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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.
Research by Professor Wilby since 1993 has led to the development of regional climate modelling techniques, climate risk assessment frameworks, and adaptation planning approaches for long- lived water and energy infrastructure. Benefits were delivered through public domain software, practitioner training, and technical advice to policy-makers. This case study provides examples of impact conveyed via these services to national and international agencies, non-governmental organisations and commercial partners who are formulating strategies to manage exposure of their portfolios to climate risks. The work helped build technical capacities in climate risk management and adaptation options appraisal, particularly in vulnerable parts of Asia and the Middle East.
Research on African borderlands, conducted by Nugent at the University of Edinburgh since 1993, has impacted internationally on policy in this area across West African states between 2008 and 2013. It has assisted the shaping of regional integration and capacity-building by the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Firstly, it led to the formal adoption by the African Union Border Programme (AUBP) of the principle that grounded research is fundamental to the work of practitioners and policymakers tasked with easing the flow of people and goods across borders. Secondly, the research finding that borders have historically been made by border populations as well as by states has influenced the position adopted by the AUBP and ECOWAS that regional integration initiatives need to come from below as much as from above.
John Gerrard's cinema scale simulation Exercise (Djibouti) 2012 emerged from research he carried out as the Legacy Fellow at the Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art. The output of the research has created impact by engaging new audiences with contemporary art and increasing its appreciation and understanding among the general public. Further, the project has stimulated debate about the relationships between politics, competitive sport and military warfare and helped to change existing perceptions of the role and function of contemporary art in society and culture. Exercise (Djibouti) 2012 has inspired a creative legacy for future generations, contributing to the success of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad and the London 2012 Festival, and it has delivered creative synergies and developed new working practices through innovative collaborative partnerships with non-academic organisations.