks). More specifically, the research has: shaped the guidance offered to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) on implementing and developing PDP policies and processes for students; enhanced the practice of PDP practitioners; stimulated debate among these practitioners; and informed the development of resources for these practitioners. This has had an overarching positive effect on learner development in educational settings and beyond.
In February 2010, the Dutch government and parliament were rocked by a serious factual mis- reporting from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) about the danger of flooding in the Netherlands. The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, faced with the immense task of checking that there were no more errors in the report, came to LSE researchers for advice. Academics working on LSE's How Well Do Facts Travel? project helped the Agency to establish a process to ensure the integrity of climate-science facts in an efficient and effective manner. That Agency has now extended the method to ensure the integrity of the facts reported in the next generation of IPCC reports (one completed, others forthcoming).
Thus the LSE research, which investigated the histories of how, why and when facts travel with integrity, has been used to improve the quality of scientific evidence in public policy formation about one of the major challenges facing society, that of climate change.
In the UK, 20-25% of the population (around 15 million people) sufferer from allergic rhinitis (hay fever) resulting in about 4 million `sick days' per year. Research undertaken by the National Pollen and Aerobiology Research Unit (NPARU) over a period of 20 years has resulted in the development of a national pollen forecasting system for the UK which has had direct benefits on the health and wellbeing of hay fever sufferers. This research has also raised awareness of the importance of pollen information for sufferers, fed into policy on allergy services (and subsequently practice of these services), underpinned training of health professionals, and informed clinical trials of anti-allergy products and devices.