Log in
Research conducted by the Centre for the Study of Poverty and Social Justice (CSPSJ) led to a new way of assessing child poverty in developing countries. This novel method (termed the Bristol Approach) resulted in the United Nations General Assembly's adoption, for the first time, of an international definition of child poverty (2006). It also underpinned UNICEFs Global Study on Child Poverty and Disparities (2008-10), which was run in over 50 countries. In the last ten years, the CSPSJ's work has put child poverty at the centre of international social and public policy debates. Its researchers have advised governments and international agencies on devising anti-poverty strategies and programmes that specifically meet the needs of children, and have significantly influenced the way child poverty is studied around the world. The Centre has developed academic and professional training courses for organisations like UNICEF on the issues of children's rights and child-poverty. Our work has also spurred NGOs such as Save the Children to develop their own child-development indices, and so has had a direct and profound impact on the lives of poor children around the planet.
Reading research has led to changes in policies and activities of national and international organisations that support the development of smallholder agriculture, particularly those who focus on provision of climate and weather information. Over the 2008-2013 period, the research has resulted in improved understanding of farmers' perceptions and information needs together with the design and implementation of methods for providing climate information services that better reflect smallholders' requirements. The research has to date had impact on the policies and activities of organisations responsible for design and delivery of climate information and services in at least 10 countries in Africa and South Asia and benefited thousands of farmers.
A significant body of research at Newcastle University, led by Professor Charles, has played a key role both in articulating the importance of universities to regional development and in demonstrating how this may be enacted. In 2002, Charles and colleagues developed a benchmarking tool for regional engagement that enabled universities to assess the effectiveness of their engagement. This tool has been extensively used during the current impact period, most recently in 2010-11 as part of an international review of universities across 20 countries undertaken by the Pascal Observatory. The significance of the impact lies in the tool enabling Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to respond directly to the new policy imperative of engagement beyond academia. The reach of the impact is evidenced by the use of the benchmarking tool in the UK and internationally.
Clinical ethnography research at UCL has made significant contributions to clinical practice and diagnosis internationally. In Europe and the USA, this has been through the provision of teaching resources and diagnostic tools, such as the inclusion of culture-bound syndromes in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). In Bhutan, research was instrumental in improving the country's nascent psychiatric health services and directing them towards an appreciation of local contexts whilst applying Western medical practices. In Myanmar, research led to the development of an important vulnerability assessment tool following Cyclone Nargis, which was used to develop immediately responsive identifications of where assistance should be directed.
The Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme (RHVP) sought to achieve research-based change in policy approaches to food insecurity and famine in southern Africa by investigating a range of policy options and generating debate. The programme's success can be identified in evidence of use, as provided by a post-programme independent evaluation of RHVP; policy response, as observed in social protection policy changes in Malawi, Lesotho, Botswana and Mozambique; and policy outcomes, measured by the impact on beneficiaries of social transfer schemes put in place or expanded in scope due to RHVP influence on social protection policy thinking in southern Africa.
This case study focuses on the impact of the UoA's research on parliamentary public engagement, particularly the body of research on the use of internet-based tools by parliaments, produced by Leston-Bandeira within the Centre for Legislative Studies, This research has been disseminated through national and international `insider' practitioner networks, with the research having both direct and indirect impacts on the way certain parliaments have used these tools to communicate and engage with citizens. This body of research has led parliaments to amend their policies and practice relating to the management and support of web-based tools.