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This case study refers to the REF-period impact achieved by Michael J. Williams, who joined the Unit in 2008. His research comprises a number of projects that bring new understandings of risk to bear on the evolution and development of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since 1949, the conceptualization of security in the post-9/11 world and NATO's role in promoting security in the transatlantic area via `out of area' missions such as the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Williams combined advisory roles and a strong public profile developed over the period to bring his research to politicians, policymakers and publics both nationally and internationally, engagements that supported the achievement of non-academic impacts of his work. His research has informed the thinking of policy-makers, military officials, international organizations and development actors dealing with security and development, contributed to policy formation at national and international levels, and raised public awareness of the difficulties of policy coordination in conflict and development initiatives.
The research conducted by Professor Timothy Edmunds has had three primary impacts. First, it has played a role in framing policy and setting the operational agenda for security sector reform (SSR) programmes by national governments and international organisations. Second, the research has had a direct influence on the substance of security and defence reforms in parts of the post-communist and western Balkan regions, particularly in relation to the consolidation of democratic control over the security sector. Finally, it has had an impact on the evolution of British defence policy and armed forces since 2007, and on the debate leading up to the introduction of a new Armed Forces Covenant in May 2011. The research addresses change and transformation in military, police and intelligence agencies through the development and evolution of the concept of SSR. In so doing, it examines how security actors can both threaten and facilitate democratisation and human security goals in post-authoritarian and post-conflict societies, and the manner in which these issues can be addressed through international policy. It also `reverse engineers' the questions and lessons of SSR to interrogate wider challenges of defence transformation and civil-military relations in western democracies, and particularly the UK.
Global rules and regulatory institutions have major and ever-growing importance in contemporary governance. However, connections between global governance and citizens are often weak, compromising effectiveness and legitimacy. Civil society organisations (CSOs - including Non- Governmental Organisations, business forums, trade unions, think tanks and social movements) offer major potential to link global governance institutions (GGIs) with affected publics. Professor Scholte's sustained programme of research in this area, and related provision of resources and training to international beneficiaries such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has had significant social impact in raising both the quantity and the quality of GGI-CSO relations.
Professor Mary Kaldor convened a study group that proposed a new human security doctrine for the European Union at the request of its High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy. This doctrine defined a new approach for EU involvement in situations requiring a security and defence response, with special attention to conflict and disaster in developing countries. It has influenced security and defence policy at the EU and country member levels, and has proved to dramatically reduce violence and contribute to peacekeeping efforts and a return to civil society when applied in conflict-ridden contexts such as Chad, Somalia, Iraq and Libya.
The primary impact of this research has been the adoption and implementation of its recommendations at both field and policy levels, by a wide range of donor institutions, non-governmental organisations and local authorities working on peacebuilding and security challenges. At field level, the research has led to an observable change and quantifiable improvement in operations, primarily through engaging with major service providers such as the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). At policy level, the research has informed donors and other policymakers on matters related to security sector reconstruction — most notably the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT).
Beneficiaries: The case study outlines these strands of work with the IOM and DFAIT, which have both had an impact in Afghanistan and elsewhere. It also provides detail of work specific to the Philippines, which informed the approach of the Philippines' Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) and a number of local and international NGOs, towards local security provision and post-conflict reconstruction in Mindanao.
Jackson's research on post-conflict state-building has shaped processes of international intervention and internal reconciliation during and following conflicts in Africa and South Asia. His work has had impact in two main areas.
First, in Nepal where Jackson has directly contributed to securing successful implementation of the peace agreement to demobilise, rehabilitate and reintegrate 20,000 Maoist combatants though involvement in mediation between the Nepali military and government on the one hand, and Maoist combatants on the other.
Second, Jackson's research along with a government commissioned evaluation of the UK's peace intervention in Sierra Leone has resulted in the provision of expert advice on security sector reform to UK and foreign governments and non-governmental organisations, through:
Kim's research on Japan and South Korea (hereafter Korea) as non-traditional aid providers has been instrumental in addressing the Western bias within traditional aid conventions and in promoting a better understanding of the distinctive perspectives and practices of development assistance by non-traditional donor organisations. Her publications and related outreach activities have helped to re-contextualise the international aid debate in Korea, and, to a lesser extent, Japan, by highlighting the significance of issues of ethics, of climate assistance, and international aid architecture for key agencies. The impact of this has been recognised in the policy documents and activities of key Korean and Japanese institutions such as aid agencies and civil society organisations, including think tanks and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). In turn, it has also informed the practice of aid workers on the ground by increasing their awareness of current issues on a global scale.
Professor Sasse created, developed and delivered the user-centric perspective that now underpins security thinking in both corporate and public-sector domains. This perspective shaped the UK government's Identity Assurance Programme (IDAP), a federated identity solution that will provide access to all e-government services in the UK. HP has incorporated the compliance budget model into its Security Analytics product, which enables companies to calculate the impact of a given security mechanism on individual and corporate productivity. Sasse's work also underpins new and improved security products, including First Cyber Security's SOLID and Safe Shop Window tools, which protects over 70% of UK online shopping revenue; GrIDSure's one-time PIN system (now part of the SafeNet Authentication Service); and iProov's authentication service.
The analysis and evaluation of the performance of the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) by Dr. Kirsten E. Schulze, an expert on the contemporary history of the Aceh conflict in Indonesia, contributed in four main ways to the improvement of EU peacekeeping missions and the adoption of a human security doctrine. Firstly, changes were made to the composition of peacekeeping missions to achieve a greater gender balance. Secondly, the training and preparation of external civilian security missions were altered with respect to greater gender sensitivity in the field. Thirdly, the AMM evaluation has, alongside other evaluations of European Security and Defence Policy (ESPD) missions, become part of the material studied by practitioners when undertaking training at the European Crisis Management Centre in Finland, which has also prepared a manual based on this research. Finally, and more generally, the research on the AMM (and other evaluations of ESPD missions) has served as the basis for devising a specifically European approach to security within the framework of the human security doctrine outlined in the September 2004 Barcelona Report.
Professor Jude Howell served from 2009-2011 as lead researcher on a fundamental review of the Australian Government's approach to civil society in its developing country aid programmes. She and her collaborators produced a report with seven key recommendations. These led to a new Government policy statement on Effective Governance and a new Civil Society Engagement Framework. The initial impacts of rolling out this Framework in 2012-13 have been 1) significant changes in the Australian Agency for International Development's (AusAID) operations in relation to engagement with civil society at both headquarter and country levels, and 2) a substantial increase in the amount of money and attention going to the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other organisations that form the backbone of civil society in the 37 developing countries in which AusAID works.