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The Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) has undertaken research providing a sustained contribution to understanding beneficiary-focused EU and UK rural development (RD) policies. This used novel, context-sensitive and mixed-method evaluation techniques to capture complex, systemic impacts and diagnose causal linkages between design and delivery, and policy performance. In so doing it has generated direct impacts in improved RD policy making and evaluation. The research has influenced restructuring in EU policy frameworks for RD and changed England's upland policy. By increasing policymakers' understanding of farm-level behaviours and responses to agri-environmental policy goals, CCRI's research has stimulated better-communicated and integrated advisory approaches.
Research on participation in governance and related policy instruments, with a particular focus on interest organisations and groups, with strategic orientation of research publications towards impact, and evidence of use at the highest level in public policy reviews and public discourse/debate, as well as deliberations of advocacy groups.
The global financial crisis led the European Union (EU) to diversify its sources for the EU Budget, including co-financing instruments with multilateral development banks. Dr Robinson's research addressed key concerns about financial risk and the lack of transparency created through such partnerships. His research has been recognised as improving the understanding of these complex instruments within EU institutions and its impact may be measured through the implementation of several of its key recommendations. These include the creation of the `EBRD Representative for EU affairs' within a participating bank, the acceleration of EU co-financing strategy, and the unprecedented action of the EU Court of Auditors including the banks in their auditing process.
This case study focuses on the development of the European Union (EU) as a global political/security actor, particularly regarding the dynamic relationship between institution-building, strategic thinking, and policy performance. The impact involves the influence of Professor Michael E. Smith's research on EU foreign/security policy on current policy debates about the EU's future as a global actor, and on the broader issue of the EU's purpose in world politics. The EU is currently considering ideas about how to reform its ambitions in this area in light of the 2009 Treaty of Lisbon, providing a major opportunity for Smith's work to have an impact.
Professor Martin Dangerfield's research has focused on subregional cooperation in post-Cold War Europe with special emphasis on interactions with broader European integration processes. Its significance was acknowledged by policy-making communities at national, subregional and EU level. Dangerfield was appointed to advisory roles in events that both debated and informed public policy and enhanced public awareness. These concerned multilateral foreign policy cooperation of new EU members, namely the Visegrad Group (VG), and conception, design and implementation of a major EU initiative — the `Macro-Regional Strategy'. Dangerfield's work has also been cited widely in relevant non-academic publications produced for policy analysis and to deliver recommendations.
Professor Michael Keating has worked on various aspects of public policy-making in Scotland and abroad, supported primarily by the ESRC and Leverhulme Trust. Impact has taken the form of a series of collaborative academic-practitioner engagements, involving civil servants, politicians, and civil society actors. These events have focused on establishing a common vocabulary and core concepts, while exploring difficult issues in public policy and facilitating mutual learning between academics and practitioners. Insights from these encounters have been institutionalised in the Scottish Policy Innovation Forum, as well as ongoing seminars, public lectures, innovative training courses for civil servants, and informal discussions.
The impact arises from high quality analysis and evaluation of governance practices — ]especially those linked to diplomacy at the national, European and international levels. It centres on research carried out by Professor Brian Hocking at Loughborough University between 2005 and 2013, which has produced important studies of change and innovation in diplomatic process. These projects have involved close contact with diplomats and other government/EU officials, as well as dissemination to civil society organisations and students in a variety of contexts, and they have been influential in shaping debates about the future of diplomacy and training of diplomats in the EU, Australia and Canada particularly.
University of Glasgow research into public sector governance has influenced planning and investment in major transport and infrastructure projects. Transport Scotland's Strategic Transport Projects Review was the first nationwide, multi-modal, evidence based review of Scotland's transport system; as a member of the Board, Professor Iain Docherty contributed to its recommendations, adopted by the Scottish Government in December 2008. His research also shaped the Commission for Integrated Transport's negotiations with the Westminster Government on the White Paper which underpinned the Planning Bill 2008 and subsequent Planning Act 2009; informed the Cabinet Office's 2009 Urban Transport strategy and recommendations; and influenced 2012 investment planning discussions by Edinburgh City Council.
The University of Bath has undertaken extensive research on the conduct of the tobacco industry (TI) and its influence over public policies.
This research has (a) significantly extended understanding of TI influence, by showing that the TI not only attempts to influence public health policies, but also enjoys significant influence over upstream policies; (b) provided some of the best documented examples of corporate influence over EU policy-making, raising concerns about transparency in policy-making; and (c) increased awareness that regulatory reforms known as Better Regulation may pose a threat to public health.
The key impact of this research, from 2008, is that it has reduced the ability of the TI to influence public health policy. This has been achieved by contributing to the development and implementation of Article 5.3 of the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the WHO's first global health treaty. These impacts involved work with beneficiaries including WHO and a variety of NGOs and by increasing awareness among policy makers of TI influence.
Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable mortality globally, accounting for almost 6 million deaths annually. The potential for health gain is therefore very significant. This research has had a substantial and demonstrable impact in securing this.
International trade policy is central to economic and political relationships between countries. Specialists from Sussex developed a method and software, TradeSift (see www.tradesift.com), to analyse trade policy options simply, and have delivered reports and capacity building programmes that have influenced decision-makers engaged in regional integration in the EU, Asia, and Africa. The UK government and the European Commission have funded trade policy evaluation studies from the University and the associated spin-off company (InterAnalysis Ltd) using TradeSift. There have been more than 20 training courses, for over 400 participants, from 70 countries. The beneficiaries are the participants, their employers and civil society.