Log in
Research undertaken by Professor John Holden of City University London on cultural diplomacy and cultural value has had a direct impact on cultural policy-makers both nationally and internationally. In the UK it has impacted specifically on the funding of cultural diplomacy activity and the operations of Arts Council England and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Internationally advice has been sought by politicians and cultural administrators around the world including the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Culture in New Zealand, Alberta's Minister of Culture and the Chairs of the main cultural organisations in Hong Kong. Through this, Holden has: (i) provided expert advice to governmental, third sector and private organisations in relation to cultural policy; (ii) influenced directly the thinking of senior government ministers in relation to arts and culture; (iii) proposed new ways of thinking about the methods and mechanisms by which culture and creative practice are supported through the distribution of public funds; (iv) contributed to the enhancement of frameworks supporting the creative industries, which in turn has aided economic prosperity for a range of individuals and organisations; and (v) helped creative industry professionals and those who support them to adapt to changing cultural values.
Professor John Tomlinson produces world-leading research on the cultural dimensions of the globalization process. His research findings influence policy at an international level, shape professional and public understanding of the consequences of globalization and encourage public debate about international cooperation. Tomlinson has acted as a consultant to national and international bodies including UNESCO and the BBVA Foundation (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria) in Madrid, influencing their thinking, policies and practices. He has shaped cultural practitioners' understanding of the cultural consequences of globalization through presentations to cultural bodies such as Impakt Arts Festival Utrecht and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
Professor Pratt's work on the conceptualisation, measurement and operationalization of the cultural and creative industries has had significant impact within the field of cultural and economic policy at the urban, regional, national and international levels. These ideas have been taken up and used by policy makers to identify the contribution of the cultural economy. Professor Pratt's work has been instrumental in devising the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Framework for Cultural Statistics (2009), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Creative Economy Report (2010 and 2013), and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) report on the economic and social consequences of copyright for the creative industries (2013).
Holliday's research is at the core of paradigm change in intercultural communication. For this reason it has provided a conceptual underpinning for the design and writing of the new syllabus for English language teacher education proposed by the Chinese National Institute of Education Sciences. Holliday was invited to use his research to write the part of this syllabus which describes teacher knowledge and methodology necessary for recognising the cultural contribution of school students in learning English.
This research has also increased the intercultural awareness of English language educators in Asia and Central America through a range of seminars, workshops and internet material, and has produced a textbook which has carried this awareness to university students in the humanities and social sciences in a range of countries.
University of Manchester (UoM) sociologists have responded to escalating policy interest in the cultural and creative industries as generators of social and economic value; developing a more complex analysis of the significance of these sectors for understanding social inequality. Through a distinctive form of `cultural class analysis' (CCA), three key impacts are generated. Firstly, co-producing the BBC `Great British Class Survey' (GBCS) as a major public sociology intervention on understandings of `class'. Secondly, influencing new market research frameworks. Thirdly, applying CCA within the cultural sector, challenging policy understandings of how class inequalities are bound up with cultural participation. In a period of austerity and sharply increasing social, cultural and economic inequality, these impacts have successfully provoked renewed media and public engagement with issues of class division.
University of Huddersfield research into intercultural exchange and cultural constructions of identity has led to technical innovations in composition and performance, giving vibrancy to work that has been taken up by some of the world's pre-eminent orchestras and soloists and so reaching a broad international audience. These studies have contributed to the policy work of an international think- tank, Cologne's Akademie der Künste der Welt, leading to greater participation in the arts among youth and artists from disadvantaged communities, and have also benefited Australian secondary school students in bringing a discussion of Indigenous culture into curricula in creative composition.
The `Impacts 08' research programme was inherently, in and of itself, designed to impact upon policy-makers and practitioners by documenting the process of hosting major cultural events and providing robust evidence of their social, economic and cultural impact. Between 2006 and 2010 regular and easily accessible research based reports were shared with stakeholders and the public. The impact of the work is evidenced in the development of local, UK and EU policy on cultural regeneration and events. These policy developments have addressed approaches to funding, promoting and assessing the value of cultural events.
The significance of illumination for the development of innovative place-making strategies designed to enhance convivial life in the city, enable better communal heritage preservation and augment urban economic capacity has been acutely underestimated. The research showcased here is interested in discovering new concepts and methodologies for the understanding, utilisation and evaluation of illumination as both a facilitator and intrinsic expression of communal life in both the city and beyond. The research has initiated a vibrant knowledge exchange between academics, professionals and municipal authorities leading to the establishment of an increasingly international network focused on the politics, aesthetics, communal benefits and economic potential of effective urban place-making through strategic illumination. The research has also impacted on the tourism strategies of coastal towns and resorts, and on heritage cultivation through the provision of expert advice. Among both specialist stakeholders and the wider public the research has raised awareness of illumination as a place-making strategy, as well as a matter of class and taste. The research has also rehabilitated aspects of popular culture by reappraising the role of the vernacular in municipal event planning and general policy-making discourse.
Since 2005 Professor Peter Stone's research has explored what we tolerate as acceptable, and crucially, what we view as unacceptable, practice during armed conflict in relation to the protection of cultural property. It has investigated, within the context of jus in bello [the morality of what is done during war], the way in which we wage war and, by implication, the very nature of war itself. This research has impacted on: NGOs; national policy makers (including the HM Government); and the international military:
Rhythm Changes is Europe's largest ever jazz research project to date, examining the inherited traditions and practices of European jazz cultures, engaging audiences, performers, the creative industries and arts agencies in the collection, interpretation and sharing of cultural experiences, resources and data, demonstrating the following impact: