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Kyriakidis's research has had impact on policy-makers within both national and local government. This has involved a scaling up of his impact activities that were based in Gonies (Crete) to include both national policy-makers and international organisations. As a result, he has become an influential international authority on the development of greater public engagement with heritage sites (including Pompeii), and on public policy in Greece. His research has resulted in a shift in policy at the Athens University of Economics and Business, which now engages with the provision of training in Heritage Management and is branching out from exclusively finance-based education. His CPD (Continuing Professional Development) courses have reached out to the commercial sector (particularly Leica).
Simon Goldhill's research on the history and archaeology of Jerusalem led to his being asked to join the EU-funded programme Promoting Understanding of Shared Heritage (PUSH). The aim of the project is to develop a new policy on sites of shared cultural heritage, in which capacity Goldhill has met regularly with — and been able to influence — Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian policy-makers. This influence is manifested in a rapprochement between groups who had previously been unable to meet; new signage at significant sites across Israel/Palestine and Jordan; and continuing interaction particularly on the crucial area of the management of natural resources.
Research for the UNESCO trans-national World Heritage nomination of the Silk Roads led to a radical new policy framework for undertaking serial nominations (thematic groups of sites across state boundaries). The `Silk Roads Thematic Study' transformed the attitudes of governments and heritage agencies in the region and had a major impact on conservation, management, interpretation and heritage tourism. This study was supported by a long-term site-specific project undertaken at the ancient city of Merv in Turkmenistan. By developing education strategies with local teachers and transforming national approaches to heritage (through conservation training, management planning, and interpretation) the `Ancient Merv Project' is now an exemplar of best practice throughout the Silk Roads World Heritage Project.
This research has had transformational impacts: systematically providing evidence of the state of cultural heritage policies concerning nine countries in South East Europe; identifying the need for management tools to integrate inventories, environmental and spatial planning, heritage protection and funding mechanisms for projects to enable sustainable use of heritage resources; helping shape a Council of Europe regional programme; creating the framework for legal/administration reform requests by the states concerned; and has led to technical assistance actions, jointly funded by the Council of Europe and the European Commission, including monitoring to ensure the institutionalisation of methodologies in national policies and strategies.
A programme of research conducted by The Centre for Maritime Archaeology (CMA) at the University of Southampton has influenced, at a national and international scale, the management and protection of underwater and coastal heritage. The research has directly influenced public policy, nationally through the English Heritage Maritime and Marine Historic Environment Research Agenda, and internationally by underpinning primary legislation and current practice in Uruguay. Capacity building has resulted in new educational infrastructure, the Centre for Maritime Archaeology and Underwater Cultural Heritage (CMAUCH) in Alexandria, Egypt, which has changed attitudes towards maritime heritage throughout the region.
Oxford Brookes Archaeology and Heritage (OBAH) offers research, and consultancy services in archaeology, heritage and the ancient environment. OBAH undertook four major excavations on behalf of the Government of Bahrain between 2009 and 2010. The impact of OBAHs excavations and reports were instrumental in (a) the sites excavated being designated national monuments, protected under law, and (b) underpinning a UNESCO World Heritage bid by Bahrain in 2010. Pearling and its cultural landscapes in Bahrain was awarded World Heritage status at the 36th meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in June 2012.
This impact derives from Wootton and Walda's archaeological research into the Roman sites of Libya, including the GIS mapping of site locations, and study and conservation of Hellenistic and Roman mosaics. Against the difficult background of Gaddafi's regime, its fall and the aftermath, they have, by invitation, provided training and advice to the Libyan Department of Antiquities in the documentation, conservation and management of archaeological objects and sites, especially mosaics. They provided Blue Shield, on request, with a watch-list of sites with GIS co-ordinates to enable NATO to target their airstrikes to avoid them. The primary beneficiaries are the Libyan people, to whose national pride and identity this patrimony is crucial, and the Libyan Department of Antiquities. The secondary beneficiaries are the international community, to whom Libya's rich Roman-period cultural patrimony is of major concern.
Bangor's research into Austrian archaeology has since 2008 resulted in significant impacts on Austrian archaeological heritage management, the archaeology labour market, and relationships between archaeologists and metal detectorists. Specifically, the National Heritage Agency (Bundesdenkmalamt; `NHA') has made significant changes to its policies, especially putting contracts to tender and introducing the first minimal standards for archaeological excavation, following a ministerial edict to change contract awarding practices. Recommendations on minimum salary levels for specific responsibilities in archaeological fieldwork have largely been adopted. The issue of how best to regulate metal detecting is being discussed on a national scale and attitudes towards detectorists are undergoing substantial change.
The site of Star Carr (c. 9000 BC) is internationally renowned in the archaeological world yet, until now, has been virtually unheard of in the public sphere. Research at York has enhanced the preservation and conservation of this important site, securing its status on the Schedule of Monuments, and informed the management, protection and restoration of wetlands across Europe. Alongside this, research into the public perception of the Mesolithic has guided a comprehensive range of public engagement activities which have enhanced Mesolithic heritage presentation and raised global awareness of this undervalued period of human prehistory.
Durham Archaeology has significantly changed how one of the most important World Heritage Sites in Asia is protected and managed. By enhancing the definition, sequence and preservation of Lumbini, birthplace of the Lord Buddha, this research has influenced development plans for the maintenance of the site, preventing proposals that would have destroyed critical evidence of early Buddhist practice. The research approach is now being translated to neighbouring sites. The impacts of Durham's research thus have extensive reach, being of significant value to the Government of Nepal, the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) and the Lumbini Development Trust.