Impact case study database

Bangor University’s research has had both regional and national impact and global reach. It has created cultural, economic and societal impact across three key interconnected themes: Enhancing Heritage; Inspiring Tourism; Enabling Engagement.

Bangor’s research has impacted on the understanding, curation and interpretation of key heritage sites from a new, European perspective, as well as enabling the enhancement of the use of new technologies within the sector through innovative reworking of the research findings.

Work with partners at the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW) on new digital materials for the ‘Journey to the Past’ multilingual [French, German, Welsh and English] website has enabled the creation of new multi-media artefacts which have been used as exemplars of good practice in the sector. Commissioned materials include: 10 videos (uploaded to YouTube), a laser scan fly-through of St Winefride’s Well and a promotional video of the Virtual Reality experience of Tintern Abbey [5.1]. The website and artefacts were showcased at the Digital Past trade conference in Aberystwyth in 2018 to over 30 heritage bodies from across the UK. The new digital resources are also benefitting other heritage organisations across Wales (National Trust; CADW) whose sites are incorporated in the heritage trails featured on the website. As well as the impact from the cutting-edge visual resources, there is also evidence of impact within the heritage industry. For example, the database has benefitted researchers preparing the current bid to recognise the Slate Industry of North Wales as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Govannon Consultancy, who are coordinating the bid along with Gwynedd Council maintain that our research has greatly enhanced the application [5.2].

Bangor University’s research has enhanced the understanding of Wales as a travel destination (both for tourists and the tourism sector), provided new promotional materials for use by key stakeholders and attracted media coverage in Wales, the UK, Germany and France.

Visit Wales (VW) have disseminated the findings of the project to contemporary tourists through the ‘Journey to the Past’ website, having committed to the project as partners based on the value of the research to their promotion of Wales, in particular in relation to their key German market. The website has featured at trade shows in Germany; been highlighted via VW’s German trade e-newsletter (circulation 527) and Facebook page (65,000 followers); been promoted via VW’s dedicated German marketing materials (with editorial input from Tully); and will be used to enhance Wesh Government’s Wales in Germany 2021 initiative [5.3, 5.4]. The website combines 54 travel destinations across Wales into 9 themed trails. As well as the artefacts produced by the RCAHMW, it includes translations of excerpts from French and German texts, making them accessible to new audiences for the first time. The website was launched by the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport in May 2018 with VW and other stakeholders. The website has been highlighted by a number of commercial travel companies and travel blogs. For example, Britain Express said: ‘This is unlike any travel website I've ever seen and the result is utterly fascinating.’ (Statistics: 31,000 page views across the project websites; from 83 different countries; largest clusters France, Germany, the UK and the USA; digital artefacts viewed over 8500 times).

Bangor’s research has had demonstrable impact on engagement within the heritage, cultural and education sectors in Wales, enabling new audiences to engage with cutting-edge Modern Languages research and change their understanding of the perception of Wales in the European context.

The RCAHMW have been able to further develop and disseminate their holdings to audiences beyond Wales. They note: ‘The multi-lingual nature of the project enabled material for the seventy sites covered to be made available in French and German, […] which has enabled us to reach a totally new set of users. The link up with Visit Wales also enabled traffic to be drawn to our records from a large website with vast coverage and highlight the heritage on offer to visitors in Wales.’ [5.1]. The People’s Collection Wales are using descriptors written by the project team to enhance their materials on key locations thus changing the perception of Wales among the general public (61 descriptors; at least 600 views each). Three museums across Wales (Ceredigion Museum [Aberystwyth]; Storiel [Bangor]; Swansea Museum) were involved in curating (with major input from Singer) and hosting the exhibition 'EuroVisions' (2015), which showcased responses to Wales by European artists, enhancing their public outreach programmes and increasing footfall (the visitor numbers to the exhibition across the three sites was 46,470, with each venue seeing an increase in footfall compared to other events) [5.5]. A commissioned collection of new short stories, Perthyn i Gymru / Belonging to Wales, published as an e-book and exploring notions of Wales as a destination for travellers and migrants, was distributed at the 2019 Hay Festival. It attracted the attention of both the Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA) and Wales PEN Cymru, who republished the stories through their online platforms, the IWA noting that the stories help us to ‘investigate how individuals find a sense of belonging to their local community and to the nation’ [5.6]. With the National Library of Wales (NLW) Education Unit we produced bilingual educational resources on refugees in Wales which are hosted on the Hwb online portal (1130 views) for use in schools across Wales [5.7]. Teachers have highlighted the value of the resources in the context of the New Curriculum for Wales, in particular to Languages, Literacy and Communication, noting that ‘it is incredibly valuable in enhancing pupils’ understanding of their locality.’ A final year module has been added to the Modern Languages curriculum at Bangor University as well as a postgraduate-level module at the University of Leipzig. Underlining the value of the project in the context of higher education, it was singled out in a feature article on modern language graduates in The Times Higher Education (print and digital weekly readership: 380,000 in 2017) and commended for ‘demonstrating how modern languages increasingly help us to understand our own culture’ [5.8].