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This case study concerns the development, adoption and dissemination of innovative `community-owned' approaches to the sustainable management of social-ecological systems (SES) within the Guiana Shield region of South America. Spanning the countries of Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and areas of Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia, this region is of recognized global significance for carbon storage, fresh water resources and biodiversity. Its indigenous, Amerindian communities have a potentially crucial role to play in sustainable conservation policy and practice. However, local economic and cultural changes, extractive industries, and global dynamics such as climate change are bringing profound challenges to these local communities and their SES. Research at Royal Holloway has responded to these challenges by involving indigenous peoples in both biodiversity science and sustainability policy. The work allows indigenous communities to identify, through participatory research methods, the most effective practices they have for surviving and thriving sustainably.
The impacts of the research are of four main types:
Following extensive ethnographic research in South Asia, Durham Anthropology highlighted the pressing need to include indigenous knowledge (IK) in development practice and sustainable resource management. As part of our research we helped establish an NGO-based network with an explicit remit to promote and implement our research insights in Bangladesh. This network has had far-reaching effects, empowering local people and helping to promote agricultural resilience and sustainable livelihoods (e.g. in preserving seed bio-diversity). Development practitioners in Bangladeshi universities are now trained using methods based on our research. IK-aware development based on Durham research is also internationally recognised and implemented by UNESCO.
Research by the University of Huddersfield is making a major contribution to maintaining the tropical forests of south-west Ethiopia and improving the livelihoods of those who rely on them. By identifying effective arrangements for sustainable resource management and small-scale business development, the research has led to increased production, enhanced links with national and international markets and developed new institutions, as well as leading to revised legislation. Over 105,000 hectares of degrading forest are being transformed into a working and profitable resource and 18 new enterprises now serve around 100,000 people. In total, an estimated fifteen million people benefit from new rules supporting forest enterprise development.
This Unit's staff and associates have considerable expertise in land management, focussing on two issues faced in Africa; the management of communal rangelands and the management of native species for the benefit of local communities. Coventry University is a recognized centre of global knowledge on Prosopis, a series of economically and ecologically important tree species, but also widely-considered potentially serious weeds in many countries. Underpinning research carried out at Coventry was pivotal to the correct identification, evaluation and subsequent management and utilisation of the most common tropical species, Prosopis juliflora and Prosopis pallida. Other research, on the management of common rangelands, has provided an understanding of the way common land rights are expressed in communal areas and the social, political and ecological factors which govern them.
The Unit's research has led to economic impacts, including for The Mesquite Company (Texas) who generate USD 150,000 each year from the sale of Prosopis products. The research has also had impact on public policy and society in Kenya and South Africa. In Kenya, the Government changed its approach towards Prosopis from eradication towards management and lifted a blanket-ban on the use of plant-based charcoal as a result of the Unit's research. This enabled the Green Power Station (currently employing 2000 people) to be established. In South Africa, policy debate has been informed by research on the governance of common land. The research has also had impact on creativity, culture and society, informing public and political debate in South Africa, Kenya and India. Beneficiaries include businesses developing new products and producing energy; local communities in South Africa and Kenya, and the South African and Kenyan Governments.
Research undertaken by Starkey and colleagues has informed the development of a particular philosophy and practice of research. This has informed policy debates about the nature of effective management research for engaging with practice — now widely referred to as co-production — and led to new insights into the practice of policymaking in government. The research informed (1) the development of a new approach to policymaking adopted by the previous administration in work conducted for and with the Cabinet Office with senior civil servants and representation from the House of Lords; (2) collaborative work on the development of low carbon communities which was conducted with the Department of The Environment and Climate Change.
Research by Exeter's Wetland Archaeology group has transformed our understanding of the significance of wetlands as exceptionally well-preserved but highly vulnerable records of past human achievement. By informing public policy and advising planning and conservation bodies it has played a major role in shaping management practices in the UK and internationally. This includes Van de Noort's co-authorship of the English Heritage Strategy for Wetlands, which informed the multi-agency Vision for Wetlands that has distributed £8m of English Nature funding for wetland conservation (2008-11), and £462k of English Heritage (EH) grants (2011-15). The Vision for Wetlands emphasizes the need for multi-agency working and as an example of this Rippon's AHRC KTF and consequential contract research have involved collaborating with Essex County Council, Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, RSPB, and Wessex Archaeology in developing a major c.1,500ha nature reserve, informing policies to increase public access to the countryside, and planning for the future of the 2012 Olympic Mountain Bike venue.
Effective, equitable natural resource management poses increasingly complex challenges for policymakers and local communities in the context of climate change, population growth and potentially conflicting agendas on biodiversity conservation, livelihoods and economic growth. Leicester research on socio-ecological, culturally appropriate approaches to environmental governance and sustainability has been integral to:
Research undertaken by Monro from the Centre for Research in the Social Sciences (CRISS) into the continuing marginalisation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people has influenced UK and international policymaking and practice. Addressing key issues concerning relationships between LGBT people and state institutions, the research findings have helped to shape the development of practice in central government departments, local authorities, housing associations, healthcare and community organisations and voluntary sector associations. This impact has resulted in improvement to the material and social conditions of LGBT people, enhancing their ability to contribute to society and the economy, in line with the EU Horizon 2020 theme of promoting inclusive, innovative and reflective societies. The case study provides evidence that the research has raised awareness about LGBT issues. This cultural shift is crucial to improving the life experiences and economic productivity of LGBT people, given the lack of understanding that they commonly face, and the negative impacts on their wellbeing of prejudice and social erasure.
Development of the UK construction industry was hampered by a focus on individual projects, with two drawbacks: limited transfer of lessons learned from one project to the next, and limited focus on systemic innovation and wider commercial opportunities.
Drawing on their research, our Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group helped construction companies — including Laing O'Rourke (LOR), Arup, and Mace — overcome these obstacles by adopting a `systems integration' model to capture and utilise lessons learned, and by developing Executive Education programmes to make project engineers aware of wider commercial and innovation issues. These improvements enhanced delivery of major projects such as the Olympic Park and Crossrail.
The Group changed firm behaviour, re-orientated project management practices, and translated lessons learned into organisational capabilities at LOR, Arup, and Mace.
Beneficiaries were the UK construction and consulting engineering sector, who as a result were better equipped to innovate and compete globally, and their clients, such as the UK Olympic Delivery Authority and Crossrail.
This case study focuses upon research surrounding knowledge management (KM) practice and implementation (organisational change). The case study utilises research and impact from the Systems Thinking and Organisational Change Research Group (SYTOC), which existed in Derby Business School between 2007 and 2012.
Impact included enhanced business process and practice for many organisations through the significant dissemination of the research. The core group of SYTOC includes Longbottom, Dexter, Marshall and Seddon, visiting professor and a leading authority on change in the public sector.