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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.
The Lake Naivasha region is a globally-important wildlife sanctuary, international tourism destination and the world's centre for cut flower export. Professor David Harper has led sustained ecological research over a number of years, and this has led to significant impact in terms of helping to resolve massive ecological degradation at Kenya's Lake Naivasha. The research has inspired the creation of a Lake management agency through involvement of HRH Prince of Wales — `Imarisha' — and which incorporated Leicester's recommendations into its Sustainable Development Action Plan (2012-17), in turn underpinning increasing sales of Fair Trade products and ensuring the sustainability of Naivasha's ecosystem services for future generations.
Research conducted at BEAA has made a significant contribution to the conservation of grassland fungi (notably waxcap fungi) through changes to policy decisions as they related to fungal conservation, including the provision of specialist advice that has led to the notification of two SSSIs (sites of special scientific interest) and to changes in SSSI notification guidelines. BEAA research has also enhanced public understanding and awareness of fungal conservation through `citizen science' activities, public lectures, radio programmes, film productions such as Disneynature's Chimpanzee, as well as articles in newspapers and widely-read magazines. These wider achievements are based on underpinning science to address survey methodologies, taxonomic issues and the elucidation of the basic biology of grassland fungi, all of which are essential for effective conservation strategies.
Dr Sian Sullivan's research, which challenges neoliberal approaches to biodiversity conservation policies, has been used by environmental policy-makers and advocacy groups internationally to show that contemporary trends in environmental policy development may intensify socio-economic inequality and increase the loss of biological diversity arising from economic development and commercial enterprises. A conference paper presented in 2010 became a major focus of the debate about the tendency towards `financialising nature'. Since then Sullivan's research has been seen as a source of grounded critique of neoliberal conservation policies. Several environmental advocacy organisations have used her work to support their campaigns, and she has been invited to contribute to high-level international policy forums concerned with biodiversity conservation.
The results of commissioned research by Aberystwyth University (AU) have shaped decision-making that led to the relocation of refugee Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian (RAE) communities in Mitrovica, northern Kosovo. In 2009/2010 AU research unequivocally identified the source of elevated lead (Pb) levels in soils that had been blamed for high infant and adult mortality rates in RAE refugee camps, and established that Roma Mahalla had sufficiently low soil Pb levels to permit the construction of a purpose-built housing development for the RAE communities. Following the relocation of the RAE families to Roma Mahalla in 2010/2011 there has been a significant reduction in blood Pb levels in children with no reported deaths attributable to Pb poisoning. This AU research project has had a demonstrable positive impact on life quality and human health of the resettled RAE communities living in Mitrovica.
Platinum Group Elements (PGE) are critical strategic metals because of their unrivalled applications in catalysts, fuel cells and electronics and cancer therapies. Research and analytical methods developed at Cardiff have impacted on exploration for new PGE deposits, and more efficient processing of PGE ores by international mining companies. A key milestone between 2009 and 2012 was the discovery of a 3 billion year old giant impact crater in West Greenland. This discovery is of major economic significance because all craters previously found in this size class are associated with multi-billion dollar mineral and/or hydrocarbon resources. It led to an intellectual property transaction worth CDN$ 2.1 million and discovery of nickel and PGE deposits in Greenland by North American Nickel Incorporated.
Following the global economic crisis of 2007, the question of how macroeconomic policies could be used to ameliorate its consequences has come to the fore. Research led by Professor Patrick Minford at Cardiff Business School (CBS) has promoted a shift in policy in the UK in a classical direction and away from the Keynesian demand management approach. CBS researchers from the Julian Hodge Institute of Applied Macroeconomics (JHIAM) have shown through economic modelling how a series of measures, for example, clear monetary rules which target inflation, could benefit the UK economy. The research has also been used both directly and indirectly, via MPs and intermediaries, to inform policy debates around such major issues as Britain's membership of the European Union (EU), as well as contributing to the wider public debate.
Femtocells provide short-range (e.g. 10m) wireless coverage which enables a conventional cellular communication system to be accessed indoors. Their widespread and growing use has been aided by the work in UoA11 by the University of Bedfordshire (UoB).
In 2008, while the femtocell concept was still in its infancy, researchers at UoB with expertise in wireless networks recognised that coverage prediction and interference reduction techniques would be essential if the benefits of that concept were to be realised.
Collaboration with two industrial partners (an international organisation and a regional SME) resulted in tools that enable operators to simulate typical femtocell deployment scenarios, such as urban, dense apartments, terraced house and small offices, before femtocells can be reliably deployed by users without affecting the rest of the network (a benefit of the technology). These tools have been deployed by those partners to support their businesses. A widely-cited textbook, written for network engineers, researchers and final year students, has brought knowledge of femtocell operation to a wider audience.
The impact claimed is the international uptake and successful commercialization (as www.carmtraining.org) across public, private and third-sector organizations, of a pioneering method for communication skills training called the `Conversation Analytic Role-play Method' (CARM). CARM's development was funded by the ESRC knowledge-exchange scheme and is based on research conducted at Loughborough University. It has reach and significance in attitude change in training culture: 130+ workshops have taken place at 60+ organizations since 2008. CARM's impact on training practice is evidenced by its accreditation by the College of Mediators for the Continuing Professional Development of mediators. CARM won Loughborough's Social-Enterprise Award (2013).
BEAA research on high sugar grasses (HSG's) led to the breeding of HSG varieties that have had a significant impact on the contribution of grassland to livestock feeding across the UK. Their impact on the economy, commerce and the production of livestock products has been significant in the UK and increasingly in other countries. HSG varieties currently account for over 28% of the perennial ryegrass seed sales in the UK, with over 150,000 ha sown in the UK alone of these varieties since 2008, as their positive benefit on the economics of livestock production from grass and environmental benefit through reduced N pollution from livestock production is recognised.