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This case outlines the research into Enterprise Education and the concept of the Enterprising University and impacts related to the E-college, female entrepreneurship education programmes, UHOVI and A4B project on Business Angels.
The E-College Wales was an e-learning project pioneered and led by Pickernell and Miller at the Centre for Enterprise at USW in collaboration with six partner colleges across Wales, supported by the European Social Fund (ESF). Its aim was to provide an accessible, innovative, online learning environment and to enhance learning opportunities for individuals in Wales to improve their career prospects either through creating their own businesses or improving their competences and skills.
D.J. Britton's play about Lloyd George, aimed at post-devolution Wales, created a bottom-up artistic and commercial model that involved potential audiences in the creative process. The play toured remote rural locations as well as towns, achieving unusually high audiences for a drama of this kind. Its reach was further extended through a BBC broadcast on the 150th anniversary of Lloyd George's birth. The play stimulated considerable public discussion of national history. A direct impact was a £20,000 grant from the Arts Council of Wales to pursue the creative and audience development processes with another play. The innovative methodologies also attracted international attention at Singapore Management University's Arts/Business Conference for practitioners, arts organisations and businesses.
Politics staff at Cardiff have conducted detailed research on public attitudes towards devolution in Wales. By directly informing the conclusions of the All Wales Convention, and the behaviour of key actors in the 2011 Welsh referendum, the research has significantly influenced the Welsh devolution settlement. The research has contributed substantially to the on-going work of the Silk Commission. Regular and effective public dissemination of key research findings has enabled the research to inform political debate in Wales. The research has also contributed to the development of survey capacity in Wales, and thereby facilitated the conduct of more regular Welsh political polling.
The publication of The Library of Wales series, of Welsh literary works in English, was funded by the Welsh Government as a direct result of evidence given to the National Assembly of Wales by Thomas. The evidence was based on research carried out at Swansea University, and made the case for bringing a neglected but artistically and culturally important body of literature back into print. Since 2008 the series, edited by Smith, has delivered economic benefit to its publisher; provided new content for cultural tourism events; raised awareness of Welsh writing in English amongst new audiences; and made new material available for educational and creative purposes.
The case study focuses on work undertaken at Bangor University (BU) in two closely related fields, Welsh lexicography and terminology. It demonstrates how a major lexicographical publication — The Welsh Academy English-Welsh Dictionary: Geiriadur yr Academi (1995) — has far-reaching influence and impact on the daily use and vocabulary of standard literary Welsh. It displays how lexicography sustains the vitality of a `lesser-used' language and enables a standard written form to be widely used in educational, professional and public domains. Building on the lexicographical feat represented by the dictionary, BU also leads the development of the allied area of Welsh terminology. Furthermore, in both these areas BU has facilitated the delivery of its research to non- academic users through the creation of open-access on-line databases.
The case study describes the impact of research conducted at the Institute of Welsh Politics (IWP) on public opinion on Welsh devolution by Professor Wyn Jones and Professor Scully. Two types of impact have been generated by this research. First, the research has informed public policy processes relating to the Welsh devolution settlement primarily in Wales but also in the UK more generally. Second, the research, and its dissemination through media, public seminars and educational activities has resulted in impact on societal beneficiaries in Wales, specifically through informing and shaping public discourse on and understanding of Welsh devolution. The impact derives from ESRC-funded public opinion surveys and key academic publications on public attitudes in Wales towards devolution.
Prof. Ron Wiltshire and Dr. Tatiana Tatarinova helped to develop High Performance Computing Wales (HPC Wales) by providing "test" problems from the life sciences (bioinformatics), defining key software packages, and brought on-board collaborative partners to instigate project areas. Established in 2010 with £44 million funding, HPC Wales is Europe's first nation-wide "hub-and-spoke" super-computing facility. In the three years following its conception, HPC Wales has approximately 50 collaborative organisations supporting over 60 major projects; 40% in life sciences and 5% in bioinformatics through Wiltshire's and Tatarinova's involvement. Further impact arose through the redesign of software and up-skilling of HPC Wales staff.
Inspired by the pioneering work of Gwyn Thomas since the mid-1960s, writers based in Bangor University's School of Welsh are actively engaged in practice-led research. Acutely aware of the social context within which they write and utilising various platforms such as local and national media, festivals and public readings, they have connected their work with a wide and varied audience. That audience includes native Welsh speakers and learners, visitors and non-Welsh speakers. Collectively they have made a practical contribution to Welsh language resurgence and rejuvenation, and their translation work has further extended the reach of their writing into new domains beyond regional and national boundaries.
Welsh migrants had a distinctive impact in the countries in which they settled, but their contribution remains unacknowledged in many academic or popular histories, be these of Wales or (for example) the USA. In addressing this lacuna, Jones's research on the Welsh diaspora has influenced public and professional understanding of the Welsh specifically in North America through directing the content of exhibitions, as well as professional practice in the heritage sector, and by engaging directly with a diverse range of audiences and professionals to enhance their understanding of the Welsh diaspora. As an advisor/collaborator with a range of media companies operating in both the English and Welsh languages, Jones's research has benefited productions across traditional and digital media platforms. His expertise is central to informing modern understandings of Welsh communities overseas and, thus, of the Welsh as a people with global horizons.
This case study relates to the work of Richard W. Ireland in raising awareness amongst the general public, community groups and relevant professionals of the legal history of Wales, and in particular of its criminal justice history. This impact has been enabled by regular public lectures, often in relatively remote rural locations, by public broadcasts on radio and TV, the provision and maintenance of a dedicated website, and in more focussed discussion with the archive and museum sector, drawing on Ireland's published and ongoing research within the field.