Science impacts on everyday lives across all aspects of society. RCUK funds research
that plays a part in shaping and understanding the society we live in. From reducing
drug risks at a local level to strengthening the role of regional authorities in
waste planning, RCUK funded research has a real impact on our lives.
RCUK research influences and contributes to government white papers, policy debates
and reports, as well as the work of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), businesses
and international organisations such as the World Bank and the United Nations(UN).
Impact from science includes both direct and quantifiable economic benefits; impacts
on government policy, the third sector and professional practice; and the wider
social impacts such as effects on the environment, public health, the quality of
our lives and our general wellbeing. Below you can find examples of our most recent
impacts, categorised by area of interest.
Page Index
Children and Young People
Community and Wellbeing
Environment
Regeneration and Transport
Safer Communities
Workforce
Children and Young People
Game Time for Pupils
A software tool enabling teenagers to create their own computer games has been
developed by Professor David Buckingham, as part of the People at the Centre of
Communication and Information Technologies Programme. Letting pupils use the MissionMaker
application in the classroom has helped researchers identify key elements of game
literacy and develop teaching materials for the principles of game design. The MissionMaker
is now used in over 200 schools and is part of the Institute of Education's Masters
programmes. The software is being developed further by a company for the commercial
market.
View the Full Case Study
here
View the Project Details
here
View a Summary of the Project
here
Safe Webspace for Children
Professor Sonia Livingstone's research UK Children Go Online has had a substantial
impact on the design of safeguards to protect children from harmful material on
the internet, as well as exposing how much young people are exposed to such material.
Based on her research, Microsoft developed educational material which they distributed
to every secondary school. Virtual Global Taskforce, an alliance of law enforcement
agencies working to prevent online child abuse, also used her work in their public
safety materials. The findings have been used by the Home Secretary's Task Force
for Child Protection on the Internet to review self-regulation procedures, including
the forthcoming guidelines on social networking for children.
View the Full Case Study
here
View the End of Award Report
here
View the Project Details
here
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Community and Wellbeing
Controlling without Confronting
Studying behaviour at football matches has helped understand why some situations
spark aggression and riots. Dr Clifford Stott has shown that avoiding the use of
heavy-handed tactics, such as automatically sending out a riot squad for crowd control,
can help maintain control in potentially hostile situations. A less confrontational
atmosphere is created if the police are wearing normal uniforms, move in pairs and
interact with the crowd. This approach makes people feel like the policing has been
appropriate - even if arrests do need to be made. Dr Stott's research has been included
in a European Union handbook on controlling violence at international football matches,
and he is now helping to set up a pan-European police training programme on match
safety.
View the Full Case Study
here
View the End of Award Report
here
View the Project Details
here
New Rules for Welfare
The significance of work to wellbeing is well established. A review of the welfare
system to consider ways of enhancing employment, by Professor Paul Gregg from the
Centre for Market and Public Organisation, fed directly into the Department for
Work and Pensions' white paper on welfare reform December 2008. The research was
commissioned by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to look at how more
people can be helped off benefits and into work. Professor Gregg's report, Realising
Potential, looks at the requirements currently placed on the unemployed and calls
for a new attitude to parents with young children and those on incapacity benefit
who could work in the future.
View the Full Case Study
here
View the Project Details
here
Understanding Poverty
The Research Centre on Micro-Social Change used data from the British Household
Panel Study to examine how individuals' and families' income and pay changes from
year to year. The research has led to a far better understanding of how poverty
and low pay persist, and the factors influencing social mobility. The findings have
informed policies for combating child poverty, the reform of the UK tax system,
and the Department for Work and Pensions' Opportunity for All programme.
View the Full Case Study
here
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Environment
Environmental Law Website
A one-stop environment law website has been created by ESRC researchers at Cardiff
University working in partnership with the UK Environment Law Association (UKELA).
The site helps makes Britain compliant with the Aarhus Convention on public access
to environment information. Launched on 12th July 2009, it is already receiving
more than 1100 visitors per month with most interest in issues around noise, waste
and planning. The project was directed by Professor Robert Lee, co-director of the
ESRC Centre for Business Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability and Society
(BRASS) with staff member Tamara Egede as chief researcher.
View the Full Case Study
here
View the Project Details
here
Flooding
Learning Lessons from the Impact of the November 2009 Floods in Cumbria
Following severe flooding, loss of life and damage to infrastructure in 2009,
NERC scientists examined the whole River Derwent corridor, from its headwaters to
the estuary. Key impacts and linkages were identified to prepare for potential future
events.
View the Project Details
here
Modelling the Impact of Climate Change on London
A researcher from the Tyndall Centre (an initiative funded across the Research
Councils), who was on a NERC policy placement with the Greater London Authority
has explored the climate impacts and energy implications of the London Plan. If
the plan is fully implemented, greenhouse gas emissions and the risks to people
will be reduced.
View the Project Details
here
Putting a Price on Nature
Researchers from the Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment
(CERGE) have developed a methodology for assessing the economic value of freshwater
and marine environmental systems. The results are now being applied by the Environment
Agency to the marine environment and the management of catchments, as required by
the EU Water Framework Directive.
View the Full Case Study
here
View the Project Details
here
View the Project Website
here
RESOLVE Carbon Calculator
With over three quarters of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions attributable to
households, persuading people to adopt environmentally-friendly lifestyles is crucial
to tackling climate change. Yet most measures of the UK's carbon footprint focus
on the sectors of the economy that produce emissions leading efforts to concentrate
on changing producers' practices. Against this trend, researchers from the ESRC
Research Group on Lifestyles, Values and the Environment (RESOLVE) have quantified
how UK consumer purchasing decisions ultimately drive carbon emissions. The innovative
approach has helped develop a business standard on carbon footprinting and
raised awareness of how households can cut emissions.
View the Full Case Study
here
View the Project Details
here
Waste Management
How Britain disposes of its waste has become an urgent issue. Research led by
Professor Simin Davoudi has been instrumental in shaping government policy on waste
management by investigating how policy and political pressures are influencing current
processes across England. The findings have been central to new government guidance
on waste policy. Both the Department for Communities and Local Government and the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have responded by strengthening
the role of regions in developing waste planning policy.
View the Full Case Study
here
View the End of Award Report
here
View the Project Details
here
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Regeneration and Transport
Drive for Safety
A
partnership between Cranfield University and Arriva Passenger Services, sponsored
by the ESRC and the TSB, improved bus driver training and safety awareness. The
research project led to the development of a simulator for new bus drivers, a psychometric
driver assessment, and safety guidelines at bus depots. As a result the company's
insurance claims were reduced by over £1 million, staff turnover was reduced from
24 per cent to 20 per cent, and absenteeism went down from 6.1 per cent to 4.5 per
cent. A spinout company is exploiting the commercial potential of the Bus Driver
Risk Index, the psychometric assessment of bus drivers' reactions.
View the Full Case Study
here
View the Project Website
here
View the Project Details
here
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Safer Communities
Reducing Drug Risk
An ESRC-funded collaborative CASE studentship between the University of Plymouth
and Plymouth Drug and Alcohol Action Team has influenced new drug-related policy
and practice locally. Research by Steven Parkin, with supervisor Dr Ross Coomber,
revealed how places produced risks, how policing and other service activities displaced
rather than resolved risk, and led to discussions of new practice such as locating
safe injecting outlets in places of need. The Action Team are planning to embed
annual CASE applications in their forward planning, while partner teams in Devon
and Cornwall also are looking to support applications with Dr Coomber.
View the Full Case Study
here
Responding to Domestic Violence
A groundbreaking study on domestic violence has shaped policy and directly impacted
on the lives of mothers and children. Professor Audrey Mullender's research from
the ESRC's Children five-16 Research Programme has informed debates about legal
reforms to child care legislation, resulting in amendments to the Children Act 1989.
It has also influenced policy initiatives and frameworks, such as the Department
for Children, Schools and Families' programme Every Child Matters. In addition her
findings have affected the design and delivery of services to children and young
people from local government and charities, as well as the development of materials
used in direct work with mothers and children.
View the Full Case Study
here
View the End of Award Report
here
View the Project Details
here
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Workforce
Paving the Way for the Minimum Wage
The work of the ESRC Centre for Economic Performance has made a significant contribution
to the evidence base for a National Minimum Wage. In the early 1990s, their work
was critical in providing evidence that the assumption that a minimum wage would
necessarily lead to job losses was wrong. The Centre's research also became critical
to informing the Low Pay Commission on the appropriate level of the Minimum Wage,
and was fundamental to the recommendation that the Minimum Wage should be increased
above the level of inflation over the four-year period 2003-06. It has been estimated
that over 12 million workers have benefited from the introduction of the Minimum
Wage, at a total wage-bill impact of about £1.2 billion.
View the Full Case Study
here
View the Project Details
here
Pre-employment Training to Aid the Unemployed
Integrating unemployed people back into the workplace and mainstream society
is a huge challenge. But new research by Professor Alison Fuller and Dr Sadaf Rizvi
on a scheme introduced by Southampton City Council reveals private businesses can
help the long-term unemployed through new regeneration initiatives which incorporate
pre-employment training.
View the Full Case Study
here
View the Project Details
here
Putting Skills into Business
The Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance research on skills
policy and economic development had an important impact on the Scottish Skills Strategy,
influencing its direction. Research on the links between workforce skills, business
improvement and economic development has also shaped policies beyond the UK. Findings
from the Centre were influential in the development of Skill Ecosystem projects
in Australia. The projects support partnerships between trainers and industry that
focus on improving workforce capacity and the use of skills.
View the Full Case Study
here
View the Project Details
here
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