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The main aim of the Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND) in impact terms is to provoke a revision of the understanding of the role of Anglo-Norman in the development of English and to demonstrate how the language (especially the vocabulary) of the incoming Normans impinged on and fed into English. The project and its freely-available online dictionary (www.anglo-norman.net) have attracted considerable attention from the educated lay public with interests in language history, genealogy, family names, aspects of language use in Britain in the Middle Ages, and social history.
Impact has been achieved by speaking to non-academic groups; contributing to audio and visual displays in museums; and by being interviewed by Radio 4; Trotter appeared as an expert in a National Geographic film on broadly related matters to do with medieval literature; and the AND has been awarded a prestigious French prize. The AHRC decided to feature the AND as a project on their website in autumn 2012, suggesting that it is perceived as beneficial to their own impact and publicity strategy.
Research produced by the University of Reading's Charlemagne in England project played a key role in a successful bid to develop community-based street theatre cultural projects in Walsall as part of a regeneration programme. Four plays have been performed in the area to date, helping to strengthen local identity. International links have been established with audiences in countries such as Canada through video-streamed performances, and there are plans to take the plays to Belgium and France. Set to become an annual tradition, the project has already brought about significant local cultural change in a relatively disadvantaged part of the country.
Rees Davies (1938-2005) was one of the most significant British medieval historians of the post-war period, the most distinguished historian of medieval Wales, and a leading figure in the movement for British (as opposed to English) history as a staple of undergraduate teaching. While his vision of medieval Wales and Britain evolved over a forty-year career in universities and public service, it entered a distinctive phase in its final decade, when Davies wrote the definitive study of the revolt of Owain Glyn Dŵr and coined the notion of `the first English Empire'. The research of these years, when Davies was Chichele Professor of Medieval History at the University of Oxford, has had a lasting impact on the public understanding of history in Wales, on the management and presentation of Welsh heritage, and on the teaching of undergraduate history across the British Isles.
This case study provides an example of impact on cultural life and cultural heritage underpinned by research undertaken by Dr Laura Wright on the history of London English. She has been broadcasting fortnightly talks devoted to this topic on BBC London 94.9 from 1999 to the present. The very considerable feedback from listeners testifies to the range and significance of its impact on their lives, substantiating a sense of their own history, in and through language.
Research led by Cayley (the Exeter Manuscripts Project) has enhanced appreciation of medieval manuscript culture, drawing upon unique Exeter holdings, and has increased public understanding of medieval game cultures and European manuscript production (Impact 1). Her iPad app, developed with Antenna International, related exhibition and workshops have effected a `translation' of medieval material culture through modern media. Research by Roberts has disseminated new understandings of Renaissance obscenity in visual form, influencing artistic practice, and engaging regional communities (Impact 2). Jones has generated impact by stimulating public engagement with theatre and the visual arts (Impact 3) based on research offering new understandings of narrative and the visual.
Direct cultural, historical, religious, creative and musical impact has been achieved through active participation of five distinct groups in a major practice-led research project (2009-2013): (i) 18 craftspeople and artists creating historically-informed artefacts; and (ii) clergy, (iii) singers, (iv) organists and (v) congregations participating in the enactment of medieval rituals (footfall over 2500). Impact over a longer period (2001-13) has been achieved through use of three reconstructed medieval organs in residencies (c.3-12 months) at cathedrals, churches and college chapels, with direct musical impact on early performance practice by choirs and organists. Wider indirect impact is ongoing through the main project websites.
The history of cartography research group at Queen Mary have exploited their research on the cultural history of maps in the early modern period to enhance public understanding of mapmaking and the knowledge that maps create. They have taken their academic research to a wider audience through authored television and radio programmes, research council-funded books, public lectures and reviews across a range of media. In this way, their research has generated significant economic impact, contributing to the economic prosperity of the creative sector, including trade publishing, print media journalism, television, and literary festivals, and improving the quality of evidence, argument and expression in public discourse on contemporary map-making.
The Wars of the Roses and Richard III remain engrossing and controversial after 500 years throughout the Anglophone world and beyond. Hicks and Holford have made a significant impact on public knowledge and understanding of the period's politics and society. Their publications, printed and online, are valuable resources for professional and amateur historians, students and the general public, nationally and internationally. Hicks' Anne Neville underpinned Philippa Gregory's novel, The Kingmaker's Daughter and hence the BBC series The White Queen. The website, blog and twitter, Mapping the Medieval Countryside, are making the inquisitions post mortem (IPMs) much more widely accessible and useful than hitherto.
The Knights Templar are famous for their involvement in the Medieval crusades but the myths surrounding them and popular representations, as seen in The Da Vinci Code, have created an inaccurate view of the Templars' historical significance. Nicholson's research on (a) the Templars and their estates, (b) her collaborations with museum and heritage organizations, and (c) her advice on Templar properties, has challenged misconceptions about the Templars and informed professional practice in presenting heritage sites, benefiting individuals, authors, archaeologists and museum practitioners. Her research has equipped non-academic audiences with a clearer understanding of the Templars, generating new interpretations and cultural artefacts by diverse groups worldwide.
Professor Cooper's research on Shakespeare and Chaucer, and the links between them, has fed directly into the continuing professional development (CPD) she undertakes with secondary school teachers, raising their interest and changing their practice. The CPD is delivered through lectures and workshops supported through The Prince's Teaching Institute (PTI), an independent charity created by the Prince of Wales. Teachers have reported excellent outcomes as a result of Professor Cooper's research programme, most notably a renewed enthusiasm both for them and their students arising from their use of this rich course material in their teaching, and its introduction of new ways to engage students. Teachers also reported that as a result of undertaking Professor Cooper's courses the attainment of their students improved.