Research councils highlight Edinburgh impact
The University’s humanities and social science researchers feature heavily in the major UK research councils’ reports on how research is having an impact.
The 2014-2015 reports are submitted to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to demonstrate the benefits of their investments to society.
Constitutional reform, business angels, and police practice
Four of the Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC) 27 case studies feature Edinburgh academics.
Professor Charlie Jeffery received the Impact Champion award for his long-standing contribution to public debate and policy on constitutional reform in the UK. This included coordinating the Future of Scotland and the UK initiative in the run-up to the Scottish Referendum.
The Business Impact Prize was awarded to Professor Richard Harrison, who, with a University of Glasgow colleague, was instrumental in developing the market for business angel investment. His work led to the introduction of tax incentives that increased investments in new companies.
Business School colleagues Dr Fransisco Ascui and Dr Craig Mackenzie’s work to develop carbon accounting standards and bench marking procedures is also featured.
Dr Kath Murray’s ESRC studentship changed practice police stop and search practices and contributed heavily to new legislation.
Read the ESRC report (external link)
Literary history, regenerative medicine, and copyright
Several academics feature in the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) report.
Professor James Loxley’s LitLong app provides access to over 47,000 extracts from 550 books across 1600 locations in Edinburgh. It enables anyone walking around the city to see a literary history of their location.
Work on the regulation of science by Edinburgh Law School colleagues Professor Graeme Laurie and Dr Shawn Harmond has informed the new laws on regenerative medicine in Argentina.
The Law School is also a partner in the Centre for Copyright and New Business Models in the Creative Economy (CREATE), which features in the AHRC report.
A major feature is also devoted to the Scottish Graduate School of Arts and Humanities’s innovative collaborative training and networking. The University is a partner.
Read the AHRC report (external link)
Interdisciplinary research celebrated
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) report features the interdisciplinary Alan Turing Institute.
This is a joint venture established between the Universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Oxford, Warwick, University College London and EPSRC and will attract the best data scientists from the UK and across the globe to forge new boundaries in how big data is used in a