REF 2021

Results

Highlights

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• The global fight against tuberculosis

  Medicine

  Developing global capacity to improve tuberculosis treatment by developing shorter, safer drug regimens, and improved diagnostics for monitoring treatment.

  More information can be found on the Impact at St Andrews blog.

• On track to greener trains

  Chemistry

  St Andrews is developing Scotland’s first hydrogen train which entails the conversion and re-use of a 40-year-old three car class 314 train to a hydrogen fuel cell electric powertrain. The project will reuse existing rolling stock to create new supply opportunities and skills creation for the emerging green economy, while reducing emissions from the Scottish rail sector.

  More information can be found on the Impact at St Andrews blog, the full case study is available on the REF2021 website.

• Rethinking dementia with Adaptive Interaction

  Psychology and Neuroscience

  Research concentrates on helping people living with advanced dementia to communicate. ‘Adaptive Interaction’ focuses on developing meaningful ways to communicate with those who have lost speech.

  More information can be found on the Impact at St Andrews blog, the full case study is available on the REF2021 website.

• The journey to a smoke-free future

  Earth and Environmental Sciences

  Research on alternatives to combustible tobacco to decrease the exposure to harmful chemicals still further while providing users with a nicotine source. Scientists focused on the quantities of carcinogenic chemicals present in the aerosols that smokers and vapers inhale to make vaping a safe alternative.

  More information can be found on the Impact at St Andrews blog, the full case study is available on the REF2021 website.

• Developing statistical methods to reduce environmental impacts on the world’s oceans

  Mathematics and Statistics

  Research has been used in a range of industries, from naval forces to wind turbine deployment to the response of marine animals to sonar, providing critical datasets that have been used to improve sonar use around the world.

  More information can be found on the Impact at St Andrews blog, the full case study is available on the REF2021 website.

• Building Creative Engagement with Industrial Heritage in the UK and Ukraine

  Modern Languages

  The war in Donbas, Ukraine, has resulted in the deaths of more than 13,000 people and displaced a further 1.6 million since it began in 2014. This research demonstrated that the challenges of de-industrialisation are key to understanding the causes of this conflict. The research has engaged professionals, creatives and broader audiences in Ukraine and the UK, enlarging collections, shifting public perceptions of history and developing entirely new practices within heritage industries. This research highlights the social and cultural consequences of the closure of many mines and steelworks in the 1990s, after which communities were faced with unemployment, declining populations, and infrastructure collapse.

  More information can be found on the Impact at St Andrews blog, the full case study is available on the REF2021 website.

• Redefining Community Museums in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean

  Art History

  Community museums often serve a vital purpose in local development and community empowerment, but this importance is rarely reflected in resource allocation. Since September 2016, EU-LAC Museums have delivered numerous workshops focused on the importance of intangible, ‘living’ heritage, reaching dozens of museum sites and involving thousands of people around the world.

  A Youth Exchange Programme demonstrated how community museums can help foster cultural participation between generations through a focused case study between Scotland and Costa Rica. It has brought together eight partners from across Scotland, Portugal, Spain, Peru, Chile, Costa Rica and Barbados, alongside the International Council of Museums to challenge conventional wisdom about what a museum should be, resulting in a revised definition that accounts for the needs of communities across the world in the 21st century in a way that emphasises their uniquely social impact.

  More information can be found on the Impact at St Andrews blog, the full case study is available on the REF2021 website.

• Recovering Peru’s religious and cultural heritage

  Social Anthropology and Divinity

  The importance of the Andean cultural heritage has been denigrated and understudied within Peru and globally. Local ethnic groups in Peru lack access to their own history, while the traditional Andean form of communication, 'khipus', has been disparaged as not being 'true writing'. Research carried out has helped to recover the cultural heritage of native Andeans by publishing the first historical ethnography of Peruvian Chanka Indians, incorporated into displays at the Chanka museum, and by advancing our understanding of the Andean system of writing with knotted cords, 'khipus'.

  More information can be found on the Impact at St Andrews blog, the full case study is available on the REF2021 website.