Impact UK Location: Basingstoke

REF impact found 11 Case Studies

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Case Study 5. Pathology research led to an international reduction in rectal cancer recurrence and death by improving multidisciplinary clinical practice

Summary of the impact

Postoperative local recurrence affects 20-30% of patients with rectal cancer. Between 1993 and 2013, University of Leeds researchers identified the importance of pathology studies to show a disease-free margin around the excised tumour and how to predict this margin routinely and accurately using simple histopathology and preoperative MRI.

We also used photography in the pathological assessment of the quality of surgery and were instrumental in the adoption of modern techniques by professional organisations around the world.

Following adoption of our techniques in England and Scotland, local recurrence has halved with 10% better survival and cost savings of £60 million. Our methods have also become the gold standard in the treatment of rectal cancer patients around the world.

Submitting Institution

University of Leeds

Unit of Assessment

Clinical Medicine

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Oncology and Carcinogenesis

Optimisation of membrane systems and its benefit to water treatment, food processing and medicine - from characterisation and fabrication to control

Summary of the impact

Researchers at Swansea University were the first in the world to apply Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) to membrane separation in the field of process engineering. Membrane optimisation processes have emerged as one of the most significant recent developments in chemical engineering, with a range of applications in, for example, the food industry and medicine/therapeutics. Research undertaken by the University has led to significant commercial and health benefits, including

  • improved food processing techniques, with induced investment of £11m and operational savings of over £2m.
  • novel antibacterial alginate therapeutics, now in clinical trials, that have been proven in the treatment of cystic fibrosis, inducing investment of £7m.
  • exploitation of proprietary membrane modification techniques, with $2m impact.
  • development of two novel membranes used worldwide in the process industries, generating sales of £500k for each..

Submitting Institution

Swansea University

Unit of Assessment

General Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Chemical Sciences: Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural)
Biological Sciences: Biochemistry and Cell Biology
Engineering: Chemical Engineering

Participatory Governance

Summary of the impact

Research on participation in governance and related policy instruments, with a particular focus on interest organisations and groups, with strategic orientation of research publications towards impact, and evidence of use at the highest level in public policy reviews and public discourse/debate, as well as deliberations of advocacy groups.

Submitting Institution

Robert Gordon University

Unit of Assessment

Politics and International Studies

Summary Impact Type

Political

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Policy and Administration, Political Science

Creation of industrial products, processes and company growth from research on highly structured materials for gas adsorption and separation

Summary of the impact

Research at the University of Bath on highly structured materials for adsorbing and separating gases has created business and economic impact via:

  • Inward investment of £2.5 million in a University spin-out small and medium enterprise (SME), n-psl (Nano-Porous Solutions Ltd), whose business is developing new products for energy efficient gas separation for environmental and medical applications. Turnover of the new company is now > £1 million pa and growing, and has created significant inward investment opportunities from the USA for two of n-psl's customers, Parker Hannifin Manufacturing and Ultra Electronics, in military and personnel protection applications.
  • Improvement to existing products of an established SME (MAST Carbon International Ltd). Industrial testing of a new process, co-invented by MAST and the University, which contains the improved products; the new process is for specific gas separation aimed at meeting legislative emission limits, creating healthier workplaces, and recovery and reuse of valuable resources.
  • Creation of 28 new jobs, 24 within n-psl and four within MAST, together with the enhanced security of three within Parker Hannifin Manufacturing in the UK and several others at MAST.

[Comment: Although beyond the cut-off date for impact achievement, as at 31 October 2013 n-psl had been acquired by the FTSE 100 listed international engineering group, IMI plc.]

Submitting Institution

University of Bath

Unit of Assessment

Aeronautical, Mechanical, Chemical and Manufacturing Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Chemical Sciences: Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural)
Engineering: Chemical Engineering
Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services

Improving prostate cancer diagnosis and care using computer simulation and medical image registration

Summary of the impact

UCL's research has led to changes in patient care for men with prostate cancer, through the implementation of less invasive, image-directed treatment and diagnostic strategies, and clinical trials that use these techniques. The use of medical image registration software to deliver high- intensity ultrasound therapy in a targeted manner has been shown to change the treatment plan in half of the patients participating in a clinical study. New biopsy criteria are now used routinely to classify patient risk at University College Hospital, where, since 2009, clinicians have determined the treatment options for more than 741 prostate cancer patients. The scheme has been adopted, by 15 other hospitals in the UK and internationally, where it has become the recommended standard of care, and has been used to treat more than 1,200 patients.

Submitting Institution

University College London

Unit of Assessment

Computer Science and Informatics

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
Engineering: Biomedical Engineering
Medical and Health Sciences: Neurosciences

Intelligent Systems incorporating Automatic Classification and Carbon Footprinting for Corporate E-Procurement

Summary of the impact

Two Knowledge Transfer Partnership projects, carried out between 2006 and 2009, between an e-commerce marketplace provider (@UK plc) and the University of Reading, led to the development of two software tools that were launched in 2010. The tools, SpendInsight and GreenInsight, are the first of their kind to use artificial intelligence techniques to handle the extremely challenging data associated with purchasing in large organisations. Since their launch, these tools have been used by @UK plc to identify procurement savings and environmental costs of procurement activities for governments, multi-national corporations, academic institutions and healthcare providers. Over the last three years @UK plc has benefitted from the launch of these products as it has provided them with a competitive advantage over the market place, increased the quality and efficiency of their spend analyses and led to multi-million pound licensing agreements. An analysis of spending in some of the NHS Trust Foundations has led to changes in procurement behaviours that have resulted in hundreds of thousands of pounds saved to date — benefitting not only the NHS, but also taxpayers.

Submitting Institution

University of Reading

Unit of Assessment

Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials

Summary Impact Type

Economic

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing, Information Systems
Economics: Applied Economics

Languages in war and conflict

Summary of the impact

Research led by Professor Hilary Footitt at the University of Reading acted as a catalyst to stimulate interest in languages in conflict situations among language practitioners, the country's principal museum of war, the Ministry of Defence, the International Association of Conference Interpreters, and NGOs. The role of languages in war and conflict had received surprisingly little previous attention and this ground-breaking research gave confidence to the Imperial War Museum to exploit the languages dimension of its collections, contributed to the Ministry of Defence's internal discussions and to its first Joint Doctrine Note on linguistic support for operations, and supported the development of the professional interpreters' Code of Conduct for the employment of interpreters in war.

Submitting Institution

University of Reading

Unit of Assessment

Modern Languages and Linguistics

Summary Impact Type

Political

Research Subject Area(s)

Language, Communication and Culture: Linguistics

Local and Regional History of Wessex

Summary of the impact

Winchester's History Department has an impact on all periods of local and regional history, principally that of Wessex, engaging with:

  • The general public, especially those interested in Anglo-Saxon Wessex, via two exhibitions of international significance and reach.
  • Volunteers, local communities of the Basingstoke area, and more widespread local historians through the internet edition of the New Victoria County History of Hampshire.
  • Local and family historians everywhere via the interactive websites of the Overland Trade Project (a detailed study of pre-industrial inland trade) and of the 1549 rebellions.

Submitting Institution

University of Winchester

Unit of Assessment

History

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

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

Silchester Town Life Project: enhancing public awareness, knowledge and understanding of the archaeology of Iron Age and Roman Britain

Summary of the impact

Through an extensive and innovative programme of participation and dissemination, the University of Reading's long-term research at the Iron Age and Roman site of Calleva Atrebatum in Silchester, Hampshire, continues to change public awareness of the subtle interactions between natives and Romans in Britain and the potential of contextual and environmental archaeology for understanding town life. External interest in the Silchester Town Life Project has been cultivated, sustained and expanded over 17 years and its reach is remarkable: in the REF period alone, it has stimulated over 30,000 visits to the annual six-week excavation at Calleva and more than 30,000 unique visitors to the project website in 2012-13 alone, as well as attracting regular and extensive media coverage and considerable charitable grants and donations. Through this combination of excellent research and accessibility, the project has made a sustained and far-reaching contribution to enhancing the public's understanding of Iron Age to Roman urban life in Britain at the same time as pioneering new approaches to inclusiveness and access in archaeology.

Submitting Institution

University of Reading

Unit of Assessment

Geography, Environmental Studies and Archaeology

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

History and Archaeology: Archaeology, Historical Studies

SpendInsight

Summary of the impact

Bishop and Danicic contributed to the development of novel spend analysis software. Launched in 2011 as a commercial service by KTP industrial partners @UK PLC, SpendInsight has been used by over 380 organisations, including Basingstoke and North Hampshire NHS Foundation Trust, which, alone, cut procurement spend by £300,000 via savings identified using SpendInsight. An analysis produced by SpendInsight for the National Audit Office identified gross inefficiencies in NHS procurement, yielding potential annual overall savings of at least £500 million. The findings of this report were discussed in parliament and changes to NHS purchasing policy were recommended as a result.

Submitting Institution

Goldsmiths' College

Unit of Assessment

Computer Science and Informatics

Summary Impact Type

Economic

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing, Data Format, Information Systems

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