Research Subject Area: Anthropology

REF impact found 32 Case Studies

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Craniofacial Depiction for Forensic Identification and Archaeological Investigation

Summary of the impact

Wilkinson has developed, evaluated and applied techniques, standards and datasets for facial depiction and identification of the dead. The impacts include:

  • Improved social welfare by establishing an international forensic tool that has enhanced forensic identification from human remains, and correspondingly improved law enforcement services and disaster victim identification.
  • Delivered highly skilled people and international standards in forensic craniofacial identification.
  • Provided cultural enrichment through enhanced public engagement with science and art internationally, through the craniofacial depiction of historical figures and ancient human remains.

Submitting Institution

University of Dundee

Unit of Assessment

Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Biological Sciences: Genetics
Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
Studies In Human Society: Anthropology

Creative Dialogues: Literature and the Visual Arts in France, 1900–1950

Summary of the impact

The impact described in this case study is the significant enhancement of the public understanding and appreciation of the work of the French writer Guillaume Apollinaire, notably through greater awareness of the quality of the work resulting from his creative dialogues with Pablo Picasso and other visual artists. This impact has been achieved through Peter Read's collaborations with museum curators (especially at the Centre Pompidou in Metz, France), and through the dissemination of his archival research findings in major exhibition catalogues, illustrated books, magazine and newspaper articles, public lectures, and radio broadcasts. Read's research has also been cited in influential works by other critics, biographers, and historians. As a result, Read's research is now a key point of reference in the public discussion of Apollinaire, Picasso, and other Paris-based writers and artists of the early twentieth century.

Submitting Institution

University of Kent

Unit of Assessment

Modern Languages and Linguistics

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Anthropology
Language, Communication and Culture: Literary Studies
History and Archaeology: Historical Studies

Memory Maps - A Collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum

Summary of the impact

Memory Maps is an online archive of writings and images inspired by East Anglia and especially Essex. The project explores people's relationship with place. It seeks to alter public perceptions of the region and to foster ecological awareness of the natural and the made environment. Developed by Essex literature academics in collaboration with The Victoria and Albert Museum, the Memory Maps project has successfully stimulated amateurs and professionals to practise the genre of psycho-geographical writing. The team has also promoted the project to a wide general audience through public symposia, book festivals, and contributions to international media including a feature-length documentary.

Submitting Institution

University of Essex

Unit of Assessment

English Language and Literature

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Anthropology
Language, Communication and Culture: Cultural Studies
History and Archaeology: Historical Studies

The Unforgotten Coat: visual storytelling to engage and give voice to disenfranchised and disadvantaged groups in society, generating public debate and stimulating change in policy and practice.

Summary of the impact

The Unforgotten Coat, winner of the 2012 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and German Children's Book Award 2013, has been praised for highlighting the plight of young asylum seekers. It remains a core text for the Reader Organisation (RO) reading groups in the community and in prison. It was launched on World Book Day 2011, distributed to approximately 50,000 disenfranchised children and has been translated into several languages, receiving worldwide acclaim. The subject matter, and creative process underpinning it, fed directly into important learning initiatives and materials for schools in the North West, workshops at Liverpool's Bluecoat Arts Centre and for Merseyside's the Haven Project. The international reach of the book is reflected in its victory in the aforementioned Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis 2013 and a further nomination for the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) for the prestigious 2014 IBBY international Honours List in Mexico 2014, a nomination based on its highlighting of the lives of today's young asylum seekers.

Submitting Institution

Edge Hill University

Unit of Assessment

Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management 

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Anthropology
History and Archaeology: Historical Studies

HIS05 - History and global health policy

Summary of the impact

As a result of research by Prof. Sanjoy Bhattacharya since October 2010 at York into the history of disease control, the social determinants of health, and primary healthcare, the Department of History's Centre for Global Health Histories (CGHH) was invited to formalize and develop the WHO's Global Health Histories (GHH) project, including its annual flagship seminar series in Geneva. This research programme has had a major impact on institutional practice within the WHO headquarters and its regional offices: (i) through the promotion of greater transparency and openness toward internal and external stakeholders; (ii) in leading the WHO to use historical research for staff training and development; (iii) by leading the WHO to encourage partner governmental and non-governmental organizations to make greater use of historical research in developing and running health policies. Due to the success of GHH in these areas, historical analysis has now been designated an Office Specific Expected Result for departments within the WHO HQ. It is now an officially required and audited activity for evaluations of major campaigns and for teams planning new projects.

Submitting Institution

University of York

Unit of Assessment

History

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Studies In Human Society: Anthropology, Policy and Administration

Learning from the Ancestors, Strengthening Cultural Identity: The Blackfoot Shirts Project

Summary of the impact

Five historic Blackfoot First Nations hide shirts held in the Pitt Rivers Museum (PRM) since 1893 were lent to two museums in Alberta, Canada, to promote cross-cultural exchange of knowledge. Under historic assimilation policies (1885-1970), most heritage objects had been removed from Blackfoot communities to museums, contributing to the destabilization of Blackfoot cultural identity and poor mental and physical health typical of indigenous populations. For the first time in a century over 500 Blackfoot people were able to handle objects made before the assimilation era. This provoked the sharing of cultural knowledge within the Blackfoot community, led to improved self-esteem, and intensified interest and pride in cultural identity. In exchange, Blackfoot people shared cultural knowledge about the shirts with museum professionals from all UK museums with significant Blackfoot collections, trained them in new approaches to museology, and co-curated exhibitions sharing Blackfoot perspectives in Alberta and Oxford reaching over 50,000 people.

Submitting Institution

University of Oxford

Unit of Assessment

Anthropology and Development Studies

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Anthropology
Language, Communication and Culture: Cultural Studies
History and Archaeology: Curatorial and Related Studies

Madness and Modernity: mental illness, the visual arts and architecture in fin de siècle Vienna – popular exhibitions in London and Vienna

Summary of the impact

A popular, influential and highly acclaimed public exhibition at the Wellcome Collection, London, and Wien Museum, `Madness and Modernity: Mental Illness and the Visual Arts in Vienna 1900' (2009), demonstrates the impacts of an interdisciplinary research cluster within Birkbeck's History of Art Department. Working with a number of academic and non-academic partners in Plymouth, London and Vienna, the AHRC-funded project contributed a new understanding of the development and role of the arts in turn-of-the-century Vienna. By engaging participants in new experiences and knowledge, it generated considerable media interest and public discourse that particularly benefited the non-academic partners.

Submitting Institution

Birkbeck College

Unit of Assessment

Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Anthropology
Language, Communication and Culture: Cultural Studies
History and Archaeology: Curatorial and Related Studies

Making Histories Visible

Summary of the impact

Making Histories Visible produces visual art projects with internationally recognised museums and galleries, in which new artworks and installations activate institutional and curatorial policies to re-examine collections and collecting. By investigating the historic through the contemporary, using the mechanisms of display and interventions, youth centred workshops, symposia, web-sites and publications; we help museums find new relevance within contemporary society.

Thin Black Line(s) Tate Britain (2011/12), Cotton Global Threads Whitworth and Manchester Galleries (2011/2012), Jelly Mould Pavilions NML (2010), reflect collaborations and sustainable relationships with a wide, influential range of museum curators, directors and community leaders.

Submitting Institution

University of Central Lancashire

Unit of Assessment

Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Anthropology
History and Archaeology: Curatorial and Related Studies, Historical Studies

1) Scots and Aboriginal Peoples in the Canadian Fur Trade

Summary of the impact

Recent calls from indigenous peoples for information about and access to historic artefacts crucial to their well-being have led to a re-evaluation of both private and museum-held collections. These collections are now being used in innovative ways to revitalise cultural knowledge and to record marginalised historical perspectives. This case study documents one such project. The funding for the Material Histories project (2005-07), which came from AHRC, included specific provision for public outreach work. This comprised a temporary exhibition held at the Marischal Museum, University of Aberdeen (4 February to 11 May 2008), an educational website and public talks. Most recently the project has stimulated the development of cultural awareness training in Northern Manitoba, Canada.

Submitting Institution

University of Aberdeen

Unit of Assessment

Anthropology and Development Studies

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Anthropology
Language, Communication and Culture: Cultural Studies
History and Archaeology: Curatorial and Related Studies

On the Recovery, Revival and Preservation of Artistic Reputation

Summary of the impact

Investigating how artistic reputation is constructed and sustained, Meyrick considers the professional and institutional forces that shape our artistic heritage. Sourcing, documenting, interpreting and displaying difficult-to-access artworks and archival materials, his research raises awareness of once influential now forgotten 20th-century British artists and collectors. Recovering `lost' cultural capital, Meyrick engages the public through touring exhibitions, publications and public appearances. His research outcomes enrich our cultural life as well as public understanding and appreciation of British print history and Welsh visual culture. They are the principal sources of reference for a wide range of beneficiaries, from curators and dealers to broadcasters and general audiences.

Submitting Institution

Aberystwyth University

Unit of Assessment

Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Anthropology
History and Archaeology: Curatorial and Related Studies, Historical Studies

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