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Transforming Classical Sparta and Influencing Modern Audiences

Summary of the impact

Revision of standard views of Sparta towards a less exceptional, more civic-oriented, society has:

  • transformed curricula, teaching and student learning on Sparta in HEIs worldwide
  • enriched teaching and inspired pupils' educational ambitions in UK schools and FE colleges
  • altered the modern Municipality of Sparti's depiction of its ancient legacy and enhanced its cultural heritage policies
  • helped a comics author respond to 300 with a more authentic depiction of Spartan-helot relations
  • enabled a U.S. gun control activist to counteract Sparta's appropriation by the pro-gun lobby.

Submitting Institution

University of Nottingham

Unit of Assessment

Classics

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Language, Communication and Culture: Cultural Studies, Literary Studies
History and Archaeology: Historical Studies

Using history to improve humanitarianism and emergency medicine

Summary of the impact

Professor Bertrand Taithe's academic research on humanitarianism, medicine, conflict and disasters has had a direct impact on the policies and practices of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and medical practitioners. His research has contributed to the governance agenda of major NGOs, such as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and has informed international fora on the humanitarian response to disasters. It has made a demonstrable intellectual contribution to the world of think-tanks and other bodies such as the Humanitarian Policy Group at the Overseas Development Institute and has resulted in collaborative work between Taithe and NGOs such as Handicap International. Most recently Taithe has used his research findings to influence national and international policy innovations including the UK International Emergency Trauma Database.

Submitting Institution

University of Manchester

Unit of Assessment

History

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Political Science

Shaping Public Understanding of and Creating New Audiences for Post-Socialist Punk

Summary of the impact

This research explored the political significance of punk in post-socialist Eastern Europe. It created a publicly available cultural artefact, RottenBeat, an electronic resource which presents high quality analysis and information on contemporary music scenes in the former USSR, Central, and South Eastern Europe, as well as searchable and accessible archives of audio, textual and visual materials. It supported new forms of artistic expression by bringing academics, journalists, artists and musicians into dialogue with each other thereby changing their understandings of punk and contributing to public debate about the need to protect human rights in Russia.

Submitting Institution

University of Warwick

Unit of Assessment

Sociology

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Political Science
Language, Communication and Culture: Cultural Studies
History and Archaeology: Historical Studies

Countess Donhoff

Summary of the impact

Research by Haase underpinned the successful renaming of one of the central sites of the new Germany — the Marion-Countess-Dönhoff-Platz in Berlin — in 2010/11. Haase's research informed the politically sensitive consultation process between politicians and local communities, and within the communities themselves, and provided research that helped deliver broad-based community support for the new name. The research-informed community engagement approach facilitated by Haase's research set a national standard of excellence in renaming processes. A permanent interpretation board contributes historical depth to locals' and tourists' experience of the Square.

Submitting Institution

University of Nottingham

Unit of Assessment

History

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Political Science
History and Archaeology: Historical Studies

'Never Again': research on minority persecution informs and inspires civil rights activism

Summary of the impact

Lancaster research on the persecution of minorities in European societies, from the 1930s to the present, helps guide human rights activism to challenge the rise of far right ideologies. Civil rights NGOs, government authorities, media, and educational institutions use the research to study the dangers of extremism and discriminatory propaganda. Impact is achieved through i) trans- European civil rights NGOs, which draw on the research and seek expert advice, particularly with regard to the fight against Islamophobia; ii) advice to an EU and Turkish National Assembly project on Muslim migration; iii) the media, through which it contributes to the deeper public understanding of - and awareness against - discrimination and extremism; iv) public engagement, informing local community awareness and action.

Submitting Institution

Lancaster University

Unit of Assessment

History

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Political Science
History and Archaeology: Historical Studies
Philosophy and Religious Studies: Religion and Religious Studies

Shaping the Ideology of Red Tory and Blue Labour

Summary of the impact

Professor John Milbank's research at the University of Nottingham has:

  • Influenced policy formation, as a crucial inspiration for the new `postliberal' politics of Blue Labour and Red Toryism in the United Kingdom;
  • Influenced the theological discourse of Anglican and Catholic churches here and abroad;
  • Contributed to changes in theological education through becoming an object of study in theological curricula as well as an object of debate among other disciplines such as political and social theory.

Submitting Institution

University of Nottingham

Unit of Assessment

Theology and Religious Studies

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Political Science
Philosophy and Religious Studies: Philosophy, Religion and Religious Studies

Peruvian Political History and Its Importance for the Present

Summary of the impact

The impact of Natalia Sobrevilla Perea's research on Peruvian political history has been to transform the public understanding of the importance of constitutions and elections in the search for political legitimacy in Peru. This impact has been achieved through engagements in the media (public online discussions, public presentations, and newspaper articles), as well as through a two-phase British Library-funded project to catalogue and digitize newspapers held in provincial Peruvian archives. The reach and significance of the impact achieved by Sobrevilla Perea's research is evidenced by her being identified in the 3 March 2012 issue of Revista Somos (the Saturday supplement to the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio) as one of the eight most influential new voices commenting on, and contributing to, national debate in Peru.

Submitting Institution

University of Kent

Unit of Assessment

Modern Languages and Linguistics

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Political Science
History and Archaeology: Historical Studies

Providing bi-partisan perspectives on war to bring about cultural and personal reconciliation

Summary of the impact

Work with veterans, diplomats, trauma specialists and journalists under the auspices of the International Consortium for the Study of Post-Conflict Reconciliation and Reconstruction (ICSPRR) has allowed Professor Bernard McGuirk's research to contribute to processes of reconstruction and reconciliation between Argentina and the UK. Dialogue between Argentinian and British war veterans from the 1982 conflict was facilitated for the first time and underpinned new understanding, beginning a process of healing. Through expert advice, McGuirk has influenced the thinking and approach to diplomacy of the Argentine Embassy in London and has influenced the way young diplomats in the Argentine Foreign Service in Buenos Aires are trained. His insights have informed broadcast and media content for two prominent journalists.

Submitting Institution

University of Nottingham

Unit of Assessment

Modern Languages and Linguistics

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Language, Communication and Culture: Cultural Studies, Literary Studies
History and Archaeology: Historical Studies

The birth of the newspaper: understanding new media

Summary of the impact

The role of mass media in politics and society has in recent years been a subject of intense public debate, as well as lengthy legal investigation and repeated political intervention. Dr Jason Peacey's research on the earliest modern printed mass media and their relation to government and state at the time of the English Civil War illuminates the origins of the current situation, and has made a notable impact on public understanding, of the historical roots of the media's role in mediating between states and citizens in both the US and UK. This occurred through a major museum exhibition at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, as well as a range of public engagement and media activities in Britain.

Submitting Institution

University College London

Unit of Assessment

History

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Creative Arts and Writing: Journalism and Professional Writing

Impact on NGOs, activists and journalists engaged with Haitian politics

Summary of the impact

Peter Hallward has undertaken the most detailed research in English on recent Haitian politics, focusing on the complex travails of Haitian democracy that began soon after the Duvalier dictatorship collapsed in the mid-1980s. This research has had a significant input into the understanding, advocacy and practices of NGOs working in Haiti, and on journalists and campaigners internationally, with regard to questions of freedom, equality and democracy, and the relationship between domestic and international factors in Haitian politics. Impact has been on opinion-formation and advocacy in NGOs, international media and public political discourse regarding international aspects of Haitian politics.

Submitting Institution

Kingston University

Unit of Assessment

Philosophy

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Political Science
History and Archaeology: Historical Studies
Philosophy and Religious Studies: Philosophy

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