Log in
Dr Tony Crook's research on knowledge-practices solved a long-standing theoretical problem in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Key insights have been developed into a working method for knowledge exchange - `Pacific Connections' - with application for national and international policy contexts that confront misunderstandings between Euro-American and Pacific knowledges.
The EU is the second largest international donor of development assistance to the Pacific region, contributing €665m between 2008-2013. Through on-going collaborations, and a series of EU-funded workshops and high level roundtables, involving EU and European Commission policy makers and diplomatic counterparts from a range of Pacific states, Dr Crook is implementing `Pacific Connections' as the method by which social science research is informing and enabling European external actions to more effectively connect to Pacific concerns. As a consequence of Dr Crook's work, Europe's capacity and ability to more effectively engage its Pacific partners has been significantly enhanced.
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.
Tunstall and Warman bring the debates of the French Enlightenment to the public, and make them accessible and meaningful through lively and enjoyable discussion on radio, television, and public lecture. By so doing, they significantly enhance and enrich the public understanding of modern society, its roots, its failings and tensions, and of the experience of the individual within it. They have impacted on civil society, illuminating and challenging cultural values and social assumptions, and enhancing public discourse about human rights. They have contributed significantly to enriching the cultural lives of their beneficiaries. Whether through listening to their programmes or attending one of their lectures, they have extended education about the Enlightenment to these groups.
Pathways that individuals navigate through education, training and employment are becoming ever more complex and high quality labour market information (LMI) is crucial for careers advice and in informing decisions about where to invest in skills training. Research undertaken by Bimrose, with Brown, Barnes and Hughes has resulted in new policy frameworks for systems design and delivery of careers services; and has informed professional development in careers policy, research and practice. Internationally, the Institute for Employment Research (IER) at Warwick has informed and shaped policy debate and practice on career development services in response to political, economic, technological and social changes.
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:
Trevor Marchand's anthropological research into how craft skills are learnt, developed by his own acquisition of building and woodworking skills in different societies, has translated theory into practice and the practical. He has contributed to the resistance against the UK's downgrading of craft skills and he has directly impacted upon the way in which crafts have represented themselves and their importance. His impact has been felt in the crafts movement, among architects, and in the FE sector. His work on acquired practical knowledge and its theoretical insights continue to inform debates in the UK and the US in particular.