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Research into the history of the emotions undertaken by members of the QMUL Centre for the History of the Emotions has made possible a series of impacts of local, national and international reach and significance, on public understanding of emotions, on contemporary art and culture, and on political debates about public policy, emotions and wellbeing. Impacts have been achieved through a range of activities, including practical interventions in schools, input into radio and television broadcasts, an artist in residence scheme, an international email list and blog, and policy discussions with think tanks such as the Young Foundation.
This case study concerns the public understanding of history as a practical discipline. Through a series of high-profile research publications, popular articles, and textbooks, Professor John Tosh's research has had an impact in two distinct ways. Firstly, these publications have been incorporated into teaching and lecturing practice internationally, influencing students' understanding of the discipline. Secondly, they have had an impact on wider public understanding of history as a practical discipline. The reach and significance of this impact is demonstrated by publication sales and readership figures, high-profile critical reception, political debate and wider public discourse.
The field of medicine has become more complex and morally demanding as it faces the challenges of technological advances, changing social attitudes and financial constraints, all dramatically highlighted in the recent Francis Report. These challenges require a profession with independent judgment and a willingness to listen to, and communicate humanely with, patients. The complex skills required for this can be developed through what have become known as the `medical humanities', or the application of philosophy and other humanities to medical education.
This argument was first explored and tested in the UK by researchers at the University of Glasgow (UoG), where the key actors in the UK medical humanities movement worked together to articulate and trial humanities content to students of medicine.
The impact this can have on medical practice has been recognised by the General Medical Council, funding streams in the Wellcome Trust and other major funding bodies, the Royal Colleges and NHS units. From the pioneering work at Glasgow, there are, as of 2013, five centres of medical humanities in the UK and 24 in total worldwide, and humanities content is delivered to medical students at module or degree level in 30 of the UK's 32 medical schools.
Professor Sir Richard Evans' detailed research on the how and why European history has been studied by British historians, published in his book Cosmopolitan Islanders (2009), laid the basis for a series of newspaper articles, public lectures and private discussions which had a material influence on the recent debate on history teaching in British schools and on the thinking of the Secretary of State for Education, Mr Michael Gove.
The Penguin Archive Project, funded by a major grant from the AHRC [7], produced an online catalogue of the Penguin Collection at the University of Bristol Library (launched in 2011). Penguin Books transformed the range and greatly extended the availability of books to a general readership in the twentieth century. The Penguin Archive located at the University of Bristol can therefore be conceived of as a record of the democratisation of reading in the UK in the twentieth century. As a result of the Penguin Archive Project impact has been realised in three main areas: improving access to the Penguin Archive and making it easier to use for a variety of non-academic users; raising awareness and understanding of the significance of the archive and the rich cultural heritage of Penguin books through public engagement and media activities including a major international conference in 2010; developing collaborative links with Penguin and contributing to their publishing practice. As a result, researchers, editors, authors, publishers and other users such as the Penguin Collectors Society now have access to this major resource.