Public engagement with research

Through the Institute for Environmental History, the research of Dr John Clark and Dr John Scanlan foregrounds the importance of a social and cultural appreciation of knowledge formation in the sciences to increase public awareness of environment and sustainability. The research has had impacts on cultural life and civic society by engaging with public discourse surrounding the history of scientific authority, and related aspects of technocracy and the management of waste. The impact has had international reach, through nationally broadcast television and radio appearances in the UK, continental Europe and North America, resulting in a growing awareness of the cultural significance of waste. This growing awareness can be further charted through public museum and art exhibitions in the UK and India, which explicitly acknowledged the underlying research as their inspiration.

Impact case study.

• BBC Secret Life of Rubbish episode guide
• Review of 'Trashopolis' by the New York Times

In 2007, following an editorial and research programme which lasted over a decade, the Scottish Parliament Project at the University of St Andrews published a full edition of the proceedings of the parliament of Scotland between the 13th century and its union with the English parliament in 1707. This edition of parliamentary texts was published online as a free-to-access and fully searchable website. Its value in supporting informed public debate in Scotland during a period of rapid constitutional change has received the recognition of major political figures and has been noted in UK and Scottish print and broadcast media. The online edition and associated research behind its production has also contributed to the continued enhancement of the history curriculum within the Scottish secondary education sector and its use in the field of Scots Law.

Read more about the RPS project.

• Records of the Parliaments of Scotland website

Professor Bartlett wrote and presented two television series on medieval subjects for the BBC: Inside the Medieval Mind (four one-hour episodes, BBC4, 2008) and The Normans (three one-hour episodes, BBC2, 2010). Already one of the world's leading medieval historians, he has taken his work to a much wider audience through these series. Impact in this case is primarily on cultural life, through the exposure of millions of viewers to a historical documentary about the Middle Ages. The BBC's estimate of their value is re-emphasized by the recent completion of a third series, The Plantagenets, screened in autumn 2013.

Read further information about this project.

• BBC 'Inside the Medieval Mind' Episode Guide
• BBC 'The Normans' Episode Guide
• BBC 'The Plantagents' Episode Guide