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The University of Glasgow has a strong research base in place-names. Our research has supported local organisations develop and make funding bids to Heritage Landscape Partnerships in Scotland for funds in excess of £4 million. These and related projects included a variety of research-led educational activities around place-names, which gave communities a sense of ownership of their landscape and created local history resources that are widely available both to academics and the general public.
Research produced at Northumbria on migration to and from Britain in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has enriched the presentation and understanding of cultural heritage and public discourse in the North East of England and in South Carolina. It has contributed to the creation of:
1) a permanent exhibit at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle
2) a series on Englishness at the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle
3) an exhibition in Charleston, South Carolina that will become the first permanent digital exhibition in the Lowcountry Digital Archive
This research has shaped the cultural sector's historical understanding of the role played by migration on English and Irish identity and resulted in more durable collaborations between history at Northumbria and public history practitioners.
This project is dedicated to the study of Ulster poetry, and focuses on enhancing knowledge of vernacular literature. It researches and utilises literary archives across the region to look at identity and cultural diversity within Northern Ireland. The core impact lies in:
James Loughlin's peer-reviewed research on the British monarchy's role in Ireland formed the essential basis for Irish state broadcaster's, RTÉ's, account of Elizabeth II's historic visit to the Irish Republic in 2011. He was advisor to the programme-makers from inception and his work formed the spine of the resulting documentary, `The Queen and Us'. Loughlin's research fundamentally shaped how the programmers presented knowledge of the monarchy's standing in Ireland, both historically and contemporaneously, and influenced strongly their creative practice. Audience levels reached 400,000+, including the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh themselves. The work spread worldwide via the RTÉ player.
Dr Ian Bradley's research on the history and practice of pilgrimage in Scotland has had an impact on public understanding of cultural heritage, on the tourist industry, and on the development of new practices by local authorities, churches and the military. Dr Bradley has been commissioned to devise and lead pilgrimages in Scotland and beyond, which have yielded quantifiable economic benefits of over £250,000. His research has contributed to the conservation of cultural heritage through a range of consultancy work, with impacts including the establishment of the Scottish Pilgrim Routes Forum in 2012 and enhancements to the visitor experience at Iona Abbey. It is continuing to shape pilgrim route infrastructure development by national and local agencies, church groups and the army.
Ó Ciardha's underpinning research had a major impact on creative practice in the form of `Wolfland', a flag-ship, two-part Irish-language documentary considering Irish relations with the wolf. His research on outlaws fundamentally shaped the content and presentation of the films. He provided the historical, literary, folkloric background to Ireland's instinctive fascination with the wolf, a sense matched by viewing figures. Ó Ciardha's research for the documentary produced an original re-telling of the English/British re-conquest of Ireland through the character and place of the wolf. He was researcher, conceptualiser, advisor and narrator.
The Great Britain Historical Geographical Information System (GBHGIS) has computerised geographical surveys of Britain, including Ordnance Survey mapping and all censuses 1801-1971, integrating them into a consistent, innovative geo-spatial and geo-semantic information architecture, and disseminated data via many channels including the UK Data Service, direct work for government agencies (e.g. DEFRA, National Archives), and our own very popular web sites that are used extensively by genealogists and the general public with over 1.8 million unique users per annum. Impact of the technical innovation is mainly on non-UK academics, but within the UK we have made it vastly easier to place modern local issues in long-run perspective — and lots of people and organisations have.
The peace process in Northern Ireland and recent Anglo-Irish rapprochement has spurred fresh interest in new approaches to Irish history that venture beyond the traditional confines of nationalism. In a series of books, public lectures, essays and broadcasts over the last 20 years, Roy Foster has offered a distinctive perspective on the development of Irish history and identity, rejecting the idea of the uniqueness of Irish nationalism and showing how Irish and British culture and history have developed in dialogue with each other. Challenging inherited perceptions of Anglo-Irish exchanges, he has enhanced the quality of media representations and public discussion of Irish history, and improved public understanding of our shared past (and future).
UCL research has created a groundbreaking names classification tool for use by healthcare organisations, local government and industry. This improved the effectiveness of public service delivery to different cultural, linguistic and ethnic groups, in applications such as A&E admissions and GP referral patterns. It was used by the leading provider of commercial geodemographic segmentation of neighbourhoods as a more differentiated source of ethnicity information than Census sources alone. The public was engaged with research through popular websites and extensive media coverage, and the research has provided interactive tools through which science museums have improved public understanding of genetics and family history.
Investigation of archaeological sites associated with the 16-17th-century imposition of English control over Gaelic Ireland reveals surprising evidence for shared practices by natives and newcomers that has encouraged cross-community dialogue about a shared future in post-Troubles Northern Ireland. Impacts are threefold: changing public understandings of the actualities of past encounter; influence on non-HEI practice; and facilitation of community partners in capacity building for cross-community projects. Beneficiaries include community groups, local authorities, schools, and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA). Queen's University Belfast School of Geography Archaeology and Palaeoecology's (GAP) approach to peace and reconciliation demonstrates that place-based local initiatives work by embedding engagement and conflict resolution in the practices of archaeological fieldwork and material interpretation.