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An influential playwright and screenwriter, Colin Teevan's work and its impact have continued to develop since he joined the Department of English in October 2008. His writing for verbatim/documentary theatre and broadcast scripts has had impacts in the cultural sphere, nationally and internationally, in schools and in military circles. This case study focuses on his work relating to conflict in the Middle East. Drawing on sustained research into international political conflicts, his plays have been broadcast on radio and TV, and performed in stage productions across Britain and the US. One of his plays, The Lion of Kabul, was performed to high-level military officers in both England and America.
The impact being described in this case study relates to the ways in which the submitting Unit's research on the political dimensions of creative arts practice has produced cultural benefits for arts practitioners, audiences, and cultural organisations. Specifically, the underpinning research has led to two main areas of impact: firstly, the creation of new forms of artistic, social and political expression through practice-based research in the arts, and secondly, the provision of expert advice on cultural politics and policy to European NGOs and campaign groups.
This case study demonstrates how the application of GRBOM has been used to deliver a national e-student system. Key impacts include:
Dr Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling's research has developed new conceptual frameworks for the analysis of civil service reform in the post-communist world. His work has helped international policy-makers to understand the conditions under which interventions by international organisations are successful, and has influenced the strategy and operations of the European Commission and SIGMA-OECD.
The research has been widely disseminated and used in international collaborations across Central and Eastern European and Western Balkan states and China, and to date has had the most wide-reaching and significant effect in Lithuania, where his policy recommendations were accepted and endorsed in the amendment of civil service regulations by the Lithuanian Government and Parliament.
Inter-ethnic communication was identified as key to building social stability in Macedonia after the political turmoil of 1999-2001. But the three main ethnic groups - Serbian, Macedonian and Albanian - had only a low level knowledge of each other's languages. Professor Benati was able to apply his pioneering research on how best to help people learn a second language to provide the basis for (a) a fundamental change in the country's language education policy and (b) a significant improvement in grammar teaching methodology throughout Macedonia.
The University of Aberdeen has played a key role in designing and analysing surveys for European institutions to monitor and evaluate quality of life — a concept adopted as a key measure of economic growth in Europe in 2000. The research findings (including insights into particular aspects of quality of life, such as working life) have been used by the commissioning institutions to stimulate debate and shape policy. They have also been used by individual countries both within the European Union and further afield, notably in China and Rwanda. Interactive web resources have opened up the findings to policy makers and the general public.
This research has had transformational impacts: systematically providing evidence of the state of cultural heritage policies concerning nine countries in South East Europe; identifying the need for management tools to integrate inventories, environmental and spatial planning, heritage protection and funding mechanisms for projects to enable sustainable use of heritage resources; helping shape a Council of Europe regional programme; creating the framework for legal/administration reform requests by the states concerned; and has led to technical assistance actions, jointly funded by the Council of Europe and the European Commission, including monitoring to ensure the institutionalisation of methodologies in national policies and strategies.
The protection of children in international law requires clear rules identifying: the country in which disputes concerning children should be litigated (jurisdiction); which country's law should be applied to resolve those disputes (choice of law); and when effect should be given to the orders of foreign courts (recognition and enforcement). These Private International Law issues are central to the research highlighted in this Case Study, which has impacted upon:
Essex research on electoral administration has informed the development of practical measures to reduce electoral corruption in a number of different countries. Work led by Professor Sarah Birch has contributed significantly to promoting good practice in elections both in the UK and in a number of new and semi-democracies. In the UK, Birch's research played an important role in shaping the Electoral Administration Act 2006, which led to a significant reduction in postal voting abuse in the 2010 General Election. In Macedonia, Birch's research was used to inform a UN Development Programme project on proxy voting that fed directly into strategy documents from the State Election Commission and a Code of Conduct signed by all parties. Following the project, 'family voting' in Macedonia declined 17 per cent in the 2011 parliamentary elections. Birch extended her work in a series of training projects on parliamentary strengthening in Lebanon and Mozambique as part of a £5 million programme funded by DFID and the FCO and implemented through the Westminster Foundation for Democracy. In addition, her research regularly informs the practical work of various international organisations involved in the organisation and monitoring of elections.
The education system in Northern Ireland (NI) is divided on ethno-religious lines, with around 94% of pupils attending predominantly co-religionist (Catholic or Protestant) schools. Research by Hughes and Gallagher on intergroup contact and the role of education in divided societies led to the establishment of the Sharing Education Programme (SEP) at Queen's to test and model cross-denominational school collaboration. The SEP has established 23 collaborative networks involving 130 schools and 16,000 pupils. The programme facilitates sustained encounters between Protestants and Catholics, and has led to more positive intergroup responses amongst participants. Shared Education informed a review of community relations policy in education, and was identified as a priority in the Programme for Government (2012), and a Ministerial Advisory Group (MAG) was established. Drawing extensively on the SEP model and associated research, the MAG report recommends that shared education is mainstreamed in Northern Ireland and these recommendations have been fully accepted by the Minister of Education. The shared education model is also being transferred to other divided jurisdictions, including Macedonia and Israel.