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Using a ground-breaking database of recovered narratives of Latin American women during the Wars of Independence,
Allwood's research into Women and Politics has looked at women's participation in mainstream and alternative forms of political activity; gender and policy, focusing on prostitution, violence and abortion policy; and the political participation of refugee women. The research has informed government advisory panels, think-tanks, and NGOs, in particular in debates around gender quotas and the relationship between gender and democracy. External voices and actors have helped shape the research process, and the audience of this research has made material and distinct decisions based on new insights effectively shared, as demonstrated by citations of research outputs in policy documents and discussion papers.
The impact described involves significant contributions to international and national policy development and practitioner/public engagement, emanating from the findings of longitudinal qualitative research on parenthood transitions, gender and caring. These findings have influenced international policy evidenced though advisory roles and policy development at the World Health Organisation and national policy through engagement with think tanks, public/practitioner bodies (e.g. National Childbirth Trust) and membership of a Labour party policy review panel on fatherhood. The research findings have promoted public engagement, led to media invitations, been cited as evidence in policy review, noted in Hansard and led to change in professional practise.
Established in 2003, Queer@King's provides a focus for queer studies research and a meeting place for queer scholars and wider LGBTQ communities, including activists, artists, advocates, curators, performers, school educators, and writers, in which to share ideas and shape public discourse. Through Queer@King's, academics have enhanced queer life and civil society in London, and developed a remit around cultural production and advocacy that is both national and international. Impact includes shaping public discourse and informing public understanding about queer histories; challenging dominant assumptions about sexual minority lives, including those of transsexuals; and informing educationalists and law makers. Submitted projects relate to the research of Prof. John Howard, Dr. Robert Mills, and Prof. Mark W. Turner.
The research has had a demonstrable impact in Italy, in the UK, and elsewhere, in the areas of Civil Society, Public discourse, and Cultural Life. Specifically, it has a) supported LGBTQ community initiatives; b) helped LGBTQ individuals to meet societal challenges and thereby improved their well-being; c) increased public awareness and understanding of human rights infringements experienced by LGBTQ individuals in Italy; d) generated publications and debates on the incorporation of the term `queer' in Italian discourses; e) directly influenced the writing practice of a contemporary Italian novelist and indirectly her readership. Beneficiaries: individuals and groups studied in the ethnographic research; LGBTQ populations in Italy and elsewhere, and sections of the public concerned with the politics of sexuality and gender.
Durham Archaeology has significantly changed how one of the most important World Heritage Sites in Asia is protected and managed. By enhancing the definition, sequence and preservation of Lumbini, birthplace of the Lord Buddha, this research has influenced development plans for the maintenance of the site, preventing proposals that would have destroyed critical evidence of early Buddhist practice. The research approach is now being translated to neighbouring sites. The impacts of Durham's research thus have extensive reach, being of significant value to the Government of Nepal, the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) and the Lumbini Development Trust.
This case study presents the impact of research undertaken by Professor Clare Midgley that places nineteenth-century British women's activism within its imperial and global contexts. Impact has been achieved through advisory roles and public engagement activities with two community groups involved in projects to commemorate women, and a consultancy role with English Heritage. As a result, Midgley's research has both played a crucial role in initiating and shaping local projects to commemorate pioneering British feminists and abolitionists of local, national and global significance, whilst also influencing national policy on preserving and presenting historic sites associated with women's history.
More than twenty years of sanctions and war have decimated all areas of Iraqi society, including its higher education sector. In this context, the work of Professor Nadje Al-Ali has countered conservative forces pursuing Iraqi reconstruction in ways that explicitly marginalise women. Drawing on her research on women's rights in Iraq and beyond, Al-Ali has worked to raise consciousness of how perspectives informed by gender theory can contribute to a more equitable reconstruction of Iraqi civil society. Through in-country and regional training of academics and women's rights activists, and mentoring numerous Iraqi research projects, Al-Ali has substantially progressed the promotion of women's rights and gender-based equality in Iraq.
Simon Goldhill's research on the history and archaeology of Jerusalem led to his being asked to join the EU-funded programme Promoting Understanding of Shared Heritage (PUSH). The aim of the project is to develop a new policy on sites of shared cultural heritage, in which capacity Goldhill has met regularly with — and been able to influence — Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian policy-makers. This influence is manifested in a rapprochement between groups who had previously been unable to meet; new signage at significant sites across Israel/Palestine and Jordan; and continuing interaction particularly on the crucial area of the management of natural resources.
Dr Julie Gottlieb's research on women's politicization and gender roles in inter-war British extremist politics has had cultural impact in terms of the understanding of, and the coming to terms with, often uncomfortable and traumatic family memories. The personal and contemporary resonances of this research have led the media and the public, in particular the descendants of those still affected by the much-stigmatized political choices of their immediate ancestors, to become closely engaged with her work, serving to recover and understand overlooked histories. Of the audiences of hundreds who have heard her in person and hundreds of thousands who have listened to her on radio, several have contacted her with information and insights that signify a deeper understanding of the multi-faceted relationship between women and politics in the aftermath of suffrage, in particular during the crisis years between the world wars. Gottlieb's work has provided an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate women who have been sidelined in political history, providing a launching point for public discussion about women's political agency and representation almost a century after suffrage.