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Since 2007, Edinburgh researchers have played an important role in increasing the use of local, context-specific knowledge in the assessment of technological sustainability and efficiency in the bioenergy and solar sectors in East Africa and South Asia. This has taken the following forms:
The research impacts on public discourse, professional practice and cultural life. It raises public awareness and professional understanding of how contemporary development is being viewed in Africa. Analysing the work of creative artists from several countries in sub-Saharan Francophone Africa, the research has revealed that, far from presenting development as positive change, artists are depicting economic development in the region as a form of enslavement. For over a decade they have been creating a visual vocabulary to speak about `development' around the most iconic and disturbing images of the Atlantic slave trade. In public events delivered in English, French and Spanish, supported by digital resources, the author is disseminating this view from the continent to a broader audience across the world.
Research carried out by the University of Nottingham has significantly informed international policies designed to transform technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and its role in development. This has been achieved through direct contribution to policy making at global, regional and national levels, most notably for UNESCO, the Southern African Development Community and the South African government. This has led to the revision of global, regional and national policy guidelines and the development of new regional and national indicators. Conventional policy wisdoms have been questioned at global and national levels and new concepts introduced into the policy debate.
This research has demonstrated the shortcomings of recent changes to UK Government energy efficiency policy, and developed thinking about alternatives, in order to enable governments to provide an effective system of incentives for energy efficiency improvement. Such a system would allow energy sector decarbonisation at a lower cost than with supply side strategies alone. The analysis and concept have both had an impact. In the UK, the team of researchers have secured support from major environmental NGOs, have been included in a UK Government policy consultation, leading to the tabling of an amendment to the 2012 Energy Bill. Internationally, the team's research continues to influence leading policy analysts, including the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Professor Ben Fine's scholarship has demonstrated how networks of capital organised within and around mining and energy have exercised decisive influence over the character and trajectory of the South African economy. Although extending beyond analysis of these sectors, central to his research has been the notion that South Africa incorporates a minerals-energy complex. This notion, and the insights it provides, has been enthusiastically taken up by government departments, including the South African Department of Trade and Industry, by trade unions, political parties, intellectuals and commentators such that it has influenced policy debate, policy in practice and entered popular discourse.
Carrier's research and publications have had a strong impact on UK public and policy debate surrounding the stimulant drug khat - the stems and leaves of the shrub `Catha edulis' that have been consumed for centuries in East Africa and the Middle East and are now imported in large quantities to the UK. In particular, this research has been influential in shaping the UK Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs' recommendations to the Government, published in January 2013. The Oxford research has played a significant role in highlighting the potential negative impact of the ban on farmers in East Africa, and though the government announced in July 2013 that it would not be following the Council's recommendations that khat not be prohibited, an argument remains urging the generation of ameliorative measures to mitigate this negative impact of UK policy.
Chang's research has covered a wide range of public policy, including industrial policy, trade policy, privatisation, and agricultural policy, as well as theories of state intervention. By successfully challenging the then prevailing orthodoxy on economic development, his research has had significant influence on the actions of many national governments, multilateral institutions (e.g., the UN, the World Bank) and NGOs (e.g., Oxfam). Chang's research has also had substantial impact on public debate concerning economic policies, especially but not exclusively those regarding development issues. He has had two best-selling mass-market books (together sold 1.15 million copies as of December 2012) and gained worldwide media exposure for his views.
Essential services such as energy and water supply have, over the past three decades, been privatised by the British government with some reported negative results. One problem which became severe after privatisation is how to combine competitive markets with access to essential services because consumers in vulnerable circumstances find it difficult to obtain the best deals and good service. This research has helped regulators, policy makers and the energy and telecommunications industries to improve their understanding of the needs of the consumers in vulnerable circumstances and to develop policies and practices which take into account the multiple dimensions of vulnerability.
There is a long-running conflict of interest between fuelwood use and woodland conservation in Northern Nigeria which this project both highlights and helps to overcome. The project is a partnership between the UoB, Bath University and Bayero University Kano and is underpinned and largely inspired by earlier research undertaken by UoB staff member Reg Cline-Cole (see corroborating source 2 in section 5 below). The project promotes dialogue between official policy makers and local fuelwood users. This has given ordinary people a voice in public discussion and had a direct impact on regional development and energy policy. The project has also had an impact on teaching and capacity building at our partner institution Bayero University Kano, and has promoted gender equality through the inclusion of women students and researchers. The partners' egalitarian co-ownership of the project provides a model of North-South collaboration.
Sussex Energy Group (SEG) research on low-carbon technology transfer to developing countries impacted on the policies, negotiating positions and funding strategies of a range of national and international governmental organisations, including DFID, DECC, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the OECD Environment Directorate, the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank and the Government of Chile. In particular, this led to a shift in emphasis towards building technological capacities in developing countries as a more effective long-term strategy for facilitating technology transfer, and resulted in the adoption, by several of these organisations, of Climate Innovation Centres and collaborative research and development as specific policy mechanisms.