Impact UK Location: Horsham

REF impact found 4 Case Studies

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Musica Secreta and Celestial Sirens

Summary of the impact

The University of Southampton's Dr Laurie Stras co-directs the ensemble Musica Secreta and its amateur choir, Celestial Sirens. Stras's research informs their performances, specialising in music associated with women in Renaissance courts and convents. Through her collaboration with author Sarah Dunant, Stras's activities have had an international impact on artists and non-academic audiences. Perceptions of women in Renaissance musical culture have been profoundly changed for a broad constituency, and the performance practice of early music groups (professional and amateur) has altered as a result of Stras's work. Amateur choir members and workshop participants express long-term personal benefits ranging from intellectual satisfaction to positive feelings related to community and wellbeing.

Submitting Institution

University of Southampton

Unit of Assessment

Music, Drama, Dance and Performing Arts

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Creative Arts and Writing: Film, Television and Digital Media, Performing Arts and Creative Writing
Language, Communication and Culture: Cultural Studies

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells for High Efficiency Domestic Combined Heat and Power

Summary of the impact

Patents arising from EPSRC funded research by Kilner (PI) and Steele, Atkinson and Brandon (CoI's) resulted in the development of a unique metal-supported solid oxide fuel cell and formation of the spin out company Ceres Power in 2001. Ongoing development at Ceres Power has been supported by further underpinning research by the Fuel Cell group in the Department of Materials at Imperial and has produced a world-leading SOFC fuel cell module which provides the core component for a variety of applications and fuels, including: micro combined heat and power (mCHP); mobile auxiliary power units (APU); and remote power. Ceres Power has developed a mCHP unit containing the core module for residential applications powered by natural gas in collaboration with British Gas and Bord Gais (Ireland). The unit has an electrical efficiency of 45% and total efficiency of 90%. It reduces the energy bill by 25%, and saves around 1.5 tonnes of CO2 per annum per household. The company is AIM listed and in 2011 had 160 employees, with a technology centre in Crawley and a manufacturing plant in Horsham. Over the period of the review the company has directly provided approximately 600 man years of employment in the UK.

Submitting Institution

Imperial College London

Unit of Assessment

Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Chemical Sciences: Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural), Other Chemical Sciences
Engineering: Materials Engineering

Understanding the French Revolution through print culture in education and heritage

Summary of the impact

The research has shown the ways in which responses to the trauma of the French Revolution are revealed in contemporary printed images and fiction. A collection of prints at Waddesdon Manor (National Trust) formed the basis of activities which have brought a greater awareness of the ramifications of the Revolution among the broader public, improved the knowledge-base of heritage industry staff, and supported teaching in schools. Insights into the prints have been used to create educational resources which introduce new research methods and themes to primary and secondary pupils in History, Citizenship and Modern Foreign Languages. Waddesdon has drawn on the research to realise an important aspect of its institutional strategy through the development of an online catalogue and an exhibition.

Submitting Institution

University of Warwick

Unit of Assessment

Modern Languages and Linguistics

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

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

Transforming severe asthma therapy

Summary of the impact

Southampton research has been central to the development and international licensing of one of only two novel asthma therapies in the last 30 years, transforming asthma control and survival for severe allergic asthmatics.

Key studies by the Southampton Group have underpinned the development of immunoglobulin (Ig)-E as a key therapeutic target for controlling allergic asthma, with the Southampton-led first-in- man safety and efficacy trials critical to the registration of the anti-IgE therapy, omalizumab.

This contribution also generated significant inward investment in UK R&D and opened up wider investigation of anti-IgE therapy in a broad range of atopic and inflammatory indications.

Submitting Institution

University of Southampton

Unit of Assessment

Clinical Medicine

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Clinical Sciences, Immunology

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