Summary of the impact

Excessive alcohol consumption in the UK is recognised to cause widespread health, social and economic problems. Researchers at Lancaster sought to investigate related aspects of the problem: consumer and retailer perspectives. Piacentini's research on student alcohol culture has influenced medical practitioners' understandings of alcohol consumption, informed Portman Group research, was cited in the Guardian and discussed on BBC Radio 4. Hopkinson's research on underage alcohol sales identified the need for a new collaborative, community based action model, subsequently realised through the formation of Community Alcohol Partnerships. A successful pilot scheme resulted in over £1m being invested by major retailers and a further 54 CAPs being set up across the UK. The research also contributed to the transition from `Challenge 21' to `Challenge 25' and to staff training DVD on alcohol sales for SPAR employees.

Summary of the impact

Research undertaken by Dr John Baker at the University's Institute for Name-Studies (INS) through the Leverhulme-funded Landscapes of Governance project has:

• actively engaged community groups and individuals in academic research as volunteers: fifty of the project's 350 early medieval assembly sites were recorded by volunteer groups and individuals, a number of whom were inspired to undertake further related research of their own;
• enhanced public awareness and understanding about assembly sites through public engagement events, media coverage, `popular' publications (with local and national audiences totalling over 2 million) and freely available web resources, particularly the Key to English Place-Names (accessed by 18,913 individuals between January 2012 and July 2013);
• informed practice at the BBC through the provision of expert advice on a range of onomastic matters.