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The research impacted on public policy, practitioners and professional services both nationally and regionally. Specifically, it influenced the setting up and design of the Greater Manchester Challenge (GMC) in 2008, with unfolding educational and professional impacts: (a) measurable improvements in the performance of Greater Manchester schools; (b) participants have continued to collaborate and build on GMC interventions and findings; and (c) the GMC led to a set of recommendations about school-to-school collaboration.
The research impacted on the Coalition Government's decisions to (a) discontinue the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) national strategy (2011), and (b) roll out the Achievement for All (AfA) pilot programme at a national level (2011). Both of these major decisions on public policy and professional practice were underpinned by the findings of large-scale national evaluation projects.
Research at LU carried out from 2003 to 2011 has made a significant impact on the practical realisation of Open Access (OA) to scholarly publications at an international level. Research into publisher's Copyright Transfer Agreements underpinned the development of the SHERPA/RoMEO service, widely used by repository managers across Europe [impact 4.1]; a cost-benefit model of scholarly publishing in relation to the main routes to OA influenced the publishing industry, and research strategy amongst UK funding agencies [impact 4.2]; further research influenced Research Councils UK (RCUK) policy in relation to mandates [impact 4.3], and the work of the European Commission in the development of its digital agenda [impact 4.4].
Falls are a common (30-40% >65 year olds fall each year) and important age-related health problem costing the NHS and social care >£5.6m each day. University of Manchester research has contributed to reducing the burden of falls worldwide.
We demonstrated that falls are better predictors of fracture than bone mineral density. We developed an effective intervention, reducing falls amongst older people by 30%; identified barriers to service use, and approaches to increasing uptake and adherence; and developed a fear of falling instrument (FES-I), now translated into 30+ languages and widely used in clinical practice.
By 2012, 54% NHS Trusts used training programmes based on our research. It moulded service provision nationally and internationally, changing the emphasis of how falls prevention services are presented, from "reducing risk" to "improving/maintaining independence".
15m people have a stroke each year worldwide. In England alone, stroke generates direct care costs of £3bn and a wider economic burden of £8bn. Service users report high levels of unmet need in relation to cognitive dysfunction (e.g. concentration). Improving cognition was the number one priority agreed by users and providers (James Lind Alliance, Lancet Neurology 2012). Research led by the University of Manchester (UoM) underpins recommendations in several recent clinical guidelines for stroke management and rehabilitation in the UK and internationally. Our 2012 aphasia trial and qualitative study made key contributions to the recommendations in the recent NICE (2013) and Intercollegiate Stroke Working Party (2012) guidelines. UoM-led Cochrane reviews (e.g., neglect, apraxia, perception) have directly influenced recommendations in guidelines produced by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, the European Stroke Organization and the Australian National Stroke Foundation.
Research at the University of Manchester (UoM) has changed the landscape of medical care and research in fungal infections internationally. The impacts include: the world's first commercialised molecular diagnostic products for aspergillosis and Pneumocystis pneumonia (£10m investment); pivotal contributions to the preclinical development (£35m investment), clinical developments and registrations of 3 new antifungals with combined market share of ~$2 billion; one (voriconazole, 2012 sales >$750m worldwide) now first line therapy for invasive aspergillosis with improved survival of 15-20%; and internationally validated methods to detect azole resistance in Aspergillus (an emerging problem partly related to environmental spraying of azole fungicides for crop protection).
The Compulsive Exercise Test (CET) and Loughborough Eating disorders Activity Programme (LEAP) are the world's first clinical assessment tool and intervention designed to assess and treat compulsive exercise among eating disorder patients. These advances have changed the way in which services now assess their patients and deliver treatment. They are currently in use by in excess of 52 specialist eating disorder services globally, including the vast majority of specialist services in the UK (a minimum of 520 patients treated to date). As well as delivering an assessment tool and manual, the impact also includes training of circa 600 clinicians and sports specialists.
A research programme of multi-centre clinical trials led by Professor Suzanne Hagen has established Pelvic Floor Muscle Training (PFMT) as an effective treatment for women with prolapse. Hagen's team has also successfully developed a Prolapse Symptom Scale and further tested a Prolapse Staging System to improve outcome measurement for women's health physiotherapists in the UK (20% and 15% clinical uptake respectively). The research has informed local, national and international guidelines and changed practice in 48% of UK physiotherapists. The research has also raised awareness of PFMT treatment for prolapse, with 70% of UK physiotherapists reporting an increase in prolapse referrals.
The research has improved the living conditions of urban residents, adding value whilst `doing no harm'. It has had a world leading impact on the understanding of the role of architecture and the design process in the context of the informal city. It theorises practice and development from a more worldly perspective to debate the meaning of professional practice and interpret urban change. Its unusual orientation as a long term project shows how practice in challenging circumstances can be strategic, combining ethical practice and research to generate tools and skills whilst training emerging researchers to co-produce outputs with outstanding reach and significance.
Reducing vehicle noise and vibration is a key quality objective in the automotive industry. Historically, the approach has been costly palliation late in the manufacturing process; now a new approach applied earlier in the vehicle development cycle has been devised by Loughborough University and Ford and implemented at Ford that has led to savings of $7 per vehicle with respect to clutch in-cycle vibration (whoop). Ford has reported savings of $10M over 5 years, whilst reductions in transmission rattle have led to 5% fuel efficiency gains [5.1]. Ford has made an investment of £240M in its engine and transmission work at Bridgend, which includes aspects of work reported here and has created 600 new jobs [5.2].