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McNay's work is at the boundaries between HEIs and their environment: policy analysis, particularly of Access and, here, Research Quality Assessment, and the impact on internal strategies; and organisational analysis and the way internal cultures and processes are conditioned by external influences. His conceptual model of cultures is used by professionals worldwide to evaluate and improve leadership and management and introduce change. RAE impact analysis has influenced policy (eg on the teaching /research nexus) in the UK and elsewhere) and staff behaviour. It was a factor leading to adjustment of later exercises towards profiling, consistency of criteria and impact
This research addresses the long-recognised need for the development of collaborative research to develop shared understandings across professional groupings in local authorities. It has had major impact on policy and decision making at strategic and operational levels on the development and management of inter-professional partnerships in local authorities and public service agencies in the North West of England. It has also enabled substantial financial savings by improving decision making through developing inter-professional management strategies, and led to the growth of an international network of scholars through a Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the development of two research scholarships in conjunction with Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service and two Academy Schools in Cheshire and Merseyside.
The research findings improved the comparative evidence base used by policy makers, providers and advocacy organisations when designing and delivering contracted out welfare to work programmes in the UK, including the development of service user safeguards implemented through the Department of Work and Pensions `Commissioning Strategy' and Work Programme (which will cater for over 3 million unemployed participants between 2011 and 2016). The research findings have also had a wider impact in informing policy makers, providers and user groups in other countries that have introduced or are introducing such contracting systems.
The research and evaluation work carried out on public art and cultural regeneration that took place in the School of Built Environment and Engineering at Leeds Metropolitan University (2003-2013) has resulted in the production of a range of public art strategies and plans for local authorities and government agencies and organisations. The work has involved extensive research and evaluation of a range of cultural and public art strategies at local, regional and national level in the UK. This research work has contributed to better informed public policy debate around the role of art and culture in the process of regeneration and the analysis of the extent to which public art can contribute to creating places that have strong social, cultural and visual vitality and sustainability.
Healthcare-associated infections (HCAI) and antimicrobial resistance pose a constant threat to patients accessing healthcare in a range of settings. HCAI prolong recovery; delay discharge from hospital and, in extreme circumstances, cause serious disability or death. This case study describes the impact of the Epic (evidence-based practice in infection control) research programme that focuses on the translation of evidence into national infection prevention and control guidelines for the NHS. Through evaluation of initiatives to reduce the threat of HCAI and associated disability to patients, and by generating evidence to support the development of government policy, Epic has led to safer care for people during periods of health-related vulnerability, and saved lives.
A theme within Professor David Mosse's anthropological research focuses on the relationship between policy, practice and effects in international development. His field-based ethnographic research challenges assumptions about policy implementation and the nature of success and failure in aid programming. His novel approach to questions of policy analysis and policy change has been widely influential on thinking among policymakers and practitioners across a range of organisations, sectors and countries. It has enhanced the capacity for adaptive self-critical understanding of the aid process among practitioners and aid organisations, while also demonstrating the importance of researcher-practitioner engagement in improving the delivery of aid and development programmes.
This case study describes the impact of research on new approaches to the organisation and delivery of social work services for children in out-of-home care, with international work led by Bilson and work in England involving Stanley, Bilson, Larkins and Ridley. The national evaluation of Social Work Practices has had significant impact on the development of this model of service delivery, and is shaping the long-term future of independent social work organisations in England. The international work has contributed to reducing the use of institutional care for children in developing countries and has provided tools for developing social services.
Research needs to engage with global environmental challenges more effectively. How to achieve this has been the focus of studies by academics at Newcastle with their expertise recognised in the appointment in 2003 of Philip Lowe and Jeremy Phillipson to lead the £26million Rural Economy and Land Use Programme (Relu), funded by three Research Councils, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Scottish Government. The Directorship allowed Lowe and Phillipson to experiment with innovative processes for the conduct of research in 94 projects funded under the programme, in particular through instigating ideas of interdisciplinarity and co-production, and to develop techniques for assessing the efficacy of such methods. The insights gained from this effort have had significant and widespread impact on science policy and on organisations responses to environmental challenges such as government departments and agencies (DEFRA, Scottish Office and Food Standards Agency, for example), PLCs (including Wessex Water and M&S), environmental Trusts and more.
Competition authorities (CAs) such as the Office for Fair Trading (OFT) are obliged to evaluate how their activities have benefited consumers. On the basis of his prior research in this area, Stephen Davies was invited to produce a public evaluation of methods used by the OFT to estimate the direct consumer benefits resulting from its competition enforcement. This is an obligation to HM Treasury and influences the allocation of resources to, and within, OFT. His published report (2010) has led to changes in OFT's methodologies and has been influential on CAs internationally. It also feeds into how OFT conducts future interventions.
Research at Oxford has played a central role within the recent restructuring of the nursing workforce to improve healthcare quality in a context of growing service demands and tightening resource constraints. Much of this restructuring has been heavily dependent on the use of the Healthcare Assistant (HCA) role, provoking much controversy. Presented as a flexible, low cost resource, these HCA roles are also unregulated and therefore seen as a potential source of patient risk. Oxford researchers have fed into this debate across a number of projects, strengthening the evidence base on the nature and consequences of the HCA role. Examining the role from the perspective of different stakeholders, these projects have impacted on national, regional and local policy and practice centred on the management and use of HCAs. In so doing, the research has contributed to the development of a more productive and safer nursing workforce.