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Research carried out primarily by Robert Crawford helped raise the profile of Burns's poetry in the media, serving to generate greater interest in, and engagement with, his cultural legacy. The Bard, Robert Burns, A Biography (2009) was featured in Scottish Government-sponsored public events to mark the 250th anniversary of Burns's birth, a major focus of Scotland's 2009 `Homecoming' event, generating significant additional tourist revenue for the Scottish economy. Subsequently Crawford's research was central to a £20M+ refurbishment of the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway, responsible for a significant increase in visitor numbers and bringing much-needed tourist revenue to the area. Finally, Crawford's research inspired Norman McBeath to new ways of thinking that resulted in the creation of a new art project. This case study therefore involves several types of impact: (1) promoting public interest in Burns and interpreting literary heritage to a broad audience; (2) assisting government initiatives to stimulate tourism and create economic prosperity at both national and regional levels; (3) inspiring new forms of artistic expression. The users of this research are the Scottish Government; the National Trust for Scotland; a freelance photographer; the tourist sector of Scotland and the reading and museum-going public.
Arthur Burns' research on the history of the Anglican Church in England and Wales has had an impact on the Church, on its congregations, and on a wider public interested in genealogy and local history. The Building on History Knowledge Transfer Fellowship ensured a particular impact in London, as well as generating wider interest; the Clergy of the Church of England Database is consulted worldwide; his ongoing work on Thaxted already informs an important TV film.
James Hogg (1770-1835) is an important but hitherto little known nineteenth-century Scottish author and songwriter. In recent years, Stirling research has demonstrably expanded the audience for Hogg's songs and poetry in Scotland, the wider UK, and USA. Contemporary writers and artists have become more engaged with Hogg's work, and among the public this research has generated greater appreciation of the Scottish literary and music tradition in particular, while promoting Scottish cultural heritage in general, at home, and around the world.
Northumbria University's research on the eighteenth-century novelist Laurence Sterne and on the literary significance of the Delaval family has had benefits for two arts and cultural organisations in the North East and Yorkshire. The research has secured new audiences and increased business activity and footfall for the Laurence Sterne Trust (LST), changed the emphasis of heritage interpretation at Seaton Delaval Hall (SDH) and expanded the range of activities offered by both organisations. We have developed long-term and sustainable relationships with both of our partners and are now co-designing collaborative projects with them.
Dr Paul Chirico's research has directly shaped the work of the John Clare Trust. Dr Chirico has played a leading role in the work of the Trust, which he founded in 2004 with a view to the purchase of the poet's birthplace in Helpston, near Peterborough. Through the John Clare Cottage and the work of the Trust on which it depends, he has since 2008 achieved direct impact on the conservation, preservation and understanding of culture. He has had an impact on education through the materials he has developed for visitors to the Cottage, both school parties and the general public.
This case study reclaims neglected writers and texts, enabling user engagement with British literary heritage through the commemoration, interpretation and presentation of authors' lives and forgotten or rare fiction. It expands cultural capital and enhances the imaginations and understanding of individuals and groups by raising awareness of the lives and literature of non-canonical Victorian and Edwardian writers. Using previously unexamined archival and privately-held source material it challenges previous assumptions about, for instance, disability and invalidism in relation to Victorian women writers. Through cultivating interest in, and enabling public knowledge of, such authors and their work it creates cultural and educational enrichment.
The collective research of Breitenbach, Delaney, Devine, MacKenzie, and Ugolini at the University of Edinburgh since 2006 has had impact in terms of public understanding, policy and museum practice in relation to the Scottish diaspora. Specifically it has: (i) enabled the transformation of public understanding of the emigration history of the Scots (a central part of the history of the nation) as global in territorial spread rather than simply confined to the settlement colonies and the USA; (ii) shaped the development of new Scottish Government policies of engagement with the global diaspora; and (iii) influenced the intellectual underpinning of new and revised national museum displays in Scotland especially in relation to empire and emigration.
One of Scotland's cultural treasures, the Reformation-era Wode Partbooks (also known as the Wode Psalter), their music and their Reformation world have been brought together from locations in museums across Scotland and Europe for the first time and introduced and made better known to audiences within Scotland, the UK and internationally. Through public engagement this project has enriched awareness of the Scottish and British heritage and the value of the Wode Partbooks as a cultural object and record of the cultural impact of the Reformation. The project has also provided an impact on cultural life and education as particular interest groups, such as choirs, church groups, embroiderers and history enthusiasts have been actively engaged through choral and stitching workshops, public psalm-singing events and collaboration over publishing.
This case study focuses on the impact of research carried out at the University of Cambridge into the history of evolution by Professor James Secord and co-workers, notably the impact of two research programmes: the Darwin Correspondence Project and Darwin Online. These projects have contributed to a substantial reorientation of public discourse on the history of evolution. The impact has been achieved through web resources; museum and library exhibitions; teaching materials for schools and universities; and radio and television programmes. These outputs have encouraged public understanding of the range of contributors to science, including women; an awareness of the diversity of positions in the evolutionary debate; and an appreciation of the complex relations between evolutionary science and faith. The projects have shown that the highest achievements of scholarship can be made freely accessible to a global audience.
The Stevenson project, in collaboration with the National Library of Scotland, has built bridges between general and scholarly readers of a major, popular Scottish author. The project helped to change the ways in which members of the public understand the significance of editorial work and book-history. Providing readers with practical skills with which to approach varying editions of Stevenson's work, it promoted broader understanding of how we encounter the work of major authors. It has also influenced the ways in which the National Library of Scotland (NLS) communicates its central mission to the public, by demonstrating how to expand appreciation not just of literary works themselves but also of the Library's collections and its role in preserving and presenting our literary heritage.