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Professor Roberts' research insights into the changing character of conflict and the laws of war have informed national and international policy. They have shaped (i) initiatives to reform US and UK military training, official manuals and directives on the laws of war; (ii) improvements to UK detention policies and practices; (iii) the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee's conclusion that the UK's aims in Afghanistan should be re-focussed; (iv) the International Red Cross' view of the legal issues affecting their role in contemporary forms of occupation; and (v) UN assessments of the legal standing of UN forces in particular deployments.
Martin Evans' research concerns conflict and its aftermath in the Casamance region of southern Senegal — the scene of West Africa's longest-running insurgency. His work has influenced policy, humanitarian and development activity in the region and beyond, and has informed Western governments, international agencies and non-governmental organisations in their interventions to support peacebuilding and `post-conflict' reconstruction. In addition, Evans has provided expert testimony in relation to asylum claims made in Western countries by Casamançais fleeing persecution. Building on his previous work, Evans has conducted the underpinning research for this activity while at Chester as a lecturer (February 2009-July 2011) and senior lecturer (August 2011-present).
His work has a lasting impact because of the situation's intractability and the need to address ongoing violence and human displacement. The conflict also retains the capacity to destabilise neighbouring countries.
Work with veterans, diplomats, trauma specialists and journalists under the auspices of the International Consortium for the Study of Post-Conflict Reconciliation and Reconstruction (ICSPRR) has allowed Professor Bernard McGuirk's research to contribute to processes of reconstruction and reconciliation between Argentina and the UK. Dialogue between Argentinian and British war veterans from the 1982 conflict was facilitated for the first time and underpinned new understanding, beginning a process of healing. Through expert advice, McGuirk has influenced the thinking and approach to diplomacy of the Argentine Embassy in London and has influenced the way young diplomats in the Argentine Foreign Service in Buenos Aires are trained. His insights have informed broadcast and media content for two prominent journalists.
Over the last decade, understanding the character of war in Afghanistan has been of unparalleled importance to the British and U.S. armed forces and to their respective governments. Dr Rob Johnson, military historian and Director of The Oxford Changing Character of War Programme since 2012, has become a key participant in the process of preparing British officers serving in Afghanistan, and in developing senior commanders' understanding of the army's role in this conflict and the options for military transition. His book, articles, presentations and direct engagement in debate have been cited by military practitioners as a vital corrective to their thinking, and have done much to dispel stereotypical views and misunderstandings of Afghanistan and its past.
The impact of the research has been achieved principally in the areas of education, public awareness, political engagement, and the processes of identity-formation in contemporary Spanish society. This has been done by engaging the public with hitherto suppressed material from the Francoist period. Interaction with the target user groups has been effected by making the results of the research widely available on a range of platforms, including: new annotated editions of biographical and literary texts in reader-friendly format; a film documentary; an internet blog; public talks and debates in cultural centres and museums; activities at Adult Education centres and with reading groups. The ensuing lively (and at times heated) debates and discussions have in turn fed back into an evolving dialogue between researchers and the public. In this case, impact, like the research, is a continuous process, not a single event.
Research at Oxford funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) showed that countries with highly unequal resource distribution between culturally defined groups (`horizontal inequality') are more likely to experience conflict. This key insight contributed to changes in: DFID strategy towards conflict-affected areas; UNDP policy on post-conflict reconstruction; the work of the World Bank towards conflict; and OECD guidance on state-building in fragile states. The research also made a contribution to national policy discussions in a number of developing countries, including Nepal, Malaysia and Kenya.
Impact derived from Prof Maggie Andrews' research was through collaboration, since 2008, with the National Memorial Arboretum (NMA) in Staffordshire and, latterly, with archival and heritage organisations in Worcestershire and Staffordshire, to increase public involvement in practices of remembrance, memorialisation and commemoration and to enhance experience of them — both for those directly affected and for the general public. Andrews' collaboration with the NMA influenced development of the UK's first, national centre for remembrance during critical years of its evolution. Through assisting the NMA to envision and understand its role in the context of contemporary culture, her input informed the NMA's approach to supporting visitors' experience and framed and informed its developing approaches to visitor interpretation. Her collaboration with organisations in Staffordshire and Worcestershire supported development of approaches to forthcoming, national centenary commemoration of World War 1.
In the last decade, the traditional view of military ethics among practitioners and scholars has been challenged by revisionist approaches to Just War Theory. David Rodin's work has played a significant part in the development of the revisionist school and in its subsequent impacts on Western militaries. His research on individual responsibility in war, the limitations of traditional justifications of war, and jus terminatio (the ethical norms applicable to the termination of war) has - as part of the revisionist school - opened up new approaches to military ethics and the way militaries understand their rights and responsibilities and those of others in war. Rodin's research has had significant impact in re-shaping training on ethics for military personnel and senior civil servants in the US, UK and beyond, and is informing changes in the doctrine and practice of Western militaries.
This case study presents the impact of two book chapters, one book and an extended journal article written by Professor Matthew Stibbe on related aspects of gender relations, mobilisation for war, and wartime captivity in twentieth-century Germany. The Weimar and Nazi periods continue to be extremely popular subjects at all levels of the education system. Through sixth-form master classes, A/AS-level and GCSE day conferences, and a magazine article aimed at sixth-formers and their teachers, Stibbe has used his research findings and profile to influence the way that modern German history is understood by school students, taught by school teachers, and presented to school audiences by professional actors, examiners and textbook writers.
Key questions face Western military establishments and governments concerning the likely form of future defence needs and, consequently, the size and shape of their armed forces. Following dashed hopes of a long-term `peace dividend' after the collapse of the USSR, came recognition that defence remained a fundamental concern, but that military needs might be manifested in different ways. The debate about a `war on terrorism' post-9/11 further intensified questions about the nature of future conflict. Through his research on strategy, and his guiding role in the Oxford "Changing Character of War" programme, Sir Hew Strachan, Chichele Professor of the History of War (since 2002), has made a major contribution to these debates and has helped to shape military policy making in the UK and the USA.