Impact case study database

Dr Priestnall’s creation of the PARM technique and the development and application of innovative design protocols has successfully demonstrated substantial reach. It has attracted a broad range of partners from the charitable and education sectors as well as public and private sectors. Priestnall’s impact has been in three main areas:

New commercial services for communicating flood risk

Priestnall’s research has led to the creation of new commercial services offered by Jeremy Benn Associates (JBA), an environmental engineering consultancy company with over 700 employees, to better visualise flood risk as part of community consultation. JBA provide hydrological modelling for the Environment Agency (EA) and other clients who would typically communicate flood risk using conventional maps. JBA identified the additional capabilities of PARM (R1, R2, R3) for conveying the temporal as well as spatial extent of flood model outputs in a way that is highly suited to community engagement. Priestnall gave a joint demonstration with JBA at the Flood Risk Management conference (September 2017), which led to a collaboration between Priestnall and JBA Consulting. Priestnall created a permanent PARM display at the JBA Head Office which showcases and animates JBA Consulting's flood data (Image 1) and has changed the way the company communicates flood risk, exemplified by a demonstration to over 60 EA staff (October 2017). As a result of keen interest from the EA, JBA Consulting allocated research and development funds to develop expertise in automating the creation of animated flood sequences from their own computational models in a form suitable for use on PARM and began to offer PARM-based services in 2018 (Impact a (Ia)), building capacity to communicate environmental risk. Writing in his testimonial the Executive Chair of JBA Consulting commended “PARMs [role] as a valuable new capability enabling us to deliver a more engaging form of display that enhances the benefits of our flood risk modelling activities. We expect future PARM commissions to be profitable, but more importantly the true benefits of the PARM are in helping our clients to deliver reductions in flood risk with community buy-in” (Ib).

The first PARM to be commissioned from JBA by the EA was for Hebden Bridge (Image 2), and was well received in October 2019, with Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the EA, publicly recognising it as “a useful way to illustrate flood risk” (Ic). Work began on three further potential commissions in Spring 2020 (please see the 100 word Covid-19 statement) . A quote for a new display is currently being considered by Natural Resources Wales (November 2020).

Changing the way museums and visitor centres visualise landscape

Priestnall’s research (R1, R2, R4) has changed the way that Keswick Museum engages the public with their collections. Priestnall led the curation of an exhibition in 2015, ‘The Grandest Views’ (Id), based on his exploration of the power of physical relief models both past and present. The exhibition was visited by approximately 5,000 people and showcased a PARM-based reconstruction of a Victorian landscape model (Image 3). The exhibition was featured on BBC TV’s Countryfile (18 January 2015, viewed by over 7,100,000 people) which brought PARM to a national and international audience. It has significantly impacted and shaped the museum’s artistic direction in the way that it curates exhibitions and delivers its educational strategies by developing a more explicit focus on landscape. This was exemplified by the design of the ‘Wainwright’ (2015) and ‘Dive into Derwentwater’ (2019) exhibitions and the redesign of the exhibition space in 2019. The Keswick Museum Manager stresses the importance of Priestnall’s involvement: “ The work carried out with Gary on PARM and Dive into Derwentwater directly fed into the development of our new Landscape Zone, forming part of the vision for our exhibition spaces…This work would not have been possible without the expertise we were able to access through Gary’s involvement” (Ie).

In addition, the research has significantly enhanced the museum’s reputation, supported successful bids to Arts Council England and helped the organisation to deepen the quality of its audience engagement and education (If). The collaboration received high acclaim from the Curator at Keswick Museum: “ This [co-production] was fundamental to the development of the organisation's new manifesto which has at its heart 'helping people to share their love of Keswick and the Lake District' …and our successful nominations in 2015 for ‘Museum of the Year’ at the Cumbria Life Culture Awards and the Best Small Visitor Attraction at the Cumbria Tourism Awards… Following the success of the exhibitions, we have now developed a greater depth and quality of engagement with our audiences and also encouraging closer collaboration between visitors, local groups, museum volunteers and researchers… Landscape context is now a fundamental part of our core educational offer with the learning and activities coordinator using a permanent new floor map…” (If).

Public interest and engagement in the research has been stimulated through the exhibition, evidenced for example by the creation of a ‘Map Mondays’ feature by lifestyle blogger Cassie in response to her visit to, and review of, the exhibition, prompted by the BBC Countryfile feature which she referred to as “one of those stop-talking-and-stare-intently-at-the-TV moments” (Ig).

Following the success of the exhibition, the Lake District National Park Authority (LDNPA) invited Priestnall to install a PARM display at the visitor centre in Brockhole near Ambleside to visualise new cycle routes, drawing upon his research linking projection-enhanced displays with ancillary information (R2). The General Manager of the Brockhole visitor centre, LDNPA, emphasised the “ benefit of the 3D model projection system over a traditional static 2D display”, and in particular PARM’s “ability to combine images of the new cycle routes and the surrounding landscape with an accurate representation of the route’s topography” (Ih). The display ran at the centre between 12 May and 7 November 2016, during which time 155,283 people visited. The popularity and success of the display was noted by the LDNPA who “ran out of the extensive stock of free leaflets that accompanied the model” (Ih).

A PARM display at the National Trust’s (NT) Sticklebarn visitor site in Langdale, Cumbria in 2017 (Image 4), promoting exploration of the local landscape, proved to be very popular and engaging (R5) and has led to a model being on permanent public display at that site. In July 2017, UNESCO World Heritage Status was awarded to the Lake District, with the NT and LDNPA as major partners. The NT and LDNPA jointly developed a PARM display to be hosted at Brockhole, representing the first collaboration between World Heritage partners and a first step towards co-authoring an interpretation strategy. The Manager of Brockhole Visitor Centre, LDNPA, stressed that “UNESCO expects its WHS stories to be communicated to wider audiences, to build awareness, grow knowledge, and foster interaction. I expect PARM to continue to play an important role within this responsibility” (Ih). A display co-created by the NT, LDNPA and Priestnall, was successfully trialled in Spring 2019 to explore public reaction to the proposed content and form of display (Image 5). A permanent display was due to be installed in Spring 2020 but has been postponed until Spring 2021 due to Covid-19.

Creating new educational technology interactions

The PARM technique has changed the way geographic information is visualised to students at the Field Studies Council (FSC) field centre at Blencathra, Cumbria. The Senior Tutor of the FSC made clear that “ having the 3D model enabled students to interpret the landscape more easily” (Ii). In 2018, Priestnall developed a teaching-oriented PARM working with over 200 students at Keswick school (Image 6). The experiences from the Keswick school were presented at the Geographical Association conference in Sheffield (April 2018) and led to PARM enhancing student learning on environmental landscapes at four other schools and the National Space Centre in Leicester (R6). The findings underpinned the adoption of PARM by the FSC at Blencathra where senior tutors developed their own display (Image 7). The Senior Tutor makes clear that the “biggest gains are visible in younger GCSE students from more urban settings” and “ those students who don’t perform well in that traditional school setting” (Ii). In parallel to these activities, JBA Trust (the outreach arm of JBA Consulting) delivered 11 educational sessions to over 700 students, using their own version of PARM (Ij), including a summer school for less advantaged students from inner city London. The Executive Chair of JBA Consulting described PARM as “an exciting new addition to the outreach capabilities of the JBA Trust” (Ib).