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Impact

The Research Institute interacts with a wide range of government agencies in the UK, Ireland, and abroad as well as with NGOs and the general public.

In Northern Ireland, for instance, we have a long-standing relationship with the Environment Agency (NIEA) which has funded research in the Centre for Maritime Archaeology for the past 10 years. Additionally, that agency supports work in the Freshwater Sciences, Terrestrial Ecology, and Coastal Systems Groups. We also receive research funding from government agencies in the Republic of Ireland including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Heritage Council, the Department of Agriculture and Food, and the Geological Survey of Ireland. Additionally, the Geophysics Group currently has funding under the Enhanced Learning and Research for Humanitarian Assistance (ELRHA) scheme which aims to modify working practices of international humanitarian NGOs with respect to preparing populations for large earthquakes.

Internationally, the Centre for Maritime Archaeology acts as an official advisor to the federal Tanzanian government on the management of submerged cultural resources. Additionally, it acts as an advisor to the National Museums of Kenya through its coastal unit based at Fort Jesus in Mombasa. The group is also in partnership with the National Corporation for Antiquities and Monuments in Khartoum, Sudan.

The Geophysics Group has provided support on disaster risk reduction (DRR) to KOGAMI, a local Indonesian NGO operating and executing DRR activities in Padang. During the recent Haiti earthquake crisis, and as a result of contacts developed with humanitarian NGO’s in the ELRHA project, the group gave real-time advice to Concern on the risk of further large aftershocks. This guidance was widely disseminated to the international NGO communities there.

Researchers across the Institute actively engage with the media and general public. For instance, the Geophysics group put on the exhibit the ‘Forecasting the unpredictable: modelling the next earthquake and tsunami in Sumatra’ at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition in 2006 and the Coastal group has helped set up a permanent display on wave and sandy beach dynamics at the W5 museum in Belfast. Media engagements include appearances on programs such as‘Coast’ (BBC), ‘Time Team’ (CH4), ‘The Investigators’ and ‘Nationwide’ (RTE), and colleagues are regularly interviewed for topical news stories.