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The preserved remains of an ancient human body, familiarly dubbed `Lindow Man', are among the British Museum's most celebrated exhibits. For over 20 years, Lindow Man was presented as a victim of a highly ritualised killing and as compelling evidence that human sacrifice was practised in ancient Britain. This conditioned not merely popular views of the British past but also attitudes to religious pluralism in the present. Professor Ronald Hutton's research resulted in a fundamental alteration of the display, to one encouraging a multiplicity of interpretations and so more tolerant attitudes. The exhibit was radically changed when it was loaned to the Museum of Manchester in 2008, and a new format embodying this pluralist approach was adopted when it returned to the British Museum in 2011. The much-different exhibit was seen by more than 100,000 visitors to the Museum of Manchester and is now experienced by millions of visitors to the British Museum each year.
Public understanding of the classical world has been informed and enhanced through new editions of the prestigious and internationally acclaimed Oxford Classical Dictionary (OCD) and its spin-off publications. These key reference items, which have sold in high numbers and been translated into several languages, are available in specialist, university, college and public libraries worldwide, thereby benefitting a wide range of users, including the general public, students, school pupils, and fellow professionals.
Twenty-first century concepts of faith, community, and division were forged in the early modern period: an age of Reformations, unprecedented cross-cultural encounters (especially between Christianity and Islam), and new understandings of religious, personal and social identity. The research of Ziad Elmarsafy, Kevin Killeen, and Helen Smith, in this field, has impacted upon a wide range of publics, individuals, and institutions, who have gained a new understanding of national and international attitudes to religious life, and a changed perspective on pressing contemporary debates about belief and society. Beneficiaries include school students, interested members of the public, and staff, volunteers, and visitors at Hardwick Hall and York Minster Library. These latter collaborations paved the way for national impact, benefitting the National Trust, and Cathedral Libraries and Archives.
Utilising the pioneering research in reception history at the University of Sheffield, and in partnership with Sheffield Cathedral and Museums Sheffield, exhibition materials and educational guides were designed for the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible in 2011. These educational outreach materials were used by 30 English cathedrals and other greater churches throughout the UK, and the Church of England would not otherwise have been able to develop them; significantly, the material's content deliberately cut across many National Curriculum disciplines to provide teachers with a multifaceted resource. Taking feedback from Sheffield Cathedral as sample evidence, all participants in the adult education outreach programme registered changed perceptions of the King James Bible following engagement with the resources and the exhibition.
Reappraisals of modern responses to antiquity by members of Liverpool's Receptions Research Group (Paul, Hobden and Harrison) from 2004 to 2013 have had impact upon the methods, perspectives, and practices of members of creative communities internationally. Our research thus enables new ways of thinking and forms of expression and benefits practitioners in terms of their personal and professional development.
Three separate examples are included in this case study:
(1) Film-makers: Analysis by Paul of the biopic Alexander (2004) led Hollywood director Oliver Stone to re-appraise his approach to the subject (2009) and thereby reflect upon his methods as cinematic story-teller.
(2) Media practitioners: Hobden's research into ancient world documentaries and the associated Documenting Antiquity workshop (2013) has created opportunities for British media professionals to explore and refine understanding of their own practice, thus contributing to their professional development.
(3) Theatre producers: Harrison's work on Herodotus and empire inspired Australian artist Alison Richards to reconceptualise how performance theatre might contribute to political conversations in `X marks the spot', a theatrical performance paper by the artist (performed in August 2010).
Classical Receptions at the OU raises awareness of how Greek and Roman texts, ideas and material culture have been interpreted, used and reworked, particularly in society today. Our research provides cultural and arts practitioners around the world — translators, poets and actors — with the tools to interpret ancient texts in modern contexts. Much of our research is presented in open-access assets — website, journals, seminars, workshops, conferences — thus providing resources both nationally and internationally. Working with the creative industries and beyond, we also help the wider public to gain a fuller understanding of the place of the classical within the contemporary world.
The `Jewishness of Jesus' has become a scholarly cliché but discussion of the concept has been limited outside academia, particularly in churches where related issues are raised most frequently. James Crossley has published both reconstructions of Jesus in relation to Jewish contexts, and critiques of contemporary understandings of `Jesus the Jew'. Developing the collaboration between the Department of Biblical Studies and the Bible Society (a global organisation with more than 140 international Bible Societies), Crossley has made his findings available to 19,000 clergy and Bible discussion-group leaders in a booklet designed to interact with popular perceptions of Jesus' `Jewishness', as well as public blog discussions on ideas found in the booklet. Impact has also reached international Bible Societies and an international blog readership, with feedback clearly showing positive changes in perception and re-evaluations of Jesus' `Jewishness' as a direct result.
The Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama (APGRD) project approaches the understanding of Greek and Roman tragedies and comedies through gathering evidence about their performance and traces their evolving significance through the way they have been received in performance practice. The APGRD has had significant impact on theatrical performance through its lively interaction with practitioners in the theatre and other performing arts, which has expanded the repertoire of classical drama, and through the commissioning of new work. This research has provided significant cultural and pedagogical benefits through being presented in various public forums (radio, lectures, exhibitions) and through the creation of a searchable open-access online database of more than 11,000 productions from the Renaissance to the present.
Research on the historian Herodotus, the history of the Achaemenid Persian empire, and the complex relationship between Greek and Persian worlds in the Classical period has had an impact in two main ways:
LSE research has contributed to institutional capacity building and to the renewal of the study of religion in the former Soviet Union. More specifically, the LSE anthropologist Mathijs Pelkmans has contributed to the training of a new generation of local scholars in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia; he has helped introduce these scholars to contemporary research and to innovative methodologies, and has mentored them in critical social science. As stated in one of the testimonials: "the ultimate value of Mathijs' engagement has been to intensify dialogue between different research, educational, and broadly scholarly traditions, and thereby to facilitate our own efforts to develop a discipline which is relatively new in Central Asia".