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Professor John Tomlinson produces world-leading research on the cultural dimensions of the globalization process. His research findings influence policy at an international level, shape professional and public understanding of the consequences of globalization and encourage public debate about international cooperation. Tomlinson has acted as a consultant to national and international bodies including UNESCO and the BBVA Foundation (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria) in Madrid, influencing their thinking, policies and practices. He has shaped cultural practitioners' understanding of the cultural consequences of globalization through presentations to cultural bodies such as Impakt Arts Festival Utrecht and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
Research undertaken by Professor John Holden of City University London on cultural diplomacy and cultural value has had a direct impact on cultural policy-makers both nationally and internationally. In the UK it has impacted specifically on the funding of cultural diplomacy activity and the operations of Arts Council England and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Internationally advice has been sought by politicians and cultural administrators around the world including the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Culture in New Zealand, Alberta's Minister of Culture and the Chairs of the main cultural organisations in Hong Kong. Through this, Holden has: (i) provided expert advice to governmental, third sector and private organisations in relation to cultural policy; (ii) influenced directly the thinking of senior government ministers in relation to arts and culture; (iii) proposed new ways of thinking about the methods and mechanisms by which culture and creative practice are supported through the distribution of public funds; (iv) contributed to the enhancement of frameworks supporting the creative industries, which in turn has aided economic prosperity for a range of individuals and organisations; and (v) helped creative industry professionals and those who support them to adapt to changing cultural values.
Research by Taylor, Pratt and Burns Owen Partnership formed the basis of a new Framework for Cultural Statistics, published in 2009 by UNESCO. The direct route to impact can be evidenced by the extent to which UNESCO formally adopted the researcher's proposed recommendations and revisions to the 1986 Framework, including a new category "Performance and Celebration". The Framework, which monitors and measures cultural trends at national and international level, provides policy-relevant data for UNESCO and member states to conceptualise, categorise and analyse culture and to assess the impact and relevance of cultural policies and initiatives.
The research has had a demonstrable impact in Italy, in the UK, and elsewhere, in the areas of Civil Society, Public discourse, and Cultural Life. Specifically, it has a) supported LGBTQ community initiatives; b) helped LGBTQ individuals to meet societal challenges and thereby improved their well-being; c) increased public awareness and understanding of human rights infringements experienced by LGBTQ individuals in Italy; d) generated publications and debates on the incorporation of the term `queer' in Italian discourses; e) directly influenced the writing practice of a contemporary Italian novelist and indirectly her readership. Beneficiaries: individuals and groups studied in the ethnographic research; LGBTQ populations in Italy and elsewhere, and sections of the public concerned with the politics of sexuality and gender.
Research in the Centre for Cultural Policy Studies has demonstrated that contemporary debates about the place of the arts in our society are shaped by the long-standing and often unacknowledged assumption, going back to Ancient Greece, that the arts can positively transform societies. By providing policymakers, arts funders and advocates with a new way of thinking about the impact and value of the arts in a broader social context, the research has presented an original and fresh approach to the cultural value debate. This work has also demonstrated that arts and humanities scholarship has a distinctive and valuable contribution to make to cultural policy debates and public discourse on the role of the arts in society.
Holliday's research is at the core of paradigm change in intercultural communication. For this reason it has provided a conceptual underpinning for the design and writing of the new syllabus for English language teacher education proposed by the Chinese National Institute of Education Sciences. Holliday was invited to use his research to write the part of this syllabus which describes teacher knowledge and methodology necessary for recognising the cultural contribution of school students in learning English.
This research has also increased the intercultural awareness of English language educators in Asia and Central America through a range of seminars, workshops and internet material, and has produced a textbook which has carried this awareness to university students in the humanities and social sciences in a range of countries.
The University of Southampton has carried out a programme of research into transnational networks of migrants, especially musicians from African countries, and multicultural neighbourhoods across Europe. This has resulted in a series of popular multi-national arts events in Africa and Europe, involving artists numbering in the hundreds and audiences in the hundreds of thousands. These events have generated new independent cultural projects, leading to economic benefit for organisers and participants and to greater public awareness of migrant and mixed community issues.
Comprehensive recommendations from research into barriers to participation in golf were adopted by a National Governing Body (NGB) of sport, England Golf, to inform their Whole Sport Plan (2013-17). In particular, the research focused on England Golf's GolfMark scheme: the national initiative used to widen participation. Substantial changes to the GolfMark scheme were made based upon the findings of the research. For example, the awareness that the barriers to engaging in GolfMark included a club's perceived inability to change and individuals' lack of knowledge, led to the development of an online signposting and resource system to guide and support clubs in achieving GolfMark status. The intended consequent outcome of increasing and widening participation in golf also contributes to many of the objectives of Sport England, the government body providing funding underpinning the existence of England Golf.
University of Huddersfield research into intercultural exchange and cultural constructions of identity has led to technical innovations in composition and performance, giving vibrancy to work that has been taken up by some of the world's pre-eminent orchestras and soloists and so reaching a broad international audience. These studies have contributed to the policy work of an international think- tank, Cologne's Akademie der Künste der Welt, leading to greater participation in the arts among youth and artists from disadvantaged communities, and have also benefited Australian secondary school students in bringing a discussion of Indigenous culture into curricula in creative composition.
`Social Interpretation' is focused on developing new systems to enable the interpretation, discussion, collection and sharing of cultural experiences with, and between, museum visitors, demonstrating the following impact: