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Anglia Ruskin University's Professor Bourne leads the Vision Loss Experts Group (VLEG) which is part of the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD. Comprising 79 leading ophthalmic epidemiologists from around the world, and carried out in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), VLEG compiled the most up-to-date statistics ever generated on the prevalence of global blindness, facilitating the analysis of trends and risk factors, and producing detailed future projections.
VLEG data have been described as "a critical contribution to our understanding of present and future health priorities for countries and the global community" (Editor-in-Chief, The Lancet, Dec 2012). The findings have directly impacted on healthcare policymakers and professionals, charities and economic analysts, both in the UK and overseas, increasing their awareness of global eye care issues. These users have applied this increased awareness at a:
a. Global level where the data have become a significant resource in health analyses by economists and healthcare planners such as PricewaterhouseCoopers and the World Economic Forum (WEF), enabling these organisations to provide recommendations for eye-health policies and practices. These reports predict the socio-economic impact of visual impairment in the world and provide an insight into the economic return from investments in eye-health treatment programmes. These in turn have informed the development of healthcare planning nationally and internationally, including the Eye Health Strategy by Vision2020 Australia. In addition, the research findings were used by NGOs and opinion leaders in ophthalmology at the Congress of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), informing discussion of blindness prevention strategies. This led directly to the development of an Action Plan for the Prevention of Avoidable Blindness and Visual Impairment (2014-2019) by the WHO, which was endorsed by the 66th World Health Assembly. Furthermore, the World Bank, as part of its mission to alleviate poverty, has adopted the data to inform funding priorities for health care projects in developing countries.
b. National level where VLEG findings drew attention to the absence of reliable data, subsequently leading to the commissioning of a detailed countrywide National Eye Survey of Trinidad and Tobago (NESTT), worth £350,000, in order to identify and address eye-health priorities.
Research by the University of Huddersfield's Centre for Applied Childhood Studies (CACS) carried out between 2008-2009 has played a major role in tackling the problem of child sex abuse in the Caribbean. A study we have undertaken which UNICEF described as a "landmark" in the field has led to government acknowledgement of the problem, growing public awareness of its effects, new policies, legislative reform, innovative child protection programmes and improvements in the capabilities of professionals and agencies. The research is also helping to shape responses to child sexual abuse in other parts of the world.
As a consequence of individual and collaborative research on the 1962 International Writers' Conference, Drs Eleanor Bell and Angela Bartie (UoA 30) contacted the Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival in 2010 with the idea of marking the 50th anniversary of this famous literary event. Acting as academic advisors to the project over three years, the work of Bell and Bartie has been publically acknowledged as providing the spark of inspiration for the establishment of Edinburgh World Writers' Conference 2012-2013, a hugely successful series of worldwide events visiting 15 countries, the global discussion representing `the greatest gathering of writers' voices ever staged' [Source 1]. Impact can be traced through three main channels: the cultural benefits to audiences in each host city (and worldwide via social media), the creative benefits to the writers directly involved (262 to date in July 2013), and the economic benefits to UK society and other host countries around the world.
Research by Dr Angela Bartie and Dr Eleanor Bell on the 1962 Edinburgh International Writers' Conference initiated a major global literary conference series in 15 countries, involving 262 writers and engaging thousands of audiences at events and online in a major debate about literature and its role in contemporary life. The 2012-13 Edinburgh World Writers' Conference was conceived after Bartie and Bell contacted the Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF) early in 2010 to propose collaborative events to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1962 Conference. This has resulted in over £700,000 in extra funding to the EIBF, the re-introduction of a multiple writer format (opening up new channels of communication amongst writers), and further underlined Scotland's status as a major player in global literary culture through its worldwide events.
Professor Sue Arrowsmith's research significantly influenced UNCITRAL's revised 2011 Model Law on Public Procurement. This is a model regulatory framework of global relevance that aims to help national governments avoid waste, secure adequate public services, and fight corruption in procurement. The UNCITRAL Secretariat's presentation of reform options to the Model Law Working Group was based directly on both the novel analytical templates and the detailed recommendations developed by Arrowsmith, and many of the revised Model Law's provisions on both existing and new subjects of regulation follow directly the specific recommendations in Arrowsmith's research.
Professors Carolyn Hoyle and Roger Hood have, since 1988, carried out wide-ranging comparative research in Oxford on the death penalty. Their work has had impact in several countries, including Trinidad, India, Uganda, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Most recently, it is acknowledged as having contributed to reforms of the death penalty in China, the main case discussed here. In February 2011, China abolished the death penalty for 13 non-violent crimes, thereby reducing the number of crimes punishable by death from 68 to 55. Various influences shaped these changes, and in a society where access to academic work is highly restricted, the influence of most foreign research inevitably has been minimal. The comparative studies undertaken by Hood and Hoyle, however, are a remarkable exception. The only work of its kind to have been translated, published, and widely disseminated in China, it provided a unique resource and body of evidence, and was used not only by emergent civil society groups, but also in official Chinese circles, including the judiciary. The impact of their research in China extends the existing worldwide influence of their research.
Research by Oxford University has led to the development of a biodiversity assessment tool based on three biological indices, that has been used in many parts of the world to prioritise and protect biodiversity hotspots, particularly in landscapes that are at major threat from logging or conversion to agriculture. In Ghana these methods have led to the protection of ~2,300 km2 of forest reserves (13% of the total forest network) and were codified in a simple field guide. In Liberia a multinational mining company made important conservation decisions based on the application of these methods. Use of the tool has led to the retention of substantial areas of high biodiversity forest in West Africa, despite competing economic and political drivers, and amidst a continuing general decline in forest condition across the region.
Studio for Electronic Theatre (SET) is a group of researchers examining the relationship between technological advance and creative practice. They examine how technology can change the nature of performance environments in specific spaces and address social and political issues in distinct places. Specific performances have:
Additionally, the work being carried out engages directly with non HEI partners and has resulted in members of the group being invited to communicate with a range of interested partners beyond the academy: Greenwich Theatre, Albany Deptford, Kids Company.