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Dr Stephen Woolcock's research on EU trade and trade policy, with particular focus on free trade agreements, underpins the work of the LSE's International Trade Policy Unit (ITPU). On the basis of this research, the ITPU was granted a framework contract to provide expert analysis on trade and trade-related topics for the European Parliament's International Trade Committee (INTA). ITPU input has subsequently stimulated and informed debate within the European Parliament and shaped EU policy on free trade agreements.
International trade policy is central to economic and political relationships between countries. Specialists from Sussex developed a method and software, TradeSift (see www.tradesift.com), to analyse trade policy options simply, and have delivered reports and capacity building programmes that have influenced decision-makers engaged in regional integration in the EU, Asia, and Africa. The UK government and the European Commission have funded trade policy evaluation studies from the University and the associated spin-off company (InterAnalysis Ltd) using TradeSift. There have been more than 20 training courses, for over 400 participants, from 70 countries. The beneficiaries are the participants, their employers and civil society.
Trade and finance are the lifeblood of the global economy. Research conducted within the International Political Economy (IPE) cluster has tracked changes in how trade and finance are governed. This case study demonstrates the impact of the IPE cluster on a range of beneficiaries including national governments, international organisations and non-governmental organisations. Via the £4.3M ESRC-funded Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation (CSGR), members of the IPE cluster have influenced national economic policies, shaped policy debates on international regulatory regimes and informed the attempts of non-state actors to raise ethical standards in transnational corporate practices.
Amrita Narlikar has made a systematic analysis of developing countries' coalition and bargaining strategies in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) which has provided practitioners with an analytic toolkit to navigate complex political economy issues. Key negotiators refer to this work as they develop their coalition strategies, thus helping with the empowerment of developing countries. Expert attempts to reform the WTO have utilised the institutional analysis conducted. The value of the research is recognized by practitioners from developing countries and by others aiming to resolve multilateral deadlocks.
University of Manchester (UoM) research considers the role, position and perception of developing countries in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). It is informed by a deep unease at the way developing and least developed countries (LDCs) have been consistently unable to participate in the multilateral trading system on an equitable basis, and are routinely rendered powerless to realise the meaningful gains that the global trade regime habitually promises. Impact is achieved through a systematic and sustained programme of dissemination, consultation and engagement with high level international policymakers, government officials and civil society organisations, resulting in measurable and meaningful policy change. In conjunction with these stakeholders, the research has: informed the negotiating positions of several states — including South Africa, Turkey, the Seychelles and Nigeria; shaped thinking around the future of the global trade architecture; and contributed to a number of training programmes, most notably at the UN.
The University of Southampton's Institute of Maritime Law (IML) has played a significant role in the development of a new international convention which, if it comes into force, may govern the $18 trillion global containerized trade. Southampton researchers contributed substantially to the debate underpinning the new global liability regime devised to replace a system which has struggled to keep up with the pace of technological change. The new international legal regime — the so-called Rotterdam Rules — has dramatically altered the scope of regulatory intervention in the sector and affected the rights and liabilities of shippers, carriers, receivers and insurers across maritime and multimodal transport worldwide. A global provider of CPD training, the IML continues to play an important part in explaining the new Rules to industry players and advising on how best to cope with the impact of future change.
Thousands of poor rural workers from 11 island states in the Pacific have benefited from the findings of twin research programmes led by Alan Winters of the University of Sussex — one on small island economies and one on the temporary mobility of labour. New Zealand's Recognised Seasonal Employers Scheme (RSE), which welcomes workers from poor Pacific Islands for the agricultural season, is a direct outcome of his research. Winters was also instrumental in designing and implementing the RSE in a way that permitted formal evaluation and which has become an exemplar of good practice. The evaluation shows that households in Vanuatu and Tonga benefiting from the scheme have experienced average increases in income of 35-40 per cent.
The RSE has been described by World Bank staff as `among the most effective development projects ever evaluated'. Persuaded by the positive evaluation, the Australian government has overcome longstanding reservations and introduced a nearly identical scheme, which is potentially much larger. The RSE also inspired the imaginative US response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, providing 1,000 temporary visas for unskilled Haitian workers. And Winters' research on temporary labour mobility and the RSE underpins developing countries' efforts to start serious negotiations on the issue in the WTO's Doha Round of trade negotiations.
Dr Ian Cook (Geography, Exeter) has, over the last 20 years, developed a `Follow The Things' approach to appreciating the social relations and ethics of international trade. This research involves tracing the geographies of everyday things, discovering who made them, where and under what conditions, and then feeding this knowledge into public forums. Its principal aim has been to encourage and inform — in critical, positive ways — academic and public discussions of the ethics, (in)justices, and possible futures of international trade. In this census period this work has had impact by reshaping the teaching and learning of international trade in UK schools through the new Geography National Curriculum, by driving forward innovation in school geography teaching, and by making public a database on trade justice activism.
The Lord Ashcroft International Business School (LAIBS) has had ongoing impact on SMEs and their internationalisation. The underlying research by Mughan and Lloyd-Reason successfully made the case for regional support to encourage and stimulate export activity. Following on from this work, the CURA-B project has had impacts for SMEs, economic support agencies, key customers and knowledge centres in the Assistive Technology (AT) sector. LAIBS has worked with SMEs, economic support agencies and key customers in coaching and consultative roles and through hosted large-scale engagements. LAIBS has helped shape the ecology of the support infrastructure now being put in place in the East of England, West Flanders, Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Zeeland.
Liam Campling's (Lecturer in Work and Organisation at QMUL since 2009) research on the global tuna industry, the international trade regime and developing countries, and his ongoing policy collaboration with development agencies, trade unions and NGOs (a combination of commissioned and pro-bono work), has contributed to three sets of impacts: (1) influencing trade policy, regulation and legislation to support developing countries, including at the WTO; (2) improving labour conditions in tuna processing facilities in Papua New Guinea (PNG); and, (3) influencing public debate and understanding of fisheries industry and policy.