Impact
UoA 28 - History
Impact
Through a commitment to value the co-creation of historical knowledge with partners outside academia, both nationally and internationally, our aim is to produce research which impacts society, culture, public services and quality of life.
The two impact case studies selected for Unit of Assessment 28, demonstrate a range of national and International impacts and reflect the diversity of research areas in our History department. Impacts include building community partnerships through projects designed to challenge mental health stigma, the development of training resources for mental health organisations and informing the professional education of lawyers in the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey.
The following impact case studies have been entered for the REF2021 submission. Find out more below.
Case study: Improving Mental Health Support in Heritage and Social Care Settings in the UK and Japan through Historical Co-production
NHS England reports that one in four adults and one in 10 children experience mental illness, and the charity Mind states that the overall number of people reporting mental health problems has increased in the UK in recent years. Globally, the World Health Organisation reported approximately 264 million people were affected by depression in 2019. Nationally and internationally, there is a demand to include mental health patient and service user voices in social and health care policy-making and practice and to give greater prominence to mental health in the heritage sector.
Through working partnerships with the South West Yorkshire Partnership, NHS Foundation Trust (and its Mental Health Museum); West Yorkshire Archive Service; New Vic Borderlines theatre group; and the National Trust (NT), researchers at the University of Huddersfield co-produced five exhibitions (2014-2020), a play (2018) and resource kit (2019) which address perceptions of stigma and the absence of patient voices in these organisations and beyond. These resources have provided innovative ways to promote understanding, empowerment and respect in secondary schools, heritage organisations, local authorities and in social and healthcare settings in England and Japan. This has included catalysts for change at Stoke Council, northern regional NHS Trusts, the NSPCC, Mind, the Mitsuwakai Social Welfare Corporation (Japan), and the NT.
Case study: Informing the Historical Underpinnings to the Constitutional Identity of Jersey and Guernsey
Before 2004, there was no reliable text of the charters of liberties, which form the foundation of the laws governing the distinctive autonomous status of the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey. This made it difficult for the islands’ authorities to secure and enhance their unique constitutional position, in relation to the UK and Europe, particularly their jurisdictional, financial and fiscal distinctiveness.
Research conducted at the University of Huddersfield provided this necessary foundation for the first time. Making the charters accessible in this way has provided a basis for legal judgments in the UK's Supreme Court and in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council; informed legislative drafting of fiscal policy; influenced the work of lawyers regarding issues of taxation and customs; and developed educational provision for law trainees in Guernsey and Jersey.