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Property market investors (from large institutional investors to potential home buyers) need to have confidence on the level of risk and returns associated with their transactions. Without such confidence, property markets will fail to operate efficiently.
This case study reports on the development of a number of different property indices by Aberdeen-based researchers which have increased information on, and therefore the transparency of, specific markets. The commercial real estate and urban regeneration indices have been widely adopted by industry and influence investment portfolio decisions. The residential indices are used by surveyors, mortgage lenders and influence the housing choices of the general public.
McNay's work is at the boundaries between HEIs and their environment: policy analysis, particularly of Access and, here, Research Quality Assessment, and the impact on internal strategies; and organisational analysis and the way internal cultures and processes are conditioned by external influences. His conceptual model of cultures is used by professionals worldwide to evaluate and improve leadership and management and introduce change. RAE impact analysis has influenced policy (eg on the teaching /research nexus) in the UK and elsewhere) and staff behaviour. It was a factor leading to adjustment of later exercises towards profiling, consistency of criteria and impact
Research at Aberystwyth has enhanced the capacity of forecasters to calibrate the scale of the impact on consumer spending of movements in house prices. Specifically research has provided improvements in the methodology used for estimating the impact of housing market shocks on consumer spending .This has impacted upon policy debates, including those in Central Banks, and informed methods of forecasting the impact of house prices on household economic behaviour. Thus a clearer understanding of an important macro-economic transmission mechanism has been provided. The research has also helped implementation of policy by assisting forecasters to calibrate the scale of the impact on consumer spending growth of movements in house prices, in particular taking into account the importance of controlling for expectations, and the distinction between behaviour in response to unanticipated versus anticipated housing market fluctuations.
The Coalition government's manifesto commitments to remove compulsion in the annuity market necessitated a decision about a Minimum Income Requirement (MIR). Cannon's contribution to the government consultation played a significant role in setting the MIR. Previous research by Cannon had shown that the UK compulsory-purchase annuity market was efficient because compulsion expanded market size (more than half of all annuities are sold in the UK) and reduced selection effects. This research enabled the government to justify retaining an element of compulsion. The precise level of the MIR used in the 2011 Finance Bill was based upon the methodology proposed by Cannon.
AU Research has had impact through the shaping of policies, practices and behaviours affecting biodiversity and ecosystem services (ESS) across a wide range of beneficiaries. The research has involved developing methods for valuing ESS, and subsequently mainstreaming this ESS framework to:
The research impacted on both public policy and professional practice. Specifically the research has enabled the development of an overarching framework for linking interventions in social structures, families and schools, particularly at area level. This in turn has impacted principally (a) on organisational strategy and professional practice at local level; but also (b) on national policymaker decisions and processes involved in the transformation of the `Extended Schools' agenda; and (c) on thinking and strategy by policymakers in Europe and other countries internationally. Crucial to the impact process have been partnership relationships using a development and research (D&R) methodology with a wide range of local initiatives, together with support for change in national and trans-national policy in this field.
[Key: Bold: text from REF guidelines; Bold italic/italic: emphasis; Superscript: references in sections 3 and 5]
Research by Chadwick has influenced research protocols and policies regarding the ethical consequences of collecting DNA for research. Her impact is most visible in the Personal Genome Project, and the work of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Human Genome Project and H3Africa. Her contributions to discussions and documents resulted in changes to how consent is gained from DNA donors. In particular, the changes address important issues that she raised regarding the practicality and acceptability of the undertakings made in current consent protocols about confidentiality and the future use of data. Chadwick's underpinning research claims relate to the fact that genetic information, and the attendant genetic technology, are derived from, and significant to, populations as a whole. She maintains that biotechnological advances are changing our ethical values, particularly regarding conflicts between personal interests and large-group needs. For her, practical ethics cannot apply normative ethical concepts and theories arising from abstract philosophical reasoning. Rather, the conceptual and theoretical structures themselves must be developed through philosophical engagement with the scientific details of the project. Her collaboration with bodies responsible for the protocols of consent reflects a `bottom-up' moral philosophy rather than the traditional `top-down' theory-driven approach.
BEAA's large-scale research designing and testing alternative grazing management systems for the uplands has achieved impact on the environment and economy. Environmental policy and its implementation via agri-environment schemes has been directly and indirectly influenced, with the evidence provided by the research vital to the development of grazing prescriptions and related payment structures by government agencies and conservation bodies. The results have also benefitted the upland farming community by identifying opportunities for improved productivity and hence economic viability; through e.g. more efficient use of pasture resources leading to higher growth rates for forage-based systems and reduced reliance on purchased feed and fertiliser.
This case study details the research undertaken in the Built Environment Research Institute (BERI), Centre for Research on Property and Planning concerning the interrelationships across regeneration, value creation and innovative funding mechanisms. Outputs have impacted at the property market and regeneration policy levels with benefit arising from benchmarking of performance, enhanced transparency, changed perceptions of regeneration areas with increased appreciation of innovative vehicles for regeneration and infrastructure delivery. The underpinning research has been published in leading journals and launched at keynote events organised by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Investment Property Forum (IPF).
Microfinance — financial services for people excluded from mainstream banking — expanded rapidly during the 1990s into a global industry of specialist microfinance institutions (MFIs) serving over 100 million clients. The dominant view was that directly assessing achievement of social goals, such as poverty reduction and women's empowerment, was an unnecessary distraction from the commercial expansion of MFIs, needed to reduce their financial dependence on aid. Our research successfully challenged this view by demonstrating that MFIs could effectively monitor their social as well as financial performance. The impact of this has been an increase globally in the number of MFIs doing so, the development of global standards for social performance assessment, and better quality financial services for millions of relatively poor clients.