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The increasing diversity of migrant and minority ethnic communities and the growing awareness of multiple experiences of inequalities (age, gender, race and religion) require appropriate interventions and policy measures. Since the 1990s, research by the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) has enabled minority ethnic organisations and other local service providers to gather evidence and develop initiatives and practices better adapted to a challenging socio- economic and funding context, responding to the changing needs of their users and challenging the barriers they face in accessing services. Areas of focus include welfare advice, health services and the needs of migrant children and their families in relation to schooling and education. Key beneficiaries have been community organisations whose skills have been enhanced to use research evidence in identifying user requirements, successfully securing funding and meeting user needs.
Adults with epidermolysis bullosa have extensive chronic wounds that seriously compromise their quality of life. Research at King's College London (KCL) has led to the development and commercialization of an innovative range of dressing retention garments, Skinnies WEB™, which radically improve patient experience and significantly reduce costs. KCL work has also generated a range of novel methodologies for research including a validated n-of-1 design for proof of concept tests, a validated model for engaging users in the design and development of medical devices and the TELER clinical notemaking system for wound care, which has been adopted internationally. This work has generated new business opportunities (product lines and roll-outs) for four UK companies.
The Equality Act 2010 (EqA) is the first major reform to equality legislation since the wave of UK equality legislation in the 1970s. The case deals primarily with the two most innovative aspects of the EqA — the Public Sector Equality Duty (s.149) and the Dual Discrimination provisions (s.14), which have formed the basis of Hazel Conley's research. The research has involved significant impacts with notable reach in relation to: (1) the policy and best practices of five local authorities, with other authorities also drawing on these lessons, (2) trade unions' priorities, strategies and representational roles in relation to equality objectives, including prompting 30 equal pay test cases, and (3) public policy in terms of promoting social justice and public debate, and advocating improvements to government policy.
Researchers in Warwick's English Department have offered new perspectives on Britain's cultural and literary heritage by re-evaluating authors: both the very well-known (Dickens), the obscure (Charlotte Smith), and the otherwise forgotten (seventeenth-century women writers whose writing in manuscript would, without extensive archival recovery, be lost to view). The research has increased public understanding of Britain's rich literary history by inspiring new forms of traditional and digital art, public events and exhibitions, improved tourist information, and has led to the preservation and presentation of many literary artefacts through the creation of digital resources.
A small, battery-powered device for oxygen generation and distribution (Natrox™), has been developed that, with air as input, can supply humidified oxygen evenly to wounds, such as ulcers, surgical wounds and burns, allowing the patient to be treated in a discrete efficient way without interfering with their lifestyle. With conventional approaches, oxygen can be supplied to hospital patients with ulcers only via gas bottles or piped oxygen, with the limb or body being enclosed in a plastic bag. Many successful trials of the Natrox™ device have been performed, initiating considerable interest, leading to the manufacturing and distribution of the device by InotecAMD Ltd, a University of Cambridge spin-out.