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Cherry Leonardi's research on local justice and traditional authority in Southern (now South) Sudan has influenced government policies and international aid agency programmes in the justice and governance sectors. It informed the drafting of a local government act by the Government of Southern Sudan [text removed for publication], by emphasising the importance and resilience of chiefship as a local institution of government and justice. It has also influenced the design of internationally-funded access to justice programmes in South Sudan, by recommending a bottom- up, empirical approach to judicial reform that focuses on the experiences and needs of litigants and local justice providers.
Jackson's research on post-conflict state-building has shaped processes of international intervention and internal reconciliation during and following conflicts in Africa and South Asia. His work has had impact in two main areas.
First, in Nepal where Jackson has directly contributed to securing successful implementation of the peace agreement to demobilise, rehabilitate and reintegrate 20,000 Maoist combatants though involvement in mediation between the Nepali military and government on the one hand, and Maoist combatants on the other.
Second, Jackson's research along with a government commissioned evaluation of the UK's peace intervention in Sierra Leone has resulted in the provision of expert advice on security sector reform to UK and foreign governments and non-governmental organisations, through:
Research into the history of British policing overseas, conducted at the Open University's International Centre for the History of Crime, Policing and Justice, resulted in Dr Georgina Sinclair acting as academic advisor to the Association of Chief Police Officers (International Affairs), the International Policing Assistance Board, and the Ministry of Defence Police.
As a result of the transfer of historical research findings and methodological expertise, the various agencies deploying police officers overseas now coordinate more effectively via an improved communications and media strategy. In addition a new set of principles and guidance for overseas deployments has been developed, with Sinclair serving as the sole academic member of the working group preparing this document.
Pioneering research by the Universities' Police Science Institute (UPSI) has made police more effective at understanding and responding to crime and disorder. UPSI's work has provided an evidence base about how to engage effectively with communities so that policing interventions target those issues influencing how people think, feel and act about their safety. Key impacts have been: changing Home Office policy for the policing of antisocial behaviour across England and Wales; informing the Prevent counter-terrorism strategy for the UK and overseas and improving the outcomes of South Wales Police's Neighbourhood Policing Teams.
Improvements in the organisation and delivery of community safety by police and local authority-led partnerships have resulted from inter-related research studies conducted by a team at the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies. Research findings have significantly influenced national policy and professional policing and community safety practices. The research led to improvements in how important new reforms to policing powers and personnel have been implemented and in community safety delivered through partnerships. It also increased understanding of the benefits and limitations of policing partnerships, powers designed to tackle anti-social behaviour and the role of police community support officers in fostering safer communities.
On the basis of research on the anthropology of the state and sustainable development, Dr Michelle Obeid was invited to work with two UN organisations, taking the lead in identifying key governmental and non-governmental actors to develop a National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS) for Lebanon, with peace-building at its core. An inclusive process was employed, that consulted with lower rank civil servants and civil society actors. It was concluded that an official mechanism was needed to mediate the flux created by unforeseen changing governments (three between July 2009 and 2013) who tended to dismiss the work of their predecessors. Acting on Obeid's recommendations, in July 2012 the project culminated with the creation of an official task-force in the Ministry of Environment, endorsed by the Prime Minister's Office.