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The Great Britain Historical Geographical Information System (GBHGIS) has computerised geographical surveys of Britain, including Ordnance Survey mapping and all censuses 1801-1971, integrating them into a consistent, innovative geo-spatial and geo-semantic information architecture, and disseminated data via many channels including the UK Data Service, direct work for government agencies (e.g. DEFRA, National Archives), and our own very popular web sites that are used extensively by genealogists and the general public with over 1.8 million unique users per annum. Impact of the technical innovation is mainly on non-UK academics, but within the UK we have made it vastly easier to place modern local issues in long-run perspective — and lots of people and organisations have.
i-DAT has developed an open infrastructure for `harvesting' and visualising data to support collaborative interdisciplinary projects in environmental, social and cultural contexts. Framed as a series of `Operating Systems' this research contributes to the strategic activities of not-for-profit, public, private and community sectors, including Arts Council England, Plymouth City Council, UNESCO Biosphere and World Heritage Sites. Through i-DAT's National Portfolio Organisation status, this research delivers significant audience numbers and new work and contributes to and can be measured against impacts in relation to civil society, cultural life, policy making, public services and, to a lesser extent, economic prosperity.
Simone's research has contributed to the building of a comprehensive knowledge base on changing residential patterns, investment history, local economies, and social power relations in fourteen districts of North and Central Jakarta. The richness of the knowledge he has generated and its influence on urban redevelopment and restructuring in Jakarta are a consequence of both his close collaboration with a number of institutional partners in Indonesia and their direct engagements with community residents, social action groups, architects, researchers and government decision makers. Through a variety of deliberative forums the results of his process oriented research and collaboration have been influential in a number of ways including the preparation of new housing legislation, the writing of a policy platform of a coalition of civic organizations and the consultative processes on a Spatial Plan for Jakarta. But perhaps most significantly the impact of his research is its contribution to identifying and giving voice to a range of possible future scenarios that are usually left out of policy deliberations and the collective imaginary of the city.
Research on the history of Belfast from the late eighteenth century has had a direct impact over the past eight years on the efforts of the municipality and the devolved government to formulate a policy on parades, flags and other disputed identity practices, to develop a strategy for managing the politically contentious issue of anniversaries, and to promote a shared sense of heritage in a divided city (impact no. 1). The research has also had an impact in two other areas: civil society (impact no. 2) and public discourse (impact no. 3).
Andrea Phillips has worked with numerous institutions in the public realm to address questions about the commissioning of public art. This commenced with an AHRC-funded research project, Curating Architecture (2007-08), and in 2009 upon the invitation of a Dutch public art foundation [SKOR] she co-founded a research project called Actors, Agents and Attendants (AAA). This comprised public dialogues, expert meetings, and publications that brought together the expertise of commissioners, politicians, curators and directors to investigate the role of art in the shaping of public, social life. The project coincided with major changes to the Dutch arts funding system, and its activities and outcomes were widely disseminated and influential in this context. Thus for example SKOR has changed its shape since 2012, its new approach having been significantly influenced by the outcomes of Phillips' collaborative research. Her expertise in this area also led to her co-curating the public programme of the 2013 Istanbul Biennal on the highly topical issue of citizen's rights to, and use of, the public sphere. The Biennial was attended by over 350,000 people including local and national politicians, commissioners, philanthropists, collectors, artists and curators, many of whom took part in the public events.
Successful planning in Scotland requires a set of geographical units for which data can be collected and analysed. Researchers at St Andrews have developed a new `small area' geography for Scotland. `Data zones' (DZs) provide a scientifically-based template for data mapping and has been adopted as the default geography used by public and private organisations to display and analyse data on topics as diverse as economic planning, health, education and transport, thus impacting how and where policy is enacted. To be statistically appropriate these units have to be compact, homogenous, with approximately the same size population and publically acceptable. This is not a trivial task, involving millions of potentially different solutions. In 2001, Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics (SNS) commissioned St Andrews to study how such units should be defined and to develop a methodology for creating them. Using the experience and skills developed over many years working in this area, the team developed a methodology and established the official small area geography of Scotland.
There is growing evidence that official population statistics based on the decennial UK Census are inaccurate at the local authority level, the fundamental administrative unit of the UK. The use of locally-available administrative data sets for counting populations can result in more timely and geographically more flexible data which are more cost-effective to produce than the survey-based Census. Professor Mayhew of City University London has spent the last 13 years conducting research on administrative data and their application to counting populations at local level. This work has focused particularly on linking population estimates to specific applications in health and social care, education and crime. Professor Mayhew developed a methodology that is now used as an alternative to the decennial UK Census by a large number of local councils and health care providers. They have thereby gained access to more accurate, detailed and relevant data which have helped local government officials and communities make better policy decisions and save money. The success of this work has helped to shape thinking on statistics in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland and has contributed to the debate over whether the decennial UK Census should be discontinued.
ARU is a significant international leader in the definition and practice of design as research. Buildings and realised urban designs are the main research outputs. The research is also disseminated with books, international exhibitions, international journals, television and newspapers. This research is having verifiable influence on the direction of architectural practice and education in Asia and Europe. Impact can be seen in the numbers of visitors such as: 800,000 people to the 2011 Gwangju Biennale ARU Urban Folly; 170,000 people to the 2010 Venice Biennale; 130,000 people to the 2008 Venice Biennale, and 471,000 page views to the ARU website between Sep 2008 - Sep. 2013. Florian Beigel was awarded the Grand Art Prize 2013, of the Academy of the Arts, Berlin, 18 March 2013 for the research works he has carried out with the Architecture Research Unit over the past three decades.
Open Data has lowered barriers to data access, increased government transparency and delivered significant economic, social and environmental benefits. Southampton research and leadership has led to the UK Public Data Principles, which were enshrined in the UK Government Open Data White Paper, and has led to data.gov.uk, which provides access to 10,000 government datasets. The open datasets are proving means for strong citizen engagement and are delivering economic benefit through the £10 million Open Data Institute. These in turn have placed the UK at the forefront of the global data revolution: the UK experience has informed open data initiatives in the USA, EU and G8.