Impact and Engagement
Saving endangered Southern Arabian languages
Professor Janet C. E. Watson worked with native speakers from different tribes and regions in Oman and Yemen to develop an Arabic-based orthography for all Modern South Arabian languages, purely oral languages facing extinction.
Chinese literature in translation
The Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing and Professor Frances Weightman boosted publications of Chinese literature internationally and were pivotal to the implementation of educational policy in the UK regarding the expansion of Chinese in schools.
Changing public perceptions of anti-war activism
Professor Ingrid Sharp co-founded a national Peace History Working Group to amplify and internationalise peace narratives and bring marginalised stories to the public’s attention as part of the planned commemorations for the Centenary of World War I.
Retrieving hidden colonial pasts to influence the present
Dr Jim House’s work retrieving and telling previously hidden histories and memories enabled wider society to see urban communities in colonial-era shantytowns in Algiers and Casablanca and their experiences in a new light, helping contribute to a more conducive environment for speaking about the past.
Building the resilience of young people in South Africa
Professor Paul Cooke’s work on film as a soft-power asset became the impetus for a youth-leadership programme designed to build the resilience of some of the most vulnerable young people in South Africa.
Changing public understanding of the impact of WWI on women
Professor Alison Fell’s work raised awareness of and changed attitudes around the inclusion of women’s and West African soldiers’ experiences during the First World War.
The historical role of female practitioners of Thai Buddhism
Professor Martin Seeger’s research into the historical role of female practitioners in Thai Theravada Buddhism led to the reidentification of the author of an invaluable piece of Thai Buddhist literature as a woman.