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Dr Chris Allen's research into Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred has had a direct influence on the political thinking and emerging policy developments of central government in the United Kingdom. Having been recognised as a leading expert in his field at the political level, his research has helped to encourage engagement, raise awareness and facilitate public and political debate. Allen's expertise and knowledge has been drawn upon in establishing the All Party Parliamentary Group on Islamophobia, the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group and the recently launched, Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) third party reporting initiative that was recently noted in the Coalition's new integration strategy.
A number of initiatives organised by the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World (Alwaleed) have provided Area Studies colleagues with the opportunity to utilise their research expertise to challenge stereotypes about Islam and Muslims with profound impact in and for Scottish civil society.
Exploring Islam, providing Scottish police with essential understanding of Islam in the local and global context, transformed Police Scotland's diversity training programmes.
Breaking Barriers deepened the knowledge of 22 young Scottish Christians and Muslims, including community leaders, about each other's beliefs and practices, overturned prejudices and equipped all to challenge prevailing discourses about the Other within their communities.
Caroline Rooney's `Radical Distrust' research has generated policy advice for government officials, stimulated and informed public debate through international cultural activism and media channels of international reach, and launched trust-building initiatives to counter the effects of sectarian conflict in the Middle East. `Radical Distrust' anticipated the Arab Spring, serving to enhance the visibility and significance of the pro-democracy momentum linked to the arts in the period just prior to the uprisings. The programme generated data of historical importance for this key moment, and brought the cultural self-analyses of regional intellectuals to new audiences. It has been and continues to be a catalyst for multiple audiences in coming to terms with a new Middle East in the making.
Yaqin's research on Muslim women's stereotyping and self-image has heavily informed on-going discussions regarding the representation of Muslims in the media and how it shapes public perception of the Muslim community and Islam more broadly. Through active engagement with the media and the public, her research findings have impacted on a wide audience, increasing awareness and understanding of how negative portrayals of Muslims are created and, more importantly, how they can be countered.
Stefan Collini's research on the character of universities and their relations to their host societies has had a major impact on public discourse in Britain. Grounded in historical evidence concerning the growth of institutions and disciplines, and on the ways public debate about the functions of universities has evolved since the mid-nineteenth century, it has influenced political argument about legislation, the content of reporting on higher education, and public understanding of universities more generally. There is extensive evidence for the uptake of these ideas in documents produced by public bodies, citations in the media, and other published reports on policy debates.
Research on the discipline of Dutch Studies conducted at UCL contributed to recommendations from the Raad voor de Nederlandse Taal en Letteren (Council for Dutch Language and Literature), providing policy advice to the Committee of Ministers overseeing the Dutch Language Union, the intergovernmental organisation responsible for the internal and external language policies of the Netherlands and Flanders. This in turn led to a new policy of the Dutch Language Union, which influences a €12 million annual budget supporting Dutch language infrastructure across the world. It also led to substantial worldwide debate amongst university teachers and to changes in how these subjects are taught and researched.
The research of Humayun Ansari, at RHUL since 1990, and Akil Awan, appointed 2006, examines the interplay of political, social and religious relations within Muslim societies and between Muslim minorities and non-Muslim populations. This expert knowledge has underpinned engagement with government and community organisations in the UK and abroad, often through Royal Holloway's Centre for Minority Studies (CeMS). Ansari's research contributed directly to legal changes regarding discrimination on the grounds of religion, while both have advised the British and US governments on issues relating to Muslim community affairs and Islamic activism, contributing to shaping security policy, both in the UK and internationally.
This case study concerns two forms of impact from the 2012 BBC2 television series, The Crusades, based on the research of Asbridge (www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01b3fpw): on the public understanding of the crusades; and on the creative industries. Asbridge's landmark television series, which he wrote and presented, informed public understanding of the crusades as an historical event with contemporary echoes in international political debate. In this example of one area of the School's historical research, a Queen Mary historian has drawn upon two decade's research on the history of the crusades to mediate his findings for a national and international public audience. Asbridge's series presented his research in an accessible, non-technical form to over two million viewers in the UK and to audiences across the world from Australia to Russia. In achieving a major BBC television commission to produce a series based on his research, Asbridge also made a contribution to the creative industries. The Crusades led to employment and prosperity for a television production company (360 Productions — www.360production.com/) and to the development of BBC television history.
Since the events of 11th September 2001, Muslims have been placed at the centre of national and global debates about modernity, citizenship and multiculturalism; this research has served to promote and inform public debate about the representation of British Muslims in contemporary culture. The impact of this research takes two closely related forms. Firstly, this research has promoted awareness and understanding of the historic contribution of South Asians to British life and culture since 1870. Secondly, this research has served to bring new audiences and readers to the work of contemporary writers of Muslim heritage.
Research on `Building the Antiracist University', led by Professor Ian Law at Leeds since 2001, provided resources for organisational change that have had a continuing and developing impact since 2008. This case study shows how resources developed from research findings have changed professional practice, shaped organisational policies and wider policy debate, thereby challenging established norms, modes of thought and practices. The dissemination of an anti-racist `toolkit' has helped managers in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to develop organisational responses to racial and ethnic diversity on campus. The reach of this approach has developed, since 2008, beyond its original focus on higher education and into new policy domains, as well as internationally. Thus, the evidence illustrates a process of accumulating impact on other sectors of public policy and in stimulating debate about the renewal of anti-racist strategies by the Council of Europe and the European Commission. The theoretical frameworks, substantive findings and outputs of research carried out at Leeds have stimulated attention to institutional racism and the organisational change, using the toolkit approach.