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This case study refers to the body of survey research evidence on public attitudes to community relations, gathered over a period of two decades in Northern Ireland. The thesis on `impact' is that this body of work influenced government policies, public debate and good practice in equality procedures during the period 2008-2013. The survey results have become ubiquitous within debates and reports within/from government, political parties, journalists, lobbyists and NGOs and as a consequence have had significant and wide-ranging effects on Northern Ireland society.
In Northern Ireland the display of symbols in public spaces has remained a highly contested and consistent cause of public disorder. The research outlined in this case study is a leading Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister Indicator for effective policies on community relations. Impact is evidenced through the research in five ways. It has (i) altered government policies; (ii) enhanced broader democratic participation in local government debates; (iii) increased conflict resolution opportunities as part of local peace-building schemes; (iv) informed United Nations' work on divided societies; and (v) facilitated mediation networks dedicated to changing the nature of public space. It has been carried out according to a government brief for the whole Northern Ireland population, thereby encompassing the maximum scope possible for impact within the legal jurisdiction of the state. The research has been transformative in understanding and tackling the extremely contested issue of how and when flags are used in public spaces in Northern Ireland and it has influenced United Nations' consultations on post-conflict policies.
Research carried out by the Department of Sociology at the University of Aberdeen into the nature and extent of communal division in societies emerging from conflict — particularly in Northern Ireland — has directly benefitted policy makers and community leaders through personal briefings and exposure on influential electronic media. The research findings have also benefitted action groups, peace practitioners, churches and other civil society groups in Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka and elsewhere through workshops and training materials; and they have raised awareness and understanding and stimulated debate through the purposeful use of online media outlets.
The key impact focuses on the underpinning research contributions to the health and wellbeing of individuals who are dependent on heroin in Northern Ireland, where an estimated 828 "problem heroin users" resided just prior to substantial changes in the provision of drug services. The impact on extremely marginalised individuals who were dependent on heroin is linked to the implementation of substitute prescribing and needle/syringe exchange in Northern Ireland. These services can contribute to recovery from drug dependence and can help reduce the spread of blood-borne viruses, e.g., HIV, among these individuals. Additionally, the diffusion of impact has occurred with increasing numbers of individuals accessing these services over time.
The research has had impact through promoting bottom-up, community-based approaches to truth recovery as part of post-conflict transition and human rights advocacy. This has been most evident, in reach and significance, at local and regional levels within Northern Ireland as a region with unique circumstances (emerging post-1998 from armed conflict) and by influencing the attitudes and activities of community groups, human rights/victims' Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) and lawyers involved in shaping truth recovery public policy. The work has had impact on governmental and statutory bodies and initiatives dealing with post-conflict victims' concerns and wider national and international civil society debates on truth recovery, human rights and the effects of counter-terror policing policies and practices in marginalised ethnic minority communities.
This case study relates to Professor Marianne Elliott's research into the history of religion, identity and conflict in Ireland. Through original research, covering many centuries, Elliott has demonstrated how conflicting identities have been based on simplified origin-myths. This case study describes some of the ways in which her research has benefitted a wider public. Through engagement with community organisations such as the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council, through dialogue with religious leaders and prominent peace campaigners, and through vigorous engagement in public discussion and media debate, Elliott's research has made a tangible contribution to the processes of peace-building and reconciliation as well as heightening public understanding of Irish history.
Between 2009 and 2013, Professor Michael Kerr's research impacted Foreign and Commonwealth Office thinking and policy on how to address the deeply divided societies of Lebanon and Syria. Kerr's research addresses specifically the ways to apply lessons of the Northern Ireland conflict and subsequent peace process to Lebanon and Syria. This research was disseminated via the `Conversation with Diplomacy' project, led by Kerr, undertaken between Unit staff in the Middle East & Mediterranean Studies Programme (MEMS) and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO). This collaborative project consisted of knowledge transfer and high impact engagement with FCO Ambassadors, the Middle East diplomatic community in London, and members of the international policy making communities.
James Loughlin's peer-reviewed research on the British monarchy's role in Ireland formed the essential basis for Irish state broadcaster's, RTÉ's, account of Elizabeth II's historic visit to the Irish Republic in 2011. He was advisor to the programme-makers from inception and his work formed the spine of the resulting documentary, `The Queen and Us'. Loughlin's research fundamentally shaped how the programmers presented knowledge of the monarchy's standing in Ireland, both historically and contemporaneously, and influenced strongly their creative practice. Audience levels reached 400,000+, including the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh themselves. The work spread worldwide via the RTÉ player.
During the conflict, community relations work had low strategic importance. Morrow et al (1997) demonstrated that the absence of an overarching conceptual framework stifled government policy and so subsequently developed a ground breaking model of community relations engagement to be mainstreamed into government policy (around equity, diversity and interdependence). Following two major government reviews of community relations in 2002 and 2003-5, these research findings were adopted as central to public policy and resource allocation, and reconfigured as `A Shared Future'.
Since 2008, the core concepts of Morrow et al's work have been explicitly integrated into the vision and values of many policies and practices around reconciliation, community relations and a shared future demonstrating a continuing, cascading impact at local, regional, national, European and international levels.
Professor Patricia Lundy's research, which began in 2005 and continues today, has:
1) Directly led to the Minister of Justice commissioning HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) to investigate the Police Service of Northern Ireland's Historical Enquiries Team (PSNI/HET).
2) Directly led to the Northern Ireland Policing Board (NIPB) holding the PSNI to account; and a reassessment of the Board's own procedures.
3) Directly led to the resignation of HET's Director and Deputy Director, suspension of all military case-reviews, complete overhaul of HET, and policy changes in how PSNI/HET investigates historic crimes.
4) Directly led to Committee of Ministers holding the UK government to account with regards to fulfilment of its obligations deriving from European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) judgements and HET Article-2 compliance.
5) Directly led to reopening inquests, legal proceedings and informing stakeholders.
6) Directly created critical public debate about the future of the HET and policy more generally around addressing the legacy of NI conflict.