Politics and society

• Developing Professional Learning Communities in China
  A major research collaboration with Chinese education authorities, led by Professor Sally Thomas, has taken findings from their ESRC/DFID-funded research to actively support international teacher development, tailored to East Asian contexts in China and Vietnam.
• Reducing the Poverty Premium
  In 2016 the Personal Finance Research Centre measured for the first time how many current low-income households are actually affected by poverty premium, and by how much.
• Protecting consumers from weight-loss claims
  Food giant Unilever abandoned plans to incorporate Fabuless into its slimming products following a study by experimental psychologists at the University of Bristol.
• Rebuilding civil participation post conflict
  Academic findings have led national and international organisations to place greater emphasis on civilian capacity building in post-conflict states.
• Measuring social influence for business and government
  Developing new analysis tools that determine the extent to which social networks influence decision-making.
• Pinpointing poverty in Latin America
  There are 170 million people living in poverty in Latin America – but we don’t know exactly where, or even why.
• Raising school attainment and informing parent choice
  The Welsh Government's abolition of school league tables in 2000 provided an opportunity to test whether such information is important to school performance.
• Street-play model copied nationwide
  Bristol has more street-play schemes than any other city in the UK, due in part to University research.
• Focusing healthcare competition on quality not price
  Bristol research leads to hospitals competing on quality - not price - for elective care, improving patient experience without increasing resource use.
• Promoting educational equity in Chilean schools
  In a country of widespread inequality, good education can help close the gap. But first, we need to decide what we mean by “good”.
• Understanding and promoting the educational progress of children in care
  Research led by Bristol and Oxford Universities has concluded that, contrary to popular belief, children in care make better educational progress than children living at home receiving social work support (‘children in need’): the care system, therefore, operates as an educational protective factor
• Multi-dimensional approach to tackling poverty takes off worldwide
  Countries as far afield as the Solomon Islands, Canada, New Zealand, Mexico, South Africa and Uganda are turning to research carried out by Bristol experts to change how they define and tackle poverty.
• Changing the way domestic abuse is policed and tracked
  In March 2014 the new Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, more commonly known as ’Clare’s law’, was rolled out by police forces across England and Wales.
• Advising HM Treasury on pension policy
  HM Treasury officials used algorithms created by Dr Edmund Cannon and colleagues to inform government pension policy.
• Defining poverty in the 21st century
  The Poverty and Social Exclusion (PSE:UK) project provides policy makers with impartial, accurate and reliable evidence with which to measure poverty.
• A better way to evaluate schools
  Value-added measures of performance look beyond basic exam results, helping give a much clearer view of how schools perform within their regional and social context.
• Changing constituency boundary rules
  Bristol's impartial expertise on representation in the House of Commons has helped shape legislation, inform debate and improve public understanding.
• Shaping suicide prevention initiatives
  Research has helped shape local, national and global suicide prevention initiatives, leading to subsequent reductions in suicide rates.
• Closing the educational attainment gap
  Research has helped shape new initiatives aimed at closing the educational attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers.
• Changing policy on second eye cataract surgery
  Research into good practice have reduced waiting times for second eye cataract surgery, meaning UK patients get the benefits of surgery sooner.
• Revolutionising access to financial services
  Research has shown that financial exclusion is determined by more than just geography, helping shape policies to halve the number of people without a bank account.
• Benchmarking financial capability
  Findings from the Personal Finance Research Centre shaped an international model for assessing financial capability.
• Policy changes improve education standards for minority groups
  Research-led changes to policies, programmes and practices have helped raise the school performance of students from black and ethnic minority backgrounds.
• Tackling climate, crime and salmon
  The statistical methodology that's helping solve commercial, social and scientific problems around the world.
• Bristol's international role in torture prevention efforts
  Researchers in the School of Law play a central role at the UN, establishing national and international efforts to prevent torture.
• Catching up with corporate bribery
  Research from the Law School means that the onus is now on commercial organisations to show that they have adequate anti-bribery procedures in place.
• Increasing active travel to school
  Research proving that walking or cycling to school results in health benefits has informed national and international policy.
• Mixed treatment comparisons inform clinical guidelines
  A new technique for comparing healthcare treatment options is helping policy makers in the UK, Canada, Germany, and South Korea.
• Changing attitudes towards British Muslims
  For over 25 years, Professor Tariq Modood has influenced public, political, academic and media discourse, promoting deeper understanding of multiculturalism and driving improvements in equality standards.
• Improving life expectancy for HIV positive people
  Research showed that antiretroviral treatment dramatically increases life expectancy and should be started as early as possible, leading to a major change of approach by policy makers, clinicians and insurers across the world.
• Gold standard for measuring child poverty
  UNICEF is among several key organizations to adopt the scientific estimates of child poverty developed at Bristol’s Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research.
• Helping prevent and treat bowel cancer
  Identifying apoptosis (cell suicide) as a plausible scientific mechanism for how a high fibre diet and aspirin may prevent and treat bowel cancer.
• Influencing legislation on care of children
  More children in the UK are now cared for by relatives or friends (kin) than unrelated foster carers since a ground-breaking study revealed how successful it can be for all concerned.
• Influencing the design of government intervention strategies
  Applying research into political reform in Vietnam to government intervention strategies in the UK and international donor behaviour.
• Tackling teen relationship violence on TV
  Research into violence within teenage intimate relationships has highlighted the importance of challenging the attitudes and behaviours that foster an acceptance of abusive relationships as early as possible.