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OxCal is the most popular software package world-wide for calibrating and analysing dates within the carbon dating process, enabling the accurate dating of objects from the past. The brainchild of Prof. Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Director of the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU), OxCal is based on chronologies refined by the use of Bayesian statistical methods, and provides users with access to high-quality calibration of chronological data, now the basis for global chronologies. It is available online and free to download, and has played a highly significant role in establishing the ORAU as one of the pre-eminent international radiocarbon dating facilities. Funded by the NERC, and used widely within professional archaeology as well as other disciplines, OxCal has also played a key role in research projects (within Oxford and beyond) brought to the attention of the general public by the media.
Founded in York in 1996, the Archaeology Data Service (ADS) has transformed how archaeological research is communicated in the UK, and impacted digital archiving throughout the world. Without the ADS, much of the fragile digital data (often the primary record of sites now destroyed) would have been lost. Instead, they are freely available to all. This impact extends across national heritage agencies, local government, commercial archaeology, and the public. Our resources are widely used with over two million page requests per month; almost half from beyond the HE sector. A recent study has concluded that the ADS is worth £5m per annum to the UK economy (Beagrie & Houghton 2013). The ADS has helped shape the digital preservation policy of English Heritage and informed practice in the United States, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Germany.
As a result of her outstanding research in Roman history and archaeology, Beard was invited to work with a TV production company to develop two programmes for BBC2. The first was a one-off programme specifically linked to her book Pompeii (2008), the second a series (Meet the Romans, 2011) related to her research on Pompeii and to her research on Roman social history and inscriptions. Recognised as landmark broadcasts (Pompeii gained 3.4 million viewers, the largest audience for a factual BBC2 programme in 2010, and was shortlisted for a BAFTA), both have led to widespread public engagement and (with major overseas sales) to considerable economic and cultural benefit to the UK.
John Blair's research on the history and archaeology of early medieval England has had a major impact on central and local planning policy. It has made several significant contributions to current practice as regards historic landscapes and building preservation (especially churches), and it is at the heart of the on-going debate about future policy reform. His publications are read and used by planning officers, policy makers, and by the general public — who have also come to know of his work through Channel Four's Time Team. Blair's research demonstrates the influence that academic history and archaeology of the highest scholarly standards can have on planners, policy makers, commercial archaeologists, and conservationists. Its public benefits include improved understanding, cultural enrichment, and conservation policies which are more sensitive to the heritage embedded in landscapes.
A programme of research conducted by The Centre for Maritime Archaeology (CMA) at the University of Southampton has influenced, at a national and international scale, the management and protection of underwater and coastal heritage. The research has directly influenced public policy, nationally through the English Heritage Maritime and Marine Historic Environment Research Agenda, and internationally by underpinning primary legislation and current practice in Uruguay. Capacity building has resulted in new educational infrastructure, the Centre for Maritime Archaeology and Underwater Cultural Heritage (CMAUCH) in Alexandria, Egypt, which has changed attitudes towards maritime heritage throughout the region.
Bangor's research into Austrian archaeology has since 2008 resulted in significant impacts on Austrian archaeological heritage management, the archaeology labour market, and relationships between archaeologists and metal detectorists. Specifically, the National Heritage Agency (Bundesdenkmalamt; `NHA') has made significant changes to its policies, especially putting contracts to tender and introducing the first minimal standards for archaeological excavation, following a ministerial edict to change contract awarding practices. Recommendations on minimum salary levels for specific responsibilities in archaeological fieldwork have largely been adopted. The issue of how best to regulate metal detecting is being discussed on a national scale and attitudes towards detectorists are undergoing substantial change.
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island nation of approximately 500,000 people off western Africa. Following a history of European colonization, particularly in the context of slave trading, it achieved independence in 1975. Its economy is largely service- and tourism-oriented, making enhanced recognition of its heritage of paramount social and economic importance. At the invitation of the University Jean Piaget, Cape Verde, and working with the country's Ministério da Cultura, the University of Cambridge has conducted excavations since 2006 and trained local archaeologists since 2007. This work helped underpin the Ministry's successful bid, in 2008 to 2009, for Cape Verde's first World Heritage Site (WHS) - overturning a previous negative decision by the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee in 1992.
Our research `In the City' has uncovered new histories of post-medieval and modern Sheffield. We have worked with local charities, heritage groups, arts organisations and Sheffield City Council, to transform the historic environment, to make places safer and more accessible for people to enjoy and value, and have used our research to benefit economically and socially deprived communities and particularly young people. Our initiatives have delivered cultural, social, educational, economic and environmental impacts for the people of Sheffield.
The University of Southampton's long-term archaeological research at Avebury forms the basis upon which national and international heritage organisations such as the National Trust and UNESCO manage and preserve one of the most important prehistoric landscapes in the world. Local councils have used the research findings to inform their own policy and planning decisions. Research disseminated through museum exhibitions, public engagement events and publications has resulted in increased public interest and understanding of the site, stimulating greater tourism and local economic benefit.
Palaeoenvironmental research in the Ica Valley of Peru's southern coast is revealing how agriculture acted with climate change to trigger major social upheaval in the past. This history is informing and educating people and policy-makers in the present, thereby sustaining sympathetic land use for the future. Specific impacts include a Defra-funded project on Peruvian biodiversity by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew (RBG), the implementation of Peruvian decrees regarding education and forest conservation, and the establishment of forest-management agreements with major landowners.