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The Advanced Concrete and Masonry Centre (ACMC) at UWS was among the pioneers in development of practical self-compacting concrete (SCC) in Europe. As a lead partner, the group contributed to two large EU projects on SCC, which underpinned the European standards on SCC test methods.
The group's research has contributed to the steadily increasing use of SCC in general construction, which has brought many benefits, such as enhanced durability, improved productivity, reduced overall cost, improved working environment and sustainability. Given the massive quantities of concrete being used (>14 billion tonnes/year globally), the increased use of SCC has had important economic, societal and environmental impacts.
Research at LU carried out from 2003 to 2011 has made a significant impact on the practical realisation of Open Access (OA) to scholarly publications at an international level. Research into publisher's Copyright Transfer Agreements underpinned the development of the SHERPA/RoMEO service, widely used by repository managers across Europe [impact 4.1]; a cost-benefit model of scholarly publishing in relation to the main routes to OA influenced the publishing industry, and research strategy amongst UK funding agencies [impact 4.2]; further research influenced Research Councils UK (RCUK) policy in relation to mandates [impact 4.3], and the work of the European Commission in the development of its digital agenda [impact 4.4].
Research at the Transport Safety Research Centre (TSRC) at Loughborough University has led to the development of a new road safety data and knowledge base called the European Road Safety Observatory (ERSO). The European Commission has confirmed in a reference that it has become a standard tool for EU and national level safety policy development and has been praised by the European Parliament. Since being established in 2006 it has been emulated at national level by many EU Member States including the UK, Spain, Czech Republic, Netherlands and France. The ERSO website now receives over 5000 hits each month from road safety policy-makers across the EU. The research, which was led by TSRC researchers, was conducted between 2004 and 2012 and in 2013 was awarded the HRH Prince Michael International Road Safety Award for its impact on road safety.
Research at Loughborough University during the REF period (and extending back at least three decades beyond that) has had a significant impact on national and international policy decisions governing the management of radioactive waste, one of the Grand Challenges facing society. The Unit's research ranges from deep geological disposal to abatement of marine discharges and remediation strategies for industrial radioactive waste, the latter safeguarding the competitiveness of the oil & gas and mineral processing sectors. This input has been crucial for revising the new Environmental Permitting Regulations and International Basic Safety Standards. Many of the Unit's doctoral graduates occupy important decision-making roles at key organisations such as the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), Sellafield, Environment Agency, CEA (France) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Reducing vehicle noise and vibration is a key quality objective in the automotive industry. Historically, the approach has been costly palliation late in the manufacturing process; now a new approach applied earlier in the vehicle development cycle has been devised by Loughborough University and Ford and implemented at Ford that has led to savings of $7 per vehicle with respect to clutch in-cycle vibration (whoop). Ford has reported savings of $10M over 5 years, whilst reductions in transmission rattle have led to 5% fuel efficiency gains [5.1]. Ford has made an investment of £240M in its engine and transmission work at Bridgend, which includes aspects of work reported here and has created 600 new jobs [5.2].
Led by Professor Andrews, a computational method for real time mission planning, based on Binary Decision Diagrams (BDD), was developed in the Mathematical Sciences Department at Loughborough University (LU) from 1993-2003. This is fast and accurate and can be used to support decision-making on system utilisation in real-time operation, which has led to the ability to diagnose in flight faults for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications.
The research has changed the understanding and awareness of the advantages of BDD, resulting in integration into major industrial trials and proprietary software products, including at BAE Systems, one of the world's largest companies in an area of vital importance to UK security and economic development. The methodology has attracted significant research funding in collaborative programmes with industry.
The impact of the research at Loughborough University from 1999 to date has transformed informational processes in Leicestershire Police and has been adopted by other Police forces across the UK and internationally. Within Leicestershire it has led directly to [5.1]:
The impact that the Communication Research Centre at Loughborough University (LCRC) is claiming is raised awareness and understanding of the media's representation of two socially significant topics: general elections in the UK, and government policy on drug usage. The former analyses have led to repeated commissions, and the latter proved central to the UK Drug Policy Commission's report to government, and its recommendations to combat negative stereotyping of users.
The UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP), led by the Institute of Zoology, first identified accidental entrapment in commercial fisheries (by-catch) as the cause of mass mortality of UK common dolphins. Those by-catch diagnostic criteria are still widely used (UK and overseas). CSIP cetacean mass stranding investigations led to a successful ban on naval exercises around the Canary Islands and modification of Royal Navy exercises to reduce harm to cetaceans. CSIP research on brominated flame retardants in porpoises led to an EU-wide ban; follow-up work during the REF period verified the success of the ban by demonstrating declining chemical concentrations.
The nanobiotechnology research group at the University of Kent (Bruce et al.) has pioneered the ability to control, manipulate and commercially process magnetite nanoparticles. Two spinout companies, EryDel and Dietheva have been formed, with a €6 million venture capital grant, as a direct result of the Kent-led research. EryDel (in collaboration with Philips Healthcare) are exploiting the materials worldwide for drug delivery (Erydex), with US and European approval for Orphan drug designation given in 2013 for genetic diseases, and Diatheva are marketing the technology for forensic diagnostic kits. The predicted five-year revenue is €35 million with a potential market of €17 billion.