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Research undertaken by Dr Rainbow Murray in the School of Politics and International Relations (SPIR) at QMUL has assisted governments and activists from Europe, Israel and China interested in adopting gender quotas in elections to understand their potential advantages, pitfalls and consequences. Users of her research include parliaments, intergovernmental organisations, political parties, public bodies, NGOs and the media.
Evans' research on visual culture, history and memory in China has reached diverse audiences through international exhibitions, public lectures, workshops and school outreach projects, and collaborations with Chinese artists and documentary film-makers. In treating the Mao era `propaganda poster' as an important visual resource for the teaching and learning of 20th century China in schools, her work opens up a new approach to the study of modern and contemporary China in the UK's national curriculum. A recent pioneering outreach project with schools in London has resulted in plans with primary school teachers to develop an online visual resource of the Mao era within the framework of the national Key Stage 2 curriculum and accessible to schools across Camden and beyond. This project includes an important collaboration the Freie University in Berlin (working with Westminster's Sustainable Digital Repository (SDR)) to apply the latest digital archive and internet project management technologies to develop Westminster's Chinese Poster Collection materials as an interactive online resource for the teaching of China to UK primary school pupils. In collaboration with Stephanie Hemelryk Donald (University of New South Wales), the public dissemination of Evans' work in the UK, USA and Australia has also created new spaces for debate amongst Chinese migrants and their children about experiences denied open scrutiny in China.
The production of hand-knitting is of key economic and cultural importance in Scotland. University of Glasgow research on the history of hand-knitting has: helped to enhance a significant textiles collection at Shetland Museum and Archives (~88,000 visitors each year) and contributed to the growth of public interest in and understanding of this craft activity and its history. Glasgow research has also informed the work of contemporary knitwear designers who have found inspiration in the traditional designs and colour ways and has engaged the wider public, promoting greater appreciation of the cultural significance of hand-knitting and its role in the rural economy of the past and present.
Dr Kate Bedford's work has demonstrated the limits of existing frameworks for addressing gender and sexuality in development policy and has had a significant impact in four main ways. First, it has supported and influenced the work of the major NGOs (including Sexuality Policy Watch, and the Bretton Woods Project/Action Aid) in holding development institutions to account on questions of gender equality. Second, it has had substantial influence on the work of transnational public bodies (including UNRISD), challenging conventional wisdom and stimulating debate among policymakers. Third, it has had considerable impact on how development practitioners are taught, in the UK and beyond. Finally, it has enjoyed a sustained influence in shaping a new area of critical public debate, improving public understanding of sexuality and development and engaging diverse international audiences. In the light of increased global attention to gender and development (evident across several leading international institutions), Bedford's research has stimulated important debate about policy orthodoxy and has directly influenced several campaigns for policy change.
Gender inequality affects workforce effectiveness. Our research has significantly increased awareness of factors which contribute to the paucity of female representation in the public sector. Notably it has shaped the policies and strategies of public sector agencies such the Scottish Government, Leadership Foundation in Higher Education, NHS and educational institutions such as universities and further education colleges. The research provided a platform for implementation of the Gender Equality Duty for the Scottish public sector.
The impact described involves significant contributions to international and national policy development and practitioner/public engagement, emanating from the findings of longitudinal qualitative research on parenthood transitions, gender and caring. These findings have influenced international policy evidenced though advisory roles and policy development at the World Health Organisation and national policy through engagement with think tanks, public/practitioner bodies (e.g. National Childbirth Trust) and membership of a Labour party policy review panel on fatherhood. The research findings have promoted public engagement, led to media invitations, been cited as evidence in policy review, noted in Hansard and led to change in professional practise.
More than twenty years of sanctions and war have decimated all areas of Iraqi society, including its higher education sector. In this context, the work of Professor Nadje Al-Ali has countered conservative forces pursuing Iraqi reconstruction in ways that explicitly marginalise women. Drawing on her research on women's rights in Iraq and beyond, Al-Ali has worked to raise consciousness of how perspectives informed by gender theory can contribute to a more equitable reconstruction of Iraqi civil society. Through in-country and regional training of academics and women's rights activists, and mentoring numerous Iraqi research projects, Al-Ali has substantially progressed the promotion of women's rights and gender-based equality in Iraq.
Innovative research into gendered identities at the University of Hull, under the auspices of the Centre for Gender Studies and the Centre for Research into Embodied Subjectivity, led to the design and delivery of new curricula in higher education internationally including the European Union, the US and in Chile, India and Pakistan. Research on gendered identities provides the philosophical core of the curriculum for GEMMA (Erasmus Mundus Master's Degree in Women's and Gender Studies) delivered by a consortium of 7 universities within the AtGender (previously ATHENA) network. The relevant impact has been primarily on education (at an international level and especially in the area of curriculum development and knowledge transfer) and on public discourse. The beneficiaries are academics and students internationally, as well as pressure groups and artists concerned with gender identity. This impact is ongoing (the 7th edition of GEMMA commenced in 2013).
Using a ground-breaking database of recovered narratives of Latin American women during the Wars of Independence,
The research of historians in the Centre for Gender History at the University of Glasgow (UoG) informs a range of public engagement activities with a diverse body of public and non-profit organisations, providing historically-based analysis to help to shape policy, practice and knowledge-gathering across these sectors, especially in Scotland. UoG researchers have worked closely with the Glasgow Women's Library supporting and delivering through workshops and other profile-raising activities across Scotland a ground-breaking `memorial mapping' project to mark commemorations of women who made a significant contribution to society. The `map' now contains references to over 300 women and has been covered extensively in the media and by tourism websites and our advice has informed participatory projects by agencies including the Girl Guides and Dumfries & Galloway Council.