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Dr Lister's pioneering research into people's perceptions of safety in relation to anti-terrorism measures has significantly shaped and informed public and political debate in this complex and controversial area. Lister has co-authored submissions to the Home Office, provided a policy briefing to the National Assembly for Wales, hosted a workshop with representatives from `think tanks' and government departments. Additionally, he has engaged with a variety of civil society/advocacy groups and published commentary (including by invitation) on this area of public policy. Lister has highlighted the negative experiences of a range of ethnic minority citizens, as well as demonstrating the merits of using evidence based research in a highly political and sensitive arena.
Before 2008-9 the worldwide Anglican Communion had no global legal framework for its 44 autonomous churches with their 80 million members. Historically, the Communion has been maintained by mutual "bonds of affection" held by members one for another on the basis of shared beliefs. This is changing. The Principles of Canon Law Common to the Churches of the Anglican Communion were launched at the Lambeth Conference in 2008, while the Anglican Communion Covenant (2009) is currently before each church for ratification. Research by Professor Norman Doe at Cardiff Law School first identified the need for these initiatives and informed his drafting and advocacy of both documents, each providing a framework of `house rules' for the Communion.
Of the 200,000 offenders supervised in the community by Probation Area Trusts (PATs) in England and Wales, around half are reconvicted of another offence within two years. University of Sheffield research into why people stop offending (`desistance'), funded by the ESRC and the Leverhulme Trust, has provided evidence to senior staff in PATs, government departments, and the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) enabling the development of initiatives aimed at supporting service users in their efforts to desist. The research has increased awareness and understanding on the part of professionals of the factors associated with desistance. Through the medium of a film about how people desist, the research has helped both to reinvigorate probation services' professional practice and to develop training programmes with an emphasis on helping people to stop offending in place of the hitherto dominant focus on enforcement.
Kim's research has had significant impact on global discourse on theology of mission across the world's churches mainly through the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Edinburgh 2010 project. In particular her research helped to establish the pneumatological framework for mission theology evident in the Common Call of Edinburgh 2010 (6 June 2010) and the new World Council of Churches' statement on mission and evangelism, Together Towards Life (5 September 2012), which may be summarised as `finding out where the Holy Spirit is at work and joining in'.
LSHTM researchers have developed four computer models to help decision-makers make evidence-based choices about new vaccines and vaccine schedules. These models analyse the public health impact and cost-effectiveness of different options under different assumptions and scenarios on a country-by-country basis. They are used by national immunisation managers and key decision-makers, international committees and partner organisations (e.g. the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation). LSHTM's researchers have built on this research for WHO, informing global recommendations on vaccine timing and schedules.
In the mid-2000s the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) devised a new measure to compare area variations in reconviction rates across the Probation Service in England and Wales so that these differences could be taken into account when allocating resources. A number of Probation Trust Chief Executives have used Hedderman's research successfully to argue for revisions to the reconviction 'performance measure'. Her findings also influenced the Justice Select Committee's recommendation that the original measure should be replaced, as she showed that it led to unfair comparisons, was easy to manipulate, and failed to provide information which could be used by areas to improve their impact on reoffending. She has since worked directly with Kent, London and Hertfordshire Probation Trusts to address this last point.
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.
Professor Gilbert's research identified retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) to be a major cause of blindness in children in middle-income countries and cities in Asia, and delineated those infants most at risk. Since Gilbert joined LSHTM in 2002, her research and advocacy have led to ROP being prioritised for control by the Pan American Health Organization, with regional guidelines developed for Latin America, and national guidelines in many middle-income counties. Programmes for control are expanding and improving. Six Latin American countries have made eye examination mandatory. Although difficult to quantify, these initiatives are preserving the sight of many thousands of infants.
An engineering methodology, Management of Slope Stability in Communities (MoSSaiC), has been developed to mitigate urban landslide risk in developing countries, and has been implemented in the Eastern Caribbean. The World Bank is now including the methodology in disaster risk mitigation projects more widely in the Latin America and Caribbean regions, starting with Jamaica (September 2011-). MoSSaiC centres on the efficient management of surface water (construction of hillside drainage networks) and is delivered through a community-focussed programme with a benefit-cost ratio of 2.7:1. The impact includes:
In 2011, the World Bank selected 13 methodologies for an `Aid Effectiveness Showcase' exhibition at its Washington DC headquarters. Due to its effectiveness, MoSSaiC was included as the only methodology relating to landslides.
Led by Professor John Butler at the School of Art, BIAD/BCU, a programme of research was embarked upon to create, develop and evaluate a series of models linking artists and their work with diverse communities under-represented in audiences typically brought into contact with the visual arts.
The effects of this research have been to make new connections between cultural providers and to engage diverse audiences with art that they would not normally encounter. This has, inter alia, re-invigorated the regional art scene, contributed to the regeneration of areas of Birmingham and extended the cultural offer of the nation's second city. The impact of these models is recognized by the region's political leaders and celebrated by the public and artists. The work is acknowledged with substantial and continuing national and other funding, so far exceeding £2.1m.