13 June 2024
Author: Joseph Owen
This article was supported by the University of Southampton ESRC Impact Acceleration Account
The Chief Scientific Advisor of the Department for Media, Culture, and Sport (DCMS), Professor Tom Crick, visited the University of Southampton to discuss opportunities for policy impact in the Arts and Humanities, the Social Sciences and Web Sciences. Researchers at the University showcased new work on place identity, qualitative data, language learning models, digital engagement, and responsible artificial intelligence.
In May, senior leaders and academics hosted DCMS on Highfield to showcase some key projects from across the University, discuss the potential for R&D partnerships, and forge new ways of understanding the breadth of what constitutes policy impact. Miguel Mera (FAH Dean), Nicky Marsh (SIAH Co-Director) and Pauline Leonard (FSS ADR) led a conversation with Tom Crick and colleagues about how the University could provide insights on pressing issues surrounding place-making, data analysis and AI.
Policy impact is increasingly important for generating successful academic research. Scholars across institutions are encouraged to consider the policy implications of projects, integrate policy support into funding bids, and build relationships with external partners for collaboration on research and knowledge exchange activities. It is therefore crucial to understand the priorities of the government that makes policy: to identify areas of research interest from each department, to gauge current ministerial preferences, and to address urgent gaps in specialist knowledge.
Addressing this need, the University presented groundbreaking, policy-focused projects from a range of disciplines. The showcase included the AHRC-funded And Towns (Nicky Marsh), which highlighted the importance of community engagement and creative methods for understanding pride in place, levelling up outcomes, and qualitative data observatories. It also featured another AHRC-funded project, Pathways to Health, (Jo Sofaer), which identified the role of culture in establishing health outcomes for young people and spotlighted the use of heritage sites for increasing NHS staff wellbeing.
Colleagues in the Arts and Humanities outlined other emerging research programmes. DELTEA (Alison Porter) explored the value of digital tools in empowering students through language learning, while Digital Work with LGBTQ+ Youth (Olu Jenzen) examined the role of digital environments for addressing loneliness and insecurity in marginalised communities. These presentations elicited productive conversations about research impact and multiple strands for future collaboration.
DCMS is seeking to understand the implications of AI on citizens, places, the arts, and the creative industries. Gopal Ramchurn has pioneered AI research at the University, and the Web Science Institute will lead a new AI @Southampton strand that will accelerate work in this area. Responsible AI is seen as a broadly exciting investment, but there is a serious need to better articulate its impact and effect on people’s lives.
This observation illuminates the wider enthusiasm within DCMS to understand the nature of research impact more comprehensively. There is a growing recognition that a multiple capitals framework is required, whereby value is understood not just through jobs and economic growth, but through citizen-centred perspectives that provide agency for people in policy and decision-making. Organisations such as the Southampton Institute for Arts and Humanities (SIAH) and Centre for South (CfS) are well-placed to lead on these collaborative and interdisciplinary projects.
Even though the Digital portfolio now sits in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), it is still threaded throughout DCMS work and processes. Robust, rigorous data is essential for the Department, and the University is leading in mixed-methods qualitative research that understands place-based needs for communities across the region. Citizen-centred, participatory, co-created approaches are fundamental to this work: there is a shared ambition to invest in longitudinal research that includes diverse voices within places that help to best deliver local and national policy interventions.
There is a perpetual need to strengthen communication with policymakers. Events such as these encourage fruitful, sustained engagement between the University, stakeholders and government.
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