The AHRC Research Centre for Studies in Intellectual Property and Technology Law at the University of Edinburgh examines the links between intellectual property law and information technology law, together with work on media law, medical law & ethics, and forensic evidence. The Centre is an international research and teaching hub exploring the relationships between law and technologies in the broadest sense.
Impacts include:
• Benefits and challenges for the commercial and public sectors when dealing with intellectual property rights at the rapidly-changing coalface of technological progress.
• Improving the effectiveness of public services and policy by feeding into the complex ethical debates around the use of personal data in digital and other technologies.
• Helping to develop balance in policies and law-making in the realms of regulation and trust, openness and secrecy.
The Centre is involved in numerous government and public sector-sponsored committees and forums to provide policy advice. For example, Professor Graeme Laurie, the Centre’s Director, chairs the Ethics and Governance Council of UK Biobank, a project involving a £60 million investment to establish a world-leading research resource involving blood and health data from 500,000 people. The aim is to grant wide and international access to the resource for the purposes of medical research. The Ethics and Governance Council monitors and advises UK Biobank on all aspects of its work, including access to the resource, protection of participants’ privacy, feedback of information to participants, and commercialisation of any downstream results. The Council monitors public attitudes and stakeholders’ expectations with respect to the resource and provides a vital communications and advice channel for all interested in, and affected by, the project.
Further details:
http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundedResearch/CaseStudies/Pages/ipt.aspx
http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/
Further information:
These short overviews have been produced as an aid to understanding some of the impacts arising from arts and humanities research. The examples are taken from existing AHRC projects, ranging from small awards up to large Research Grants and Centres. They are not exhaustive; impact from research takes many forms. It can occur at any stage of the research process, from its beginning to well after the research itself has finished.
The Research Councils define impact as the demonstrable contribution that excellent research makes to society and the economy. This definition accords with the Royal Charters of the Councils and with HM Treasury guidance on the appraisal of economic impact. Impact embraces all the extremely diverse ways in which research-related knowledge and skills benefit individuals, organisations and nations by:
• fostering global economic performance, and specifically the economic competitiveness of the United Kingdom
• increasing the effectiveness of public services and policy, and
• enhancing quality of life, health and creative output
These case studies offer some, but in no way all, of the diversity and variety of those impacts. They are not, however, intended as guidance on completing the Impact Requirements sections on proposals, for which you should refer to the Je-S guidance for Standard Grant proposals and Fellowship proposals.
It should also be remembered that the impacts described here will not necessarily be replicated by undertaking the same activities. The pathways to impact are as diverse and varied as the impacts themselves. These examples can, however, provide some illustration of what can be achieved.