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Research on the history of literary readership from the late 19th century to the present has proposed that all reading is necessarily `critical', and promoted the value of serious reflection on contemporary writing of many forms, from genre fiction to poetry, and on the historical formation of literary taste. Through work with the Durham Book Festival, school teachers and an exhibition gallery, the research has helped to inform and to engage their audiences, to bring reading communities together, and to encourage wider critical interpretation. It has influenced the strategic development of the Durham Book Festival, contributing to a marked increase in attendance.
This case study focuses on the impact of the research of one member of the UCL English Department, John Mullan. It describes the impact of his introduction of techniques of narrative analysis to the general reader and to secondary school teachers and students. This has involved making accessible to the general public an informed historical understanding of the development of English fiction, communicating techniques of critical reading that assist the appreciation of both canonical and contemporary novels. This has meant acting as a bridge between contemporary writers and readers, and communicating via print, radio and television the history of the genre. It has also meant delivering the benefits of a specialised critical vocabulary to teachers teaching fiction at secondary school level.
This case study shows how the research of Brian Cummings, his edition of The Book of Common Prayer and subsequent co-curated exhibition at Lambeth Palace, `Monarchy and The Book of Common Prayer', have enriched cultural life and public discourse through increasing public appreciation of The Book of Common Prayer. The work has informed the understanding of the history and nature of Christian worship for two overlapping groups of the public: members of Christian churches; and those interested in religious history and culture. The work has also had an impact on general public understanding of the history and development of the English language.
This case study focuses on impact achieved through the public engagement programme of the Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) Readerships and Literary Cultures 1900-1950 Special Collection. This collection, of 1000 early editions of popular fiction, was initiated by English academics and Information Specialists in 2009, and stemmed from research into popular fiction, readerships and hierarchies of literary taste. The programme has specifically:
Dr Paul Chirico's research has directly shaped the work of the John Clare Trust. Dr Chirico has played a leading role in the work of the Trust, which he founded in 2004 with a view to the purchase of the poet's birthplace in Helpston, near Peterborough. Through the John Clare Cottage and the work of the Trust on which it depends, he has since 2008 achieved direct impact on the conservation, preservation and understanding of culture. He has had an impact on education through the materials he has developed for visitors to the Cottage, both school parties and the general public.
Research on the discipline of Dutch Studies conducted at UCL contributed to recommendations from the Raad voor de Nederlandse Taal en Letteren (Council for Dutch Language and Literature), providing policy advice to the Committee of Ministers overseeing the Dutch Language Union, the intergovernmental organisation responsible for the internal and external language policies of the Netherlands and Flanders. This in turn led to a new policy of the Dutch Language Union, which influences a €12 million annual budget supporting Dutch language infrastructure across the world. It also led to substantial worldwide debate amongst university teachers and to changes in how these subjects are taught and researched.
This case study concerns impact achieved through collaborative arts-science research on representations of agricultural land and the food chain in the works of two well-known English writers, Shakespeare and Keats. This collaboration has generated two types of impact, Cultural Life and Public Discourse. The beneficiaries are a wide range of non-academic publics who have gained access to the research through its global dissemination in media interviews, newspaper features, public lectures, and panel debates. Beneficiaries' responses through user letters and online comments, blogs, radio call-ins, poetry composition and social media attest to the educative and transformative quality of this research's impact.
Research by Jackson and the CONANX group (Consumer anxieties about food) at Sheffield has enhanced understanding of recent changes in UK food and farming, including the globalization of supply chains, technological innovation and retail concentration all of which have led to increased consumer anxieties about food safety and security. The research has influenced commercial practice for a leading UK food retailer; enhanced public understanding and encouraged more healthy eating (via museum exhibitions, an educational website and changes to school curricula); and helped shape public policy (through Jackson's work with DEFRA and the Food Standards Agency).
Dr Lawson Welsh's research is concerned with questions of power, identity and difference in the Caribbean and its diasporas as evidenced in theoretical, literary, culinary and wider cultural contexts. There are four main areas of impact to this research:
(a) Impact on the public understanding of Caribbean history and culture via the creative sector (television);
(b) Impact on pedagogic strategies and curriculum development in the field of Postcolonial Studies and Anglophone Caribbean literature;
(c) Impact on the production and interpretation of Black British Women's Writing;
(d) Impact on widening awareness of food studies, Caribbean and other ethnic minority culinary practices in a regional context.
Professor Sterckx's monograph, Food, Sacrifice and Sagehood in Early China (Cambridge University Press 2011) has been covered extensively in media across China. A 2011 BBC article (in Chinese) summarizing the book's main findings was adapted and republished by China's national news agency Xinhua and the China State Council information office. Following this it was included in secondary school teaching materials and exams across China as well as in teaching materials for the training of civil servants in Xinjiang province.