REF 2021 impact case studies

A series of stand-alone yet interconnected performances, installations and films of monologue texts by Tai Shani from the RCA has encouraged wholesale reappraisal of feminist interventions in contemporary art practice among curators, artists and the general public. A series of immersive events and exhibitions incorporating performance, installations, films and sculpture was held across the UK and internationally, generating emotional responses to Shani’s work as well as acting as a call to activism for audiences. Inspired by Shani’s methodology and themes, artists have adopted new ways of working, and galleries have benefited from new audiences, new approaches to curation and enhanced reputations. Shani’s work has also been acquired by galleries and collectors. Shani’s research achieved impact both directly among the thousands attending her installations and exhibitions, and among millions through news and social media. The work achieved global attention and fulfilled its own call to action when Shani shared the Turner Prize in 2019, in a symbolic act of cohesion and solidarity.

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Research by Rathna Ramanathan has enabled the preservation of and enhanced access to Indic classical texts and Indic scripts, by providing typographic frameworks and design guidelines for publication of a bilingual book series, the Murty Classical Library of India. This series preserves two millennia of Indian literary works and makes them accessible to new generations of readers. Harvard University Press used Ramanathan’s research and resulting guidelines in the design of 29 books in this series (2015-2020). Her research has also developed an approach to typography that empowers marginalised communities of readers as well as expanding readership in inclusive and decolonial ways, by informing practice at the Indian publisher Tara Books. Ramanathan developed a new approach to typography, which was adopted by authors and design practitioners, enhancing reading and improving access to texts for children.

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RCA research brings protest through art to the public. This research has changed public understanding of art as protest, empowered disenfranchised and disaffected communities, and shaped our collective discourse on social and political imperatives. Seeking to recognise the impact of this research by Peter Kennard on the nation’s visual culture, the Imperial War Museum mounted a 12-month exhibition which attracted 250,000 visitors and reached an estimated 16 million people through media coverage. The research changed assumptions about the role of museums across the UK as sites of public discourse about contemporary issues. As a central force in changing collective social conscience about war, poverty and climate catastrophe, Kennard’s research has been deployed by CND and Greenpeace, among others, in support of their campaigning activities. It has been recognised by the UK’s national art institutions as central to the representation of dissent, to the extent that it is now preserved by them for future generations.

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Traditional workplace design is engineering-led and focused on efficiency. Jeremy Myerson’s research, which explores a sensory, experiential and human-centred approach to workplace design, changed the practices of some of the world’s major developers, manufacturers and architects, and improved the experiences of office workers. It substantially influenced the marketing of large-scale office developments such as The Shard in London, and the redesign of its floor space, generating £39m in rental income. Global manufacturer Haworth changed its design approach to develop new office products that now constitute 5% of its €200m European sales. Architects and designers have applied Myerson’s wellbeing research, with Gensler opening a profitable new German office as a result of the RCA collaboration to engage with clients including Roche, Bayer, Adidas and Telefonica.

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RCA research into open design and public participation changed the understanding and actions of citizens and organisations towards nature and biodiversity. My NatureWatch resulted in new pro-environmental behaviours and in policy changes to curriculum offerings in schools, universities and the biodiversity learning strategies of major public organisations, such as Design Museum and Natural History Museum. Over 2 million viewers were engaged through BBC SpringWatch, and over 3,500 new biodiversity champions, from diverse backgrounds aged 6 to 83, were trained via public and private organisations. It removed technological barriers for conservation organisations, including The Wildlife Trusts and The Durrell Trust, enabling them to engage new audiences, create new conservation opportunities and foster communities.

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RCA research led by Jonathan West and a team in the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design (HHCD) expanded the use of inclusive design techniques to address procurement and regulatory factors that constrain innovation in hospital and community health design. Building on the RCA’s participatory design approach with patients and frontline staff, the work resulted in significant impact in clinical practice (10,000 ‘Wee Wheel’ pocket guides produced by Public Health Wales enabling nurses to assess urine output easily and accurately); in clinical trials (362 people with paranoia in three NHS areas participated in the ‘SlowMo’ digital platform clinical trial); and in commercial development (the ‘Flomark’ redesign of the hospital drip has raised over £400,000 from investors). This research also enabled the HHCD team to work with hospitals and Public Health Wales to address challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Research by the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design (HHCD) broadened the focus of inclusive design in the built environment, with significant impact on public audiences and policy-making, and lead to substantial investment in new projects and initiatives. The approach extended beyond a primary focus on physical access for wheelchair users to encompass wider consideration of hidden disabilities and mental health and the overall benefits the built environment can afford for improving wellbeing and social equity. Examples of impact include an online public toilet map, using open data, accessed by over half a million people in the UK; an inclusive redesign of the River Foyle area in Northern Ireland which attracted £25m of infrastructural investment; and an international exhibition about innovation for older people which brought inclusive design to the fore of the UK Government’s £300m Grand Challenge on Healthy Ageing fund.

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The Bauhaus is the most famous school of art, design and architecture of the 20th century, celebrated for its key role in European and American modernism. ‘bauhaus imaginista’ was a three-year international research project directed and curated by Grant Watson and Marion von Osten, commissioned to mark the Bauhaus centenary and realised through exhibitions and events in 11 countries. This major international project challenged the European- and Western-centric view of Bauhaus history, transforming audience perceptions of the school in Germany, and generating international research collaborations, whose impact has been the rethinking of modernist legacies in contexts including China, Turkey, Nigeria and Britain. An extensive series of discursive events highlighted the Bauhaus’s relevance today to education and society, and to better understanding cultural appropriation and nationalism.

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