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Professor Howarth's extensive research has had considerable and cumulative impact on the design, enforcement and practical operation of UK environmental law, particularly (but not exclusively) in relation to water and fisheries. His specific contribution has been in influencing national policy on enforcement and sentencing. In particular, two key ideas developed and advanced in his research - `modernisation' and `purposiveness' - have provided an important alternative to the previously dominant, traditional, reactive approach of criminalising environmentally unacceptable behaviour. Howarth's research has impacted in three direct ways. First, it has `significantly influenced' the work of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), making a material contribution to improvements in the legislative framework and operation of UK environmental law. Second, it has had a `direct and significant' impact on the work of Fish Legal, a key environmental NGO, with which Howarth has developed a close, ongoing relationship and which has found his advice `invaluable'. Finally, it forms part of the canon widely relied on by professional legal and environmental practitioners in their day to day work. The impact of Howarth's research has been furthered through an extensive range of high level consultancy and policy-oriented advisory activities, which have allowed him to feed in the insights of his research at a high level. These include acting as a specialist legal consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and as a legal advisor to the Northern Ireland Environment Department.
The impact of this case study is the evidence that public art can function for social benefit. Significant research projects were completed for Ashford, commissioned by Kent County Council (2010), New Art Gallery Walsall (2005 - 2009), Collective Gallery Edinburgh, UK (2008), Liverpool Biennale (2010). This research claims three types of impact: 1. Public Service: a public artwork as part of a shared traffic scheme, which demonstrates a reduction in traffic accidents, 2. Civil Society: participatory artworks that enable public engagement in the design of a place (Ashford & the Black Country) , and 3. Influencing Policy — making: a contribution to policy debates concerning public art's function for social and economic regeneration.