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The University of Leeds has a long-established reputation for research into the identification of stamps used by potters on terra sigillata (`samian ware'), a key dating indicator for archaeological excavations on sites in the western Roman empire.
Publication of the illustrated index of these names in nine volumes, complemented by the ongoing release of the data to an online database, has made this research more accessible.
The index has given archaeologists — primarily community and commercial archaeologists beyond academia — a powerful resource for identifying samian pottery and dating the strata where it is found. It has also provided a valuable tool for museums' educational work.
Dr Adam Hansen's interest in the links between writing and popular music led him to set up a monthly `Litpop' bookclub at The Sage Gateshead, the primary music venue in the North East of England; to deliver a workshop for writers and musicians at the Star and Shadow Cinema; Newcastle; and to organise a series of public talks. These events helped the Sage in particular to diversify its programme and audiences. Participating readers benefited in terms of greater appreciation of the relations between writing and popular music and between `low' and `high' culture, while the event at the Star and Shadow stimulated new forms of creativity amongst local writers and musicians.
Research at the University of Manchester has led to the provision of cost effective instruments for monitoring water, industrial and environmental pollution. The underpinning research on chemical sensors conducted in the unit was protected by patent, and in 2007 Multisensor Systems Ltd was spun-out in-order to meet the needs of the water industry and has grown to employ 6 people in 2013. Currently this is the only commercially available instrument sensitive enough to monitor low concentrations of hydrocarbon pollution and is used by major UK water companies to prevent risk of environmental pollution hazards with mitigated losses valued at more than £100m.
The University of Oxford is a leading centre for research in opera and music theatre, where the work of musicologists and practitioners intersects to mutual benefit, and outputs have attracted the wide attention of new audiences well beyond the academic community. Oxford Opera encompasses a broad historical range, but shares a set of common aims and objectives: exploring new and historical modes of performance and realisation; challenging received operatic conventions and performance traditions in a scholarly and creative manner; and disseminating research results to new listeners through professional collaborations. Young people, the general public, and other professional practitioners have all been beneficiaries.
Health inequalities are recognised as a critical UK policy issue with life expectancy gaps of up to 28 years between the least and most deprived areas. This case-study demonstrates how Durham University research has led to: (a) changing health service commissioning (with County Durham and Darlington Primary Care Trust [PCT]): (b) influencing NHS funding policy (by generating Parliamentary debate); as well as (c) contributing to the development of the new public health system in England and Wales (as part of the Strategic Review of Health Inequalities in England post-2010 [Marmot Review]).
Research by Prof Jillian Anable and colleagues in the Centre for Transport Research (CTR) at the University of Aberdeen has made a leading international contribution to a specific approach to sustainable transport planning known as `Smarter Choices' or `soft measures'. These have been used to develop non-coercive transport policies that inform people of their travel choices, and seek to improve services to make these choices feasible.
These measures rely on understanding the processes and mechanisms for people to change their travel behaviour voluntarily in response to locally tailored initiatives using a combination of social marketing, travel planning, information provision and investment in alternative transport infrastructure. The research at Aberdeen has used a combination of methods to assess the potential of Smarter Choices, and has also been used to calculate the expected carbon emissions reductions that would result from different combinations of policy measures. This research has also developed a specific quantitative methodology involving segmenting the population to give a flexible interpretation of behaviour, allowing different policies and messages to be targeted to different groups.
The research has directly influenced English and Scottish transport and climate change agendas, being taken up in policy guidance, evaluation frameworks, new funding mechanisms and the inclusion of Smarter Choices in carbon reduction targets. The research has also been used by several local transport authorities in the UK and mainland Europe and as underpinning evidence by many transport and environment NGO's and community groups.
The impact described below relates to practice-based research conducted in proximity to and in association with a diverse range of public institutions and communities. The case for impact resides in part on the methodological proximity of the work to key sites of social utility and benefit. The deployment of 'participation' as a research methodology and the benefit accruing thereby to participating individuals and agencies in the scientific, penal, religious, arts, healthcare and educational sectors offers a ready conduit for the dissemination of knowledge and the generation of impact. The claimed impact informs the content and direction of (i) music education practice & curricula (ii) arts organisation policy (iii) discursivity within and between cognate disciplines (iv) musicological exegesis and (v) audience engagement.
Research in Medical Humanities, including a distinctive input from English Studies, has influenced the working practices of a wide range of individuals and groups, both in the arts and in medicine, at regional, national and international levels. Beneficiaries include medical professionals and writers, artists and museums. The impacts on medical practitioners have been: to influence professional conceptions of medicine, illness and the body; to influence policy and training through collaboration with the Royal College of General Practitioners; and to alter medical perceptions of consultation in general practice. The impacts on creative work have been: to inspire and promote specific works in creative arts; and to shape the exhibition policy of the Royal College of Surgeons in bringing their art collection to public benefit.
Research at Newcastle on the historic landscapes of Britain and Europe has included significant contributions to the development of a technique called Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC). Work on the methodology and research applications of HLC has impacted on policy and practice in the fields of sustainable landscape management, planning, and heritage conservation in the UK and abroad.
W.N. Herbert, Jackie Kay and Sean O'Brien have played central roles in the recent resurgence of interest in poetry as live performance and cultural event, and have been instrumental in a growing recognition of its power as a means of social engagement. Their research and writing have provided a foundation for the Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts (NCLA), a University Research Centre directed by Linda Anderson. Through the NCLA they have been able (i) to build audiences for literature generally, and poetry in particular, at live events, online and in communities; (ii) to engage key groups, including young and older people, and to study creative writing's benefits for learning and wellbeing; (iii) to enhance the public understanding of poetry, by disseminating research, encouraging debate, and providing resources and new opportunities to encounter poetry.