Impact Global Location: Panama

REF impact found 11 Case Studies

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Helping to focus probation efforts to reduce reoffending

Summary of the impact

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.

Submitting Institution

University of Leicester

Unit of Assessment

Social Work and Social Policy

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Criminology
Law and Legal Studies: Law

Improving access to mental health care in low- and middle-income countries

Summary of the impact

Research carried out by LSHTM into mental disorders in low- and middle-income countries has promoted new approaches to mental health care and influenced donors, practitioners and policy-makers, contributing to changing global priorities in this area. WHO launched a flagship action plan based on the research, governments and NGOs made substantial financial allocations for implementing the research innovations, and the findings have been translated into treatment guidelines used to train health workers in managing mental illness in many countries.

Submitting Institution

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Unit of Assessment

Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services

Improving the control of blindness in children in low- and middle-income countries through programmes, policy and legislation

Summary of the impact

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.

Submitting Institution

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Unit of Assessment

Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services

4. Mitigation of geotechnical risk through the development of advanced numerical tools – ICFEP

Summary of the impact

The development of the bespoke finite element software ICFEP (Imperial College Finite Element Program) is the main research outcome of the numerical group in the Geotechnics Section at Imperial College (IC). The research conducted in the Section since 1993 has led to a substantial growth of ICFEP's modelling capabilities in both complexity and robustness, following closely the advancements in understanding of real soil behaviour achieved through laboratory and field investigations of soils. Between 2008 and 2013 the application of these modelling capabilities to practical engineering problems, which are generally unavailable with a similar degree of sophistication in commercial software, amounts to over 80 projects of which a third are worth multi-billion pounds in global value. The impact of ICFEP's application has been to reduce the geotechnical risk and the cost of design and construction, and to give confidence in the environmental stability of design solutions, by providing accurate predictions of soil response associated with individual projects.

Submitting Institution

Imperial College London

Unit of Assessment

Civil and Construction Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Environmental

Research Subject Area(s)

Mathematical Sciences: Statistics
Engineering: Civil Engineering, Resources Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy

A sea-change in geophysical-marine surveying for protecting our Ocean’s future

Summary of the impact

Safeguarding our seas through the establishment of marine Special Protection Areas and cultural heritage Seascapes is a fundamental aim of European Union Directives and the UK Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009. Over the past decade, sonar research development led by Dr Bates of the University of St Andrews has had widespread influence on international government and industry through accurate mapping of these assets, championing their importance and establishing new management strategies for their conservation. This work has been pivotal to the creation of 107 of the current legislated European Marine Special Areas of Conservation and Marine Special Protection Areas. The innovations in technology pioneered by this work also are providing critical findings on climate change impacts in the Earth's most sensitive and threatened environments with world media coverage on work in the Arctic including the award- winning TV series Operation Iceberg in 2012. Strong international media involvement has become one of the hallmarks of this work which simultaneously delivers research results as outputs of high quality across the globe. Furthermore, the technology has had economic impact in the form of three spin-out companies.

Public awareness of the world's threatened environments drives debate
        and action on climate change.
Public awareness of the world's threatened environments drives debate and action on climate change.

Submitting Institution

University of St Andrews

Unit of Assessment

Geography, Environmental Studies and Archaeology

Summary Impact Type

Environmental

Research Subject Area(s)

Mathematical Sciences: Statistics
Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
Engineering: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Identifying and eliminating bottlenecks to entrepreneurship and development

Summary of the impact

The Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (GEDI) developed by Professor Autio and colleagues has been designed to address the shortcoming that policy makers lack robust measures for effective guidance for national entrepreneurship policy analysis, design and implementation. GEDI profiles National Systems of Entrepreneurship. The main impact has been as follows:

  • Scottish Enterprise used GEDI analysis to re-think its entrepreneurship policy [A];
  • UNCTAD adopted GEDI in its Entrepreneurship Policy Framework [B, C];
  • In 2013, EU decided to include GEDI data in the 2014 EU Cohesion Report. This will determine the allocation of EU Structural Funds (€320 Billion) [D].

The ultimate beneficiaries of more effective policies are the businesses, taxpayers, and populations of these countries.

Submitting Institution

Imperial College London

Unit of Assessment

Business and Management Studies

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Specialist Studies In Education
Economics: Applied Economics
Studies In Human Society: Policy and Administration

Improving maritime safety through the implementation of new international rules and standards.

Summary of the impact

Research on the theoretical and experimental assessment of the stability of damaged ships in the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the mid-1990s to the present day has been pivotal in the development, adoption and implementation of the latest amendment of the International Convention on Safety of Life At Sea (SOLAS 2009) by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the UN body regulating maritime safety. The impact of these regulations has been a significant reduction in the risk to human life at sea by enabling ship design and operation with higher standards of damage stability. SOLAS 2009 represents a step change from deterministic to probabilistic rules and from rule compliance to goal-based standards; it has improved design and operation of all commercial ships built worldwide from 2009, and has thus resulted in far-reaching and long-lasting impact on maritime safety.

Submitting Institution

University of Strathclyde

Unit of Assessment

Aeronautical, Mechanical, Chemical and Manufacturing Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Engineering: Maritime Engineering
Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services

PARENTING+:Using media-based dissemination of intervention to improve parenting and prevent dysfunction

Summary of the impact

Approximately 15% of children show significant behavioural difficulties. Research at the University of Manchester (UoM) established that delivery of evidence-based parenting information via broadcast TV changed viewers' parenting behaviour and, in turn, reduced child behavioural problems. This novel delivery method was implemented and internationally disseminated via the Triple P-Positive Parenting Program. These new Triple P materials have reached an estimated 7 million families in 25 countries. This effective delivery method has also informed UK government policy and initiatives by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Submitting Institution

University of Manchester

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

Sustainable Marine Management Implementation

Summary of the impact

Based on biogenic reef research at Heriot-Watt University (HWU), nine Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been designated and established in the Northeast Atlantic, Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, and a further six are under consideration. These MPAs represent 10% of the Caribbean Sea area, 6% of the UK's inshore Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) and 18% of the MPAs under consideration in Scotland. In addition, our ecological assessments of the biodiversity value and structure of biogenic habitats, and their sensitivities to widespread stressors, stakeholder conflict assessment and economic assessments have underpinned the objectives, management measures and assessment of MPAs, and other marine spatial planning initiatives, undertaken in the context of both the current marine environmental conditions and future climate change trajectories.

Submitting Institution

Heriot-Watt University

Unit of Assessment

Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences

Summary Impact Type

Environmental

Research Subject Area(s)

Environmental Sciences: Environmental Science and Management
Biological Sciences: Ecology, Other Biological Sciences

The Cult of the Duce: visual imagery and built heritage of Italian Fascism

Summary of the impact

The AHRC-funded project, `The Cult of the Duce' conducted the first multi-faceted analysis of the genesis, functioning and decline of the personality cult of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, with an emphasis on the role of visual imagery in sustaining his authority. By staging an art exhibition in London, the research introduced little-known twentieth-century Italian anti-Fascist artwork to British audiences which illustrated the importance of manipulating visual imagery for political authority. 3 documentary films were made about the research which were shown publicly but have been primarily used as a teaching aid to enhance learning of Fascism and Italian culture and history in HEIs and FE colleges around the world. Lastly, the research has provided the historical context underpinning the conservation of built heritage and tourism in the province of Forli, Italy, where Mussolini was born.

Submitting Institution

University of Warwick

Unit of Assessment

Music, Drama, Dance and Performing Arts

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Language, Communication and Culture: Cultural Studies, Literary Studies
History and Archaeology: Historical Studies

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