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Research carried out at Oxford University has helped demonstrate the extraordinary significance of a fossil site in Yunnan Province (China) for understanding evolution at the time of the Cambrian explosion. This research contributed to the site being proposed and, in 2012, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. An Oxford University researcher (Siveter) played an important part in this process, drawing on his research when writing the World-Heritage bid. Government policy for the Chengjiang area has now shifted away from phosphate mining to conservation, education and tourism, with the establishment of a Geopark and, in 2010, a Museum. Annual visitor numbers to the area are rising, already in the thousands, benefiting the regional economy. The Chengjiang site has been preserved for future generations to investigate and enjoy.
Research by David Unwin on extinct flying reptiles underpinned a successful bid to produce a 3D digital product backed by funding, principally from Sky, of more than three million pounds. This facilitated development of 3D film technology by the British film industry and resulted in a BAFTA award winning digital film `Flying Monsters 3D'. FM3D was hosted by David Attenborough, featured Unwin and was delivered via television, cinemas and the web. The film, which has generated revenues of more than $10 million, is primarily targeted at children and has helped foster positive attitudes toward natural history, the sciences and academic research.
Work by the University of Huddersfield's Archaeogenetics Research Group has been at the forefront of developing mitochondrial DNA as a tool for reconstructing the dispersal history of mankind, from a new model of the expansion of modern humans out of Africa to re-evaluations of the settlement history of Europe, Asia and the Pacific. Pivotal in the emergence of commercial genetic ancestry testing, this work generates immense public interest and creates many opportunities for broad engagement. It has provided an expert basis for TV and radio programmes, featured widely in the mainstream press and helped the Human Genetics Commission formulate guidelines for the genetic ancestry testing industry.
Bradford's pioneering research into geophysical prospecting has significantly changed the approach to heritage management in the UK and internationally. Our research has influenced the development of commercial survey instruments in this field as well as changing industry guidance/practice. The changes include increased use of more sustainable, non-invasive methods for archaeological investigation and the gathering of richer data about the buried past. Our guidelines for legacy archaeological data have created standards in the archiving of this valuable information resource for public re-use. The group's involvement with Time Team has enhanced public awareness of geophysical prospecting which is demonstrated in the increased use of these techniques by community groups.
The work of the UK's largest radiocarbon measuring laboratory, at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC, University of Glasgow), has had a range of impacts including the identification of the remains of Richard III; [text removed for publication]; providing evidence to solve high-profile murder cases and to prosecute people trading animal parts from endangered species e.g. rhinoceros horn and elephant ivory. The laboratory also leads inter-calibration studies that provide quality assurance to >75% of the world's radiocarbon laboratories.
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 University of Southampton's long-term archaeological research at Avebury forms the basis upon which national and international heritage organisations such as the National Trust and UNESCO manage and preserve one of the most important prehistoric landscapes in the world. Local councils have used the research findings to inform their own policy and planning decisions. Research disseminated through museum exhibitions, public engagement events and publications has resulted in increased public interest and understanding of the site, stimulating greater tourism and local economic benefit.
Quaternary Science research undertaken at Royal Holloway examined the environmental archives provided by ancient rivers, now preserved in part as extensive sand and gravel deposits. In so doing, the research identified the former courses of major Pleistocene river systems in England, in particular the now-extinct Bytham river, the largest in England until its obliteration by the ice sheets of the Anglian glaciation c. 450,000 years ago. The research concerned the geographical extent and quality of these Pleistocene river deposits, as well as their palaeo-environmental context, age and archaeology. The interlinked impacts of the research have been: a) economic, via the identification of resources of economic value to the aggregates industry; and b) cultural, via enhancing heritage preservation in England's sand and gravel quarries.
Firstly, then, the research has a direct economic benefit for the UK aggregates industry, which has used the results on Bytham river deposits to predict the location and viability of aggregates resources. This has resulted in new quarries, and in the extension of existing quarries, with a value of aggregate production circa £50m in the assessment period. These impacts were facilitated in part by the Department's close working relationships with a number of quarrying companies. A wider economic impact on the aggregates industry was also delivered through significant changes to the British Geological Survey maps that form an important basis for quarry development.
A second impact of the research has been the enhancing of heritage preservation. The Department's relationship with the quarrying industry has had a direct effect on the archaeological and geodiversity policy that regulates its economic activity. Royal Holloway took a leading role in the English Heritage supported National Ice Age Network (NIAN) which engaged the aggregate industry, quarry workers and members of the public in the task of recognising, recording and preserving Pleistocene remains in England's sand and gravel quarries. During the assessment period, NIAN, expert advice from Royal Holloway staff and other dissemination of research has shaped ongoing heritage policy in relation to quarrying and Pleistocene and Palaeolithic remains.
University of Glasgow researchers have played a pivotal role in enhancing awareness and understanding of cosmology, relativity and gravitational-wave astronomy on the national and international stage.
Professor Hutchinson's team has pursued research into movement of large land animals, and how they have evolved under biomechanical constraints, such as gravity, which dominate their lifestyles. Their findings relating to elephants and to dinosaurs, applying physics, maths and computer science to study the natural world, have captured the public's imagination through a variety of engagement activities. The work has contributed to several major documentaries and interactive museum exhibits, (with Professor Hutchinson consulting), as well as featuring in a substantial number of print and online news stories. The research has had practical applications in foot health and welfare of elephants in captivity and, through examining constraints of growth on anatomy, has also led to applications in health of broiler chickens.