Summary of the impact

Professor Catherine Hall and her team have instigated a high-profile public debate about British slave-ownership and its long-term influence on British society, economy, politics and culture. The team's research results have been shared with a wide audience through an intense programme of public engagement, including a number of exhibitions, and extensive media coverage in the UK and abroad, as well as indirectly through an acclaimed work of popular fiction. Above all, their research has been made publicly available via an online Encyclopaedia of British Slave-ownership which has encouraged non-academic users to pursue their own research and make active contributions to the project.

Summary of the impact

While academic research about 18^th-century women writers is well established, many general readers are completely unfamiliar with the range, presence and vitality of their cultural activity. Elizabeth Eger's research on 18^th-century women's writing led to a free, public exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery aimed to bridge the distance between specialised and general knowledge by introducing to the general public the original bluestockings— a group of intellectual women who had significant social and literary impact upon Enlightenment Britain but were subsequently written out of history. The exhibition attracted a large audience of over 185,000 people, approximately twice the number predicted by the NPG. 40% of the visitors were first time at the NPG, and an outreach programme ensured this audience was diverse.

Summary of the impact

Professor Zoe Trodd has contributed to changes in antislavery policy debate and practice at local, national and international levels—from lawyers' societies and school teachers, to national non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the European Parliament—through a series of publications, consultations, public talks, and contributions to teaching and digital resources about contemporary slavery and abolitionism. Drawing on her own research, as well as research into historic forms of slave resistance and literary abolitionism by two other professors in the UoA, she has intervened in contemporary abolitionism by advising the government bodies, NGOs and community organisations working to liberate slaves, pass antislavery legislation and remove slavery from industries' supply chains.

Summary of the impact

Professor Karen Sayer's research on the rural, `Nature' and the countryside, farming and the farmed animal in the Modern period, has informed three TV series (Victorian Farm, Edwardian Farm, Wartime Farm) viewed by millions in the UK and worldwide. These extremely popular series have had a major impact within public understandings of not only the history of agriculture and its strategic importance, but also rural social history within British society. Sayer's input ensured a historically accurate representation of the past and, in the case of Wartime Farm, brought the rural experience into the discourse of World War II, which so often focuses on the urban. This impact has been further developed through a partnership with the Yorkshire Museum of Farming where Sayer undertook consultation with museum staff on exhibitions and displays.

Summary of the impact

As a result of his research and publications on American history, Professor David Reynolds was invited by the Controller of BBC Radio 4 to research, write and present a series of 90 programmes, each 15 minutes in length, on the history of America. These were broadcast in three segments over a total of eighteen weeks in 2008-9. The series had a dedicated website and it remains available as a set of BBC CDs.

The series won the Voice of the Listener & Viewer Award for Excellence in Broadcasting, 2008, for the Best New Programme or Programme Series. It also received a SONY Radio Academy Award Nomination, 2009, for the Speech Award, and it was short-listed for the Orwell Prize in 2010.

The impact of Reynolds' work was demonstrated by the BBC's decision to re-broadcast ten programmes about the American Civil War in April 2011 to coincide with the 150^th anniversary of its outbreak in 1861. These were also re-issued separately as BBC CDs and as a boxed set of three.

Summary of the impact

Using a ground-breaking database of recovered narratives of Latin American women during the Wars of Independence,

• new histories have been created and shared with audiences in Buenos Aires, London and Nottingham through exhibitions, workshops, guided city tours, theatre productions and translation programmes leading to new public knowledge and raised awareness;
• drama and photography workshops have enabled a community of young Latin American migrant women in London to understand their collective heritage and cultural identity more fully, and through this understanding, to develop personal confidence and pride;
• employees of Southwark Council have changed how they work with their growing Latin American community after participating in a cultural and language exchange series contributing to improved community cohesion.

Summary of the impact

Dr Julie Gottlieb's research on women's politicization and gender roles in inter-war British extremist politics has had cultural impact in terms of the understanding of, and the coming to terms with, often uncomfortable and traumatic family memories. The personal and contemporary resonances of this research have led the media and the public, in particular the descendants of those still affected by the much-stigmatized political choices of their immediate ancestors, to become closely engaged with her work, serving to recover and understand overlooked histories. Of the audiences of hundreds who have heard her in person and hundreds of thousands who have listened to her on radio, several have contacted her with information and insights that signify a deeper understanding of the multi-faceted relationship between women and politics in the aftermath of suffrage, in particular during the crisis years between the world wars. Gottlieb's work has provided an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate women who have been sidelined in political history, providing a launching point for public discussion about women's political agency and representation almost a century after suffrage.

Summary of the impact

University of Huddersfield research into Lady Anne Clifford and her Great Books of Record has led to wide-ranging new awareness of a key figure in regional history, women's writing and political and cultural engagement. Supported by extensive dissemination efforts, including an exhibition, a series of public lectures and numerous media appearances, the work has helped inform the broader popular debate about the period in which Lady Anne lived, especially in terms of challenging cultural and gender stereotypes, and has generated both local and national interest in her life, her achievements and her continuing significance. The tourism, heritage and culture industries have benefited as a result.

Summary of the impact

The production of hand-knitting is of key economic and cultural importance in Scotland. University of Glasgow research on the history of hand-knitting has: helped to enhance a significant textiles collection at Shetland Museum and Archives (~88,000 visitors each year) and contributed to the growth of public interest in and understanding of this craft activity and its history. Glasgow research has also informed the work of contemporary knitwear designers who have found inspiration in the traditional designs and colour ways and has engaged the wider public, promoting greater appreciation of the cultural significance of hand-knitting and its role in the rural economy of the past and present.

Summary of the impact

Clarissa Campbell Orr has contributed to broader cultural enrichment through her participation in three exhibitions and their associated events. The exhibitions and venues are:

• on Mary Delany at the Yale Centre for British Art (YCBA), New Haven, USA and the John Soane Museum, London;
• on Johan Zoffany at the YCBA and the Royal Academy;
• on Thomas Lawrence at the London, National Portrait Gallery (NPG).

These are significant venues with an international clientele, the exhibitions last on average for 12 weeks, and are reviewed both in the art historical press and mainstream newspapers and magazines in the UK and USA.