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Alan Chandler's `New Conservation' research into the integration of conservation philosophy, practice and pedagogy has informed the development of architectural conservation policy and practice nationally and internationally. By shaping a new Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) education initiative, Chandler has defined and demonstrated the means of establishing continuity between professional architectural education and exemplary conservation practice. By articulating the relationship between cultural, technical and philosophical aspects of Conservation, the research communicates to a new generation of Professionals ideas about the management of change within historic monuments in the UK and in Chile.
The Peoples-based Conservation Project (PBC) has challenged conventional heritage conservation practice by privileging a community's cultural systems over universalised concepts of heritage, through participatory practice. This transformed conservation practice by transferring the focus from material preservation to developing and preserving the connections between people, their cultural heritage, and each other. This new approach has developed a shared responsibility between the National Trust and Maori in the UK and New Zealand for the care of Hinemihi, an historic Maori meeting house which is no longer conserved as an object of built heritage, but as the living focus of a network of reciprocal social relationships.
The project to reintroduce the Great Bustard, a globally endangered bird formerly extinct in the UK, is this country's flagship platform to raise public awareness of threatened species and the need to preserve biodiversity. The group led by Professor Tamás Székely at the University of Bath contributes directly to the implementation of the reintroduction and provides the research that underpins the project. The project has successfully established a new breeding population, enhanced the survival of released birds and achieved ecological enrichment in the release area. In addition, the project has recruited volunteers and supporters from a broad range of society, has been the subject of extensive media coverage and is the focus of a public engagement programme on conservation. The bird has been adopted as the emblem of the county in which it is being released.
Work by Dr Robert Smith continues to be used by government agencies in Mozambique and South Africa, has already guided the development of Protected Areas (PAs) with a combined area of 25,000 hectares, and has been used by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund to identify spatial priorities for their US$6.5 million funding programme. The team's research has had an obvious, direct and significant environmental impact in those regions. It has also had a broader global impact, including shaping the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) revised Key Biodiversity Area approach and developing software and training materials for conservation practitioners working in 103 countries. Protected Areas are the most widely used international approach for conserving biodiversity. Our research in Southern Africa is leading the development of systems for designing PA networks that meet biodiversity targets and minimise negative impacts on people in surrounding communities.
Two strands of research were developed within the Performing the Archive portfolio of projects, focusing on conservation, accessibility and the creative use of culturally significant and unique archives of live art and performance. These have impacted on professional artists, curators and producers working in live art and contemporary performance, on archivists and conservators and on the general public. Through a range of events, workshops, exhibitions and performances held between 2008 and 2013, partner arts organizations have also benefited, including Arnolfini, Bristol Old Vic Theatre (BOVT), In Between Time Productions (IBT) and the National Review of Live Art (NRLA). The influence of the research has been felt regionally, nationally and internationally.
Making Art in Tudor Britain (MATB) has enhanced public engagement with iconic images of British history; generated fresh insights for the public (multiple makers' hands, works' international origin) and brought works into display. School-level learners and teachers have particular readiness to attend to Tudor material since the Tudor period is central to National Curriculum. Popular access to findings on the makeup of works (lectures, website, museum displays and trails, book, press articles) led to knowledge enhancement. Viewers were fascinated and instructed by a TV demonstration of newly-tried methods of technical analysis on forgeries. MATB has impacted on international conservation practice, sparking exhibitions and projects.
The survival of many animal species is currently threatened by environmental challenges and unsustainable resource consumption. Research carried out between 2010-2013 promoted the conservation of endangered species by improving communication and education strategies of zoos and aquaria. It has:
As a result of this research, the educational function of zoos was enhanced and there has been a direct impact upon how visitors experience zoos and aquaria. These impacts have been achieved through research and consultancy in collaboration with organisations in the field.
Food Security is one of the major global challenges confronting mankind. The Birmingham Plant Genetic Resource Group's (PGR) research and its contribution to policy implementation are helping to secure food supplies, mitigate the impact of climate change and maintain consumer choice, thereby impacting governments, commercial breeders, farmers and the public alike. PGR research on the development and implementation of agrobiodiversity conservation strategies, specifically on crop wild relatives' (CWR) and landraces' (LR) in situ and ex situ conservation, has helped national and international agencies meet their convention and treaty obligations, and underpinned food security. Their work has provided the necessary scientific foundation for global, European and UK impact: assisting the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation establish a global network for CWR in situ conservation, the European Commission create an inventory of traditional crop varieties and the UK government inclusion of CWR and LR diversity in environmental stewardship schemes, actions taken on the basis of the group's advice.
Dr Sian Sullivan's research, which challenges neoliberal approaches to biodiversity conservation policies, has been used by environmental policy-makers and advocacy groups internationally to show that contemporary trends in environmental policy development may intensify socio-economic inequality and increase the loss of biological diversity arising from economic development and commercial enterprises. A conference paper presented in 2010 became a major focus of the debate about the tendency towards `financialising nature'. Since then Sullivan's research has been seen as a source of grounded critique of neoliberal conservation policies. Several environmental advocacy organisations have used her work to support their campaigns, and she has been invited to contribute to high-level international policy forums concerned with biodiversity conservation.
The Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management is the product of six years of international collaborative research and sector-based consultancy between Writtle College and Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (Germany). Activities at the Centre include developing a core body of internationally recognised research in the fields of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, complex systems science and adaptive management, and using the research to work with conservation organisations around the World to resolve significant environmental problems. Our sponsors include GIZ, Germany and WWF Germany, and our operations extend from Central America to the Ukraine, Russia, South Eastern Europe, China and Korea.