Summary of the impact

Sara Haslam's research on Ford Madox Ford has contributed significantly in the last decade to the public re-discovery and resurgent interest in his life and work. She has been the chair of the Ford Society since 2008, and has published a monograph, an edited essay collection, and critical editions of two of Ford's novels. Haslam's research and cultural networking has informed the recent dissemination of his work to a broad popular audience through the acclaimed BBC/HBO adaptation of Parade's End (August-Sept, 2012) and the BBC Culture Show special, `Who on Earth was Ford Madox Ford?'

Summary of the impact

This case study focuses on an exhibition of a collection of books owned or written by the great sixteenth-century writer Michel de Montaigne. These books were donated to the Cambridge University Library by the family of Gilbert de Botton. Philip Ford was involved in negotiating with the family for this donation, and subsequently wrote a monograph on the collection to accompany the exhibition. During the writing of this monograph, he worked closely with the exhibition's curator, Jill Whitelock (a senior librarian at Cambridge University Library), to determine the form and content of the exhibition. The monograph and exhibition attracted considerable attention and was followed up by public lectures by Philip Ford. The principal benefit from this project has been the enhanced conservation and presentation of the cultural heritage of sixteenth-century France.

Summary of the impact

David Ford's research on Scriptural Reasoning, a form of inter-faith dialogue in which Muslims, Christians and Jews meet to discuss extracts from their respective scriptures, has led to the creation of Scriptural Reasoning groups in multiple non-academic contexts, from UK prison chaplains to Israeli and Palestinian doctors, and so to deepening engagement and learning between people from different religious traditions. Those groups engage in the practice which Ford and others have developed, putting the underlying research into practice in a variety of local conditions, and thereby fostering peaceful and fruitful inter-faith relations.

Summary of the impact

Bradford's exploration of the lives of modern British writers demonstrates how research can cross over into audiences beyond specialist academic markets. The impact of his research lies in:

• providing the ordinary reader with ground breaking insights into key modern British and Irish writers;
• offering reinterpretations, new understandings, and critical debate surrounding these writers, thereby contributing to a reframing of such writers in the public eye, with particular reference to the controversial aspects of the modern novel;
• his popular reception as a biographer stimulating collaborations with creative industries and providing meaningful commercial sustenance for the independent publishing sector.