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The impact of Professor Breslin's research has spanned two programmes of activity: 1) informing UK policy debates about EU-China relations by engaging with Government and Opposition members; and 2) shaping debates about Chinese politics among international practitioners through European and East Asian policy networks. Based on two decades of research, Breslin has systematically highlighted the importance of understanding the domestic drivers of Chinese foreign policy in formulating responses to China's rise. Most notably, he points to the way in which domestic development agendas spill over into international relations. This core insight has benefited a range of key governmental and non-governmental stakeholders in formulating their strategies toward and engagement with China.
Dibyesh Anand has effectively translated his international reputation as a scholar on contemporary politics and international relations of the Tibetan diaspora to impact on public discourse and policy, in particular on self-immolation; the false accusations against Karmapa Lama; the India-China border dispute; and, more broadly, minority-majority relations in the Himalayan region. This has been achieved through:
Anand's standing was reinforced by the Dalai Lama's decision to hold his only public talk at a university in the UK in 2012 at the University of Westminster.
Sussex Energy Group (SEG) research on low-carbon technology transfer to developing countries impacted on the policies, negotiating positions and funding strategies of a range of national and international governmental organisations, including DFID, DECC, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the OECD Environment Directorate, the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank and the Government of Chile. In particular, this led to a shift in emphasis towards building technological capacities in developing countries as a more effective long-term strategy for facilitating technology transfer, and resulted in the adoption, by several of these organisations, of Climate Innovation Centres and collaborative research and development as specific policy mechanisms.
The emergence of China as a global actor has attracted enormos attention from academics, policy-makers, journalists and business leaders. The outside world knows little about the perceptions of China's policy elites and their internal debates. By offering an in-depth, systematic and theoretically grounded analysis of Chinese discourse, this research has revitalised the on-going academic and policy debate on the nature and repercussions of China's ascendency. Key findings of the research have been used to stimulate debate at the highest level in governments and diplomatic circles on how best to respond to the changing security environment in the Asia-Pacific region and the rise of China as a global actor in particular. Dr Rex Li has been regularly invited to offer his analyses and insights at policy discussion meetings at leading UK foreign and security policy think-tanks attended by experts and officials of the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence.
A theme within Professor David Mosse's anthropological research focuses on the relationship between policy, practice and effects in international development. His field-based ethnographic research challenges assumptions about policy implementation and the nature of success and failure in aid programming. His novel approach to questions of policy analysis and policy change has been widely influential on thinking among policymakers and practitioners across a range of organisations, sectors and countries. It has enhanced the capacity for adaptive self-critical understanding of the aid process among practitioners and aid organisations, while also demonstrating the importance of researcher-practitioner engagement in improving the delivery of aid and development programmes.
The key impact in India of the work conducted by Prof C A Bayly and Dr S Kapila has been to reposition the history of ideas as a crucial tool for understanding contemporary politics. For two generations, the study of Indian politics has been dominated by economistic and interest-based models and, more recently, by a notion of political `culture' that has tended to drive ideas out. Bayly and Kapila have made common cause against this approach. The most visible public manifestation of their impact was a public meeting convened in Delhi in September 2012 bringing together political leaders, prominent journalists and leading academics. At its core were debates concerning the significance of liberalism, socialism and revolutionary activism in modern and contemporary India. There was wide coverage in the Indian national media. Their work and their joint advocacy have contributed to the new prominence assigned to ideas in contemporary Indian political discourse.
Research by Professor Anoush Ehteshami has been drawn upon by senior Foreign and Commonwealth Office Research Analysts in developing UK foreign policy. In particular, it has informed their thinking on UK policy responses to the changing dynamic between the Middle East and East Asia; and on UK policy responses to Iran's nuclear programme. This has fed directly and indirectly into UK Government foreign policy.
Trade and finance are the lifeblood of the global economy. Research conducted within the International Political Economy (IPE) cluster has tracked changes in how trade and finance are governed. This case study demonstrates the impact of the IPE cluster on a range of beneficiaries including national governments, international organisations and non-governmental organisations. Via the £4.3M ESRC-funded Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation (CSGR), members of the IPE cluster have influenced national economic policies, shaped policy debates on international regulatory regimes and informed the attempts of non-state actors to raise ethical standards in transnational corporate practices.
Research by Nicholson at Manchester Business School has transformed the software export sector in several developing and transitional countries. The research comprised the identification of a comprehensive Software Export Success Framework that characterises the dimensions of strategic planning required for cluster development and software exports entry. The framework has been adopted directly by policymakers in Egypt and Costa Rica and has become embedded into the National Strategy for Software Exports in both countries, radically transforming their IT and software export industries.