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The research impacts on public discourse, professional practice and cultural life. It raises public awareness and professional understanding of how contemporary development is being viewed in Africa. Analysing the work of creative artists from several countries in sub-Saharan Francophone Africa, the research has revealed that, far from presenting development as positive change, artists are depicting economic development in the region as a form of enslavement. For over a decade they have been creating a visual vocabulary to speak about `development' around the most iconic and disturbing images of the Atlantic slave trade. In public events delivered in English, French and Spanish, supported by digital resources, the author is disseminating this view from the continent to a broader audience across the world.
Impact arises from the application of Leeds-based research to enhance professional awareness and understanding of issues concerning contemporary UK defence and security within its broader international context.
The principal beneficiaries are serving personnel of the UK armed forces and the Ministry of Defence (MoD), as well as analysts, practitioners and future policy and strategy makers in the field of defence and security. They benefit through the contribution of this research to their continuing professional development; the promotion and pursuit of wider knowledge and understanding; and the provision of expert advice.
Research carried out by the University of Nottingham has significantly informed international policies designed to transform technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and its role in development. This has been achieved through direct contribution to policy making at global, regional and national levels, most notably for UNESCO, the Southern African Development Community and the South African government. This has led to the revision of global, regional and national policy guidelines and the development of new regional and national indicators. Conventional policy wisdoms have been questioned at global and national levels and new concepts introduced into the policy debate.
In the context of the changing centre of gravity of the global economy, the Rising Powers in general, and China in particular, have become major actors on the African stage. Their relatively rapid entry is a disruptive presence and poses significant challenges to established policy trajectories in the public and private sectors, in civil society organisations, and to multilateral and bilateral aid agencies. This case study shows how Open University (OU) researchers have led much of the theoretical discussion in this field and have used pioneering primary research to interact intensively with a range of policy stakeholders, achieving high levels of impact in terms of both significance and reach. In so doing, they have helped frame the policy debate, had direct impact on policy formulation in a range of settings and contributed to changes in practitioners and professional practice.
Carrier's research and publications have had a strong impact on UK public and policy debate surrounding the stimulant drug khat - the stems and leaves of the shrub `Catha edulis' that have been consumed for centuries in East Africa and the Middle East and are now imported in large quantities to the UK. In particular, this research has been influential in shaping the UK Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs' recommendations to the Government, published in January 2013. The Oxford research has played a significant role in highlighting the potential negative impact of the ban on farmers in East Africa, and though the government announced in July 2013 that it would not be following the Council's recommendations that khat not be prohibited, an argument remains urging the generation of ameliorative measures to mitigate this negative impact of UK policy.
PISCES (Policy Innovation Systems for Clean Energy Security) is a research consortium that is concerned with sustainable bioenergy in developing countries. PISCES has improved clean energy access and livelihoods via bioenergy for approximately 250,000 people in Kenya, India, Sri Lanka and Tanzania. The University of Edinburgh contribution reported here is that of Molony, whose research has provided evidence for the creation of improved national policy for energy and development in East Africa, for example enhancing local understandings of charcoal regulation in Kenya, contributing towards the development and uptake of renewable energy cookstoves in Tanzania, and helping establish national bioenergy working groups in both Kenya and Tanzania.
The Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme (RHVP) sought to achieve research-based change in policy approaches to food insecurity and famine in southern Africa by investigating a range of policy options and generating debate. The programme's success can be identified in evidence of use, as provided by a post-programme independent evaluation of RHVP; policy response, as observed in social protection policy changes in Malawi, Lesotho, Botswana and Mozambique; and policy outcomes, measured by the impact on beneficiaries of social transfer schemes put in place or expanded in scope due to RHVP influence on social protection policy thinking in southern Africa.
University of Reading research, in collaboration with a South African partner, has led to the development of materials on literacy learning in multilingual settings in Africa, transforming teaching practice across the continent.
A second, related project is helping to deepen understanding of the conditions necessary for African language publishing to thrive, attracting considerable interest from the South African book industry. The findings have also been used to justify the inclusion of African languages in a South African reading campaign; to help civil society organisations campaigning for improved basic education in South Africa; and to support the development of local language materials in seven African countries.
This research has had a significant influence on: (1) cultural life, through a major exhibition at the National Library in Cape Town and promotion of forgotten French cultural heritage in the Cape; (2) civic life and public discourse, through a major series of talks, as keynote speaker at a public event organized by the National Library of South Africa (NLSA) focused on cultural memory, commemoration and reconciliation, press coverage and radio broadcasts in the UK and South Africa; (3) education, through visits to secondary schools; and (4) economic prosperity, through the promotion of tourism in the Eastern Cape of South Africa.
Since 2006 ULIP has adopted the strategy of examining French and Spanish North Africa as an object of study. The rationale for this is to use ULIP's physical location in Paris as a bridgehead for researchers in North Africa and Europe. ULIP has recently recruited staff with the appropriate research profiles. These staff members have already been involved in public debates organized by ULIP in North Africa and the aim is to develop a generation of researchers who can move ULIP's strategy in this field forward.
Andrew Hussey's research has focused since 2002 on the relation between France, Spain and North Africa. As an essayist, broadcaster and public speaker, Hussey has communicated this research far beyond academic audiences to reach a general public in Europe and North Africa. His work has made a major contribution to debates about the cultural and political history of North Africa. A significant dimension to such impact has been its influence on the broadcast and print media in France, the UK and North Africa.