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The Build the Truce (BTT) project, undertaken at the University of Manchester (UoM), considers the challenges involved in establishing and maintaining a truce during times of conflict. Findings from the research provided the basis for two innovative exhibitions, co-funded by the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS). First, an interactive multimedia display at the Imperial War Museum London (IWML), included as an official part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Second, a Big Picture Show (BPS); part of the rolling programme at the Imperial War Museum North (IWMN). Together these exhibitions, associated public engagement activities and workshops, have both challenged and altered public perceptions of truce, as well as offering a valuable example of how complex and controversial topics can be presented within a museum setting.
Research at Oxford funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) showed that countries with highly unequal resource distribution between culturally defined groups (`horizontal inequality') are more likely to experience conflict. This key insight contributed to changes in: DFID strategy towards conflict-affected areas; UNDP policy on post-conflict reconstruction; the work of the World Bank towards conflict; and OECD guidance on state-building in fragile states. The research also made a contribution to national policy discussions in a number of developing countries, including Nepal, Malaysia and Kenya.
This case study demonstrates the impact of historical research into conflict management and resolution on:
This case study is based on research into the history of conflict resolution/management, peace implementation and public diplomacy in Europe, North America, Sri Lanka and Australia.
This case study demonstrates how psychological and political science research has been utilised to inform policy and practice responses to violence and conflict. Work with the Forgiveness Project has utilised social-psychological research to develop the Forgiveness Toolbox. This is designed to assist key stakeholders, victims, perpetrators and civil society organisations in dealing with the psychological consequences of violence and conflict. The political consequences of violence and conflict were addressed, for example, through our collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Bosnia, which resulted in new material for their work on state and welfare reform.
Research on mediation practice and conflict regulation contributed to the development of resources to enhance professional training standards and democratic participation in conflict-ridden societies. The researchers' work has focused on: a) post-genocide diaspora groups emphasizing the transformative effects of new social networking facilities; b) professional standards in conflict resolution practice; and c) power-sharing arrangements addressing gaps in minority-group representation. Scholarly work on conflict resolution capacity has had an impact on intergovernmental bodies, the media and transnational communities and has demonstrably produced innovative training methods for NGOs and conflict practitioners as well as resources to safeguard inclusivity in divided societies.
Research led by Professor Sultan Barakat of the Post-war Reconstruction and Development Unit (PRDU) has had substantial impact in the UK and internationally on the design and use of strategic conflict and stability assessments of war-affected and fragile states. The PRDU enjoys a strong and sustained relationship with the Department for International Development (DfID) and has directly informed the UK's approach to strategic conflict assessment, leading to the creation of the Joint Assessment of Conflict and Stability (JACS) methodology. Impact has now reached beyond the UK with the PRDU commissioned to undertake conflict analyses for other bilateral and multilateral donor organisations using the approach developed with DfID, including a £487,391 project for UNICEF in Somalia that began in 2013.
Martin Evans' research concerns conflict and its aftermath in the Casamance region of southern Senegal — the scene of West Africa's longest-running insurgency. His work has influenced policy, humanitarian and development activity in the region and beyond, and has informed Western governments, international agencies and non-governmental organisations in their interventions to support peacebuilding and `post-conflict' reconstruction. In addition, Evans has provided expert testimony in relation to asylum claims made in Western countries by Casamançais fleeing persecution. Building on his previous work, Evans has conducted the underpinning research for this activity while at Chester as a lecturer (February 2009-July 2011) and senior lecturer (August 2011-present).
His work has a lasting impact because of the situation's intractability and the need to address ongoing violence and human displacement. The conflict also retains the capacity to destabilise neighbouring countries.
Research at Oxford, led by Paul Collier, on the causes and consequences of conflict and state failure for low income economies has informed policymakers, and contributed to a substantial increase in the proportion of aid programmes devoted to addressing these problems. Using rigorous quantitative methods, the research has identified the economic factors underlying conflict and state failure in low income countries, quantified the substantial costs inherent in state failure and mis-governance, and proposed effective ways of addressing these problems. The impact of Collier's team's research has been further expedited by his prominent role as advisor to governments and policymakers (eg. IMF, DFID, World Bank). In this way, Collier and his team's research has substantially influenced current thinking on development policy.
Staff members of the School of Geosciences are involved in research into Conflict Archaeology, especially based in the Pacific region and the WW2 Pacific island theatres. One exemplar project involves fieldwork undertaken on the island of Peleliu, in the Republic of Palau (Micronesia). The fieldwork and associated research has demonstrated that Peleliu is most likely the best preserved battlefield in the Pacific, and potentially the best preserved WW2 battlefield site anywhere.
Supported by the findings of the research, proposals are now in place to incorporate Peleliu into the U.S. Government's National Park system, uniquely as a site on foreign soil. This aims to document and preserve the sites, provide education and outreach facilities to the general public, to monitor and maintain the battlefield through sustainable eco-tourism (with vital income generation for a fragile local economy in this developing country), and to protect the site from looting. The research has played a large and crucial part in providing supporting evidence and documentation for this process.
The research has delivered impact on creativity, culture and society, and especially towards the enhancement to heritage preservation, conservation and presentation, including museum and gallery exhibitions and public education. Public and political debate has also been shaped and informed, and the findings of the research have enhanced a broad cross-cultural understanding of the issues.
Research led by Professor Hilary Footitt at the University of Reading acted as a catalyst to stimulate interest in languages in conflict situations among language practitioners, the country's principal museum of war, the Ministry of Defence, the International Association of Conference Interpreters, and NGOs. The role of languages in war and conflict had received surprisingly little previous attention and this ground-breaking research gave confidence to the Imperial War Museum to exploit the languages dimension of its collections, contributed to the Ministry of Defence's internal discussions and to its first Joint Doctrine Note on linguistic support for operations, and supported the development of the professional interpreters' Code of Conduct for the employment of interpreters in war.