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The European Social Survey (ESS) is a major biennial cross-national social survey in which 36 countries in and beyond the European Union have participated. It monitors change and stability in the social, moral and political fabric of Europe and uses and sets high standards of cross-national measurement. Its impact is extensive, both nationally and internationally, and occurs in two main domains:
Improving survey methodology: The ESS sets new and improved methodological and coordination standards in cross-national survey research, providing higher quality data outcomes for ESS and, through the subsequent adoption of these standards and practices by other national and international survey programmes, higher standards of measurement in policy-oriented surveys and commercial survey practice. As a result the ESS methodology has pioneered better quality statistics which contribute to improved quality and reliability for outcomes that rely on the data across Europe.
Influencing the policy making process and society: ESS's high-quality biennial social survey datasets and associated dissemination activities have facilitated immediate and easy use of ESS data and findings by a wide variety of stakeholders. Academics worldwide have analysed ESS data and research results. Alongside the direct use of ESS data by policy-makers, this has influenced policy-making.
Research from the Creative Futures Institute (CFi) has generated original understandings of how social media has triggered change within the practice of journalism. The evidence shows how findings from 3 inter-related projects were a catalyst for skills development and generated new contributions to civil society and the creative community. Impact is demonstrated across 15 organisations where new community media collectives were developed around the Vancouver 2010 Olympics (W2 Centre & True North Media House) and London 2012 Olympics (#media2012 & #CitizenRelay). UWS research led these organisations to invest £115,000 additional funds and implement these findings in their current work.
University of East London (UEL) research on media policies has contributed to policy submissions made to the UK government, Leveson Inquiry, politicians and regulators, and to supranational organisations such as the European Commission. The research has particularly informed the development of policies adopted by civil society organisations and has influenced regulatory outcomes, policies and policy debates, especially where these relate to product placement, cross- media promotion, and media ownership and pluralism. Proposals on media plurality have informed UK policy debate, particularly via their reference in oral evidence provided by Dr. Jonathan Hardy to the 2013 House of Lords Select Committee on Communications. These policies on media ownership have also influenced Labour Party policy debate and formulation, and have been adopted by the TUC and other organisations.
The three impacts outlined here derive from research by Professors Ivor Gaber and Jon Silverman into the relationship between the media and the formation and development of policy in the fields of child protection, drugs policy and mental health. Gaber and Silverman were members of the Munro Review of Child Protection (2010/11), and their input led to recommendations about the management of media relations during child protection crises. Silverman's research into the media and drugs policy contributed to the final report of the influential UK Drug Policy Commission (October 2012). Gaber was a member of the Independent Inquiry into the Care and Treatment of Michael Stone (2006) and worked with the Mental Health Alliance, both of which played significant roles in the policy debates that led to the reform of the Mental Health Act.
Ben O'Loughlin led and participated in a series of grant-funded collaborative projects that explored the nexus between media and security, provided a foundation for innovations in political communication theory and practice, and impacted upon government, business and media organisations. The iteration of projects and outputs integrated qualitative and quantitative, behavioural and interpretive methodologies, which in turn revealed emergent relationships between policy, media and publics in global, multilingual media ecologies. O'Loughlin's collaborations with Linguamatics Ltd, the BBC World Service and the House of Lords have led the application of these new methodologies and created policy debate on the ethics of their use.
Research by members of the Department of Media and Communications on news and journalism in the digital age has been critical in three main areas of impact. Most importantly, it has been used to develop civil society engagement and high-level recommendations to media policy-makers and politicians, on media reform and the Leveson Inquiry. Secondly, this research has been used by the news industry itself in developing its practice for the digital age. Thirdly, recommendations made in the research on collaborative relationships between news organizations and civil society associations have been implemented across the country by the Media Trust.
University of Glasgow research into public relations, sport and journalism has directly shaped the professional development programme run by UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) and the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration at the University of Lausanne. The Diploma in Football Management is aimed at managers working in the 54 member nation football associations across Europe. The research underpins the Public Relations and Media Operations module delivered through this blended e-learning programme that helps participants enhance and increase their knowledge of the organisational management of public and media relations in the football industry.
The Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM) at the University of Sheffield is among a core group of expert organisations helping to shape the work programmes of UN agencies, the Council of Europe and other IGOs, to put in place effective measures to safeguard free and independent media as well as journalists' physical safety against violence and judicial harassment and interference. CFOM research has played a prominent part in consultations leading to the adoption in 2012 of the UN Action Plan on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, the purpose of which is to ensure better protections for the investigative work of journalists worldwide. As a close partner of UNESCO in the implementation of the UN Action Plan (2013-14), CFOM participates actively in monitoring, evaluation and follow-ups, assists the UN and other authorities to uphold international law, and is pioneering work to promote curriculum development relating to these issues.
Since 2008, drawing on the findings of the EU-funded project Digital TV for ALL (2008-2011) and on his book Subtitling through Speech Recognition: Respeaking (2011), Dr Pablo Romero-Fresco has researched and promoted a new technique to guarantee that deaf and hard-of-hearing people around the world can have access to live programmes and public events through speech recognition-based subtitles. The impact achieved as a result of this research is three-fold:
This case study shows how high quality research into the key problems in communicating the European Union and its ideas and policies, together with the interactions of the researchers involved with politicians, media personnel and officials, had a significant impact on how the EU communicates with its citizens. Between 2008 and the present the resulting identifiable impacts have included a significant on-going contribution to the thinking that has occasioned major reforms in the press and information policy of the European Parliament. Key recommendations of the UoA's research have become the practice of the Parliament.