Impact case study database

1. Impact on healthcare practitioners

Harnessing her research on verbal and non-verbal illness narratives ( 1- 6), Bartel led the creation of an animated clinical training tool, ‘Consider EDs in Men’, that ‘ gives insight into the mindset of the patient’ with an ED, and presents an arts-based ‘ multi-media approach [that] helps reinforce the issues’ [ I:2]. This patient-centred resource earned accreditation by the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) in 2020, which, in turn, recommends it to its 50,000+ members. RCGP directors emphasize the tool’s ability ‘ to improve the quality of GP practice and patient experience’ [ I:2], and praise it as ‘ fantastic— so powerful and so different to the usual message given to GPs’ [ E:21-22]. The tool has also achieved official endorsement from the Royal Colleges of Nursing (RCN, 450,000 members) and Psychiatrists (RCPsych, 19,000 members), with the Chair of RCPsych Scotland recommending the resource as ‘ incredibly useful’ [ I:4]. Although Covid-19 has dominated healthcare since March 2020, within seven months of its launch (May 2020) the tool has facilitated dramatically increased awareness and knowledge among GPs, nurses, mental health professionals, and healthcare students. Among the 140 direct respondents in the UK, Bartel’s training generated significant increases in practitioners feeling more confident (after training) to: 1. spot the signs of EDs in men (19% 85%); 2. begin a conversation with a male patient about his eating (32% 87%); and 3. know when to refer a patient to a specialist EDs service (18% 77%) [ E:1]. According to a RCGP Clinical Champion, commissioned by UoN to analyse the data and 15 expert-testimonials [ A], the training-results present ‘an extraordinary gain in confidence among professionals who are commonly ‘“not seeing” [i.e. not identifying] patients with these issues because they are unaware of how they might present’ [ **A:**4]. The results indicate significant shifts in practice to improve the primary care of males with EDs, and these promise to ‘ trigger behaviour change’ in GPs, according to an RCGP official [ I:2]). In health practitioners’ own words: the tool has ‘change[d] my daily practice making me more aware, confident and sensitive’ [ E:5], or ‘influenced me to become more observant and vigilant’ [ E:12]. The RCGP Clinical Champion’s evaluation summarizes the impact of the animated training tool as: ‘1. Training gaps addressed; 2. Symptom knowledge improved, 3. Raising awareness, 4. Building confidence in consultation skills; 5. Better adherence to guidelines, 6. Creating hope; 7. Assumptions and bias successfully challenged, 8. Providing more holistic care, 9. Helpful myth busting, 10. Leaving a lasting impression’ [ A:3-6].

With 86% of the 140 respondents reporting initially no knowledge of any other specialist resource on EDs in men [ **E:**1], Bartel’s tool, underpinned by her research into men’s illness narratives ( 1, 2, 6), fills ‘a shocking and important gap in the post-graduate psychology/psychiatry education agenda’ [ A:6], and will improve patient care, according to an RCGP official [ I:1]. Testament to this, the animated training tool (accessible through subtitles in seven languages) has also been taken up by: 1. the charity Mental Health First Aid England to train their 2,300 instructors [ C:4]; 2. the two largest UK ED charities, Beat and First Steps ED, for training of staff and professionals [ B; E:23]; 3. government-funded health organisations abroad to be adapted in 2021 for use in Germany [ G] and Australia [ E:24-25]; 4. UoN’s School of Health Sciences for two BSc nursing courses (380 students; 2020/21)—this School has also recommended it to the Council of Deans in Health Sciences at 85 UK HEIs (reach 110,000 students) [ F:2].

Underpinned by Bartel’s research ( 1- 6), the animation presents a ‘ range of voices’ [ I:2]. It builds on her previous 2018 AHRC-funded multimedia project ‘Poems for Doctors’ on EDs in men ( 2), which has informed current and future healthcare professionals at six national and international events (combined audience: ca. 700) [ E:27-47]. Clinical participants in Bartel’s ED masterclass (2019) reported: ‘This made me stop & think & re-evaluate my practice as a dietician, to consider eating disorders when I am assessing patients’; heightened awareness of an ‘unconscious gender bias regarding eating disorders’; ‘Reminding practitioners of the human experience of disease helps garner true empathy & therefore better holistic care’ [ E:46]. One GP reported that her resulting heightened awareness made a tangible difference: ‘Within a week, I had identified one man […] who had an underlying ED’ [ E:21]. In the words of a world-leading clinical psychiatrist in EDs, Bartel’s ‘Poems for Doctors’ are helping ‘ to root work on male EDs in a wider movement in health research to engage with experts by experience’ [ H] .

As one nurse summed up the particular impact of Bartel’s combination of narrative, art and clinical information: ‘I am unlikely to forget these voices of men in my future practice’ [ E:6].

2. Changing policy at organisational level: ED charity First Steps ED (FSED)

Since 2018 Bartel’s role as Research Advisor has changed FSED’s policy and practice, helping it to become the second largest ED UK charity in the UK [ B]. Its CEO reported seven points of policy change and expansion as a ‘direct result of our collaboration and knowledge exchange with her [Bartel]’ leading to ‘a step change in how male EDs are considered and treated by a range of stakeholders’ [ B]. Bartel’s international research collaborations and expertise in training has helped FSED become a ‘leading national charity in its specific focus on […] EDs in males’, inspiring a ‘new and dedicated service model exclusively available for boys and men’ [ B]. This increased (self) referrals to FSED by men (aged 18–32) by 12%, and by 8–15 year-old males by 35% in 2019/20. FSED’s annual income also doubled from £487,830 in 2018/19 to £1,008,666 in 2019/20 due to Bartel’s recommendations for innovating service models and research funding [ B]. This money co-finances two FT staff members, including a unique Boys and Men Lead for Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) helping FSED to ‘target its training and activities for males in ways we weren’t able to before’ [ B]. For their joint work in promoting public understanding for EDs in males, Bartel and FSED have been shortlisted for the national 2020 Men & Boys Award for ‘outstanding achievement in providing care, compassion and social change for men and boys’ (UK charity Men & Boys Coalition), and for UoN’s 2020 ‘Best Public Engagement Award’.

3. Impact on young people and those who work with and for them

The 14 teachers from seven regional schools, and the 13 staff from six UK HEIs attending a day’s training run by charity Mental Health First Aid England with Bartel (2017; 2018), had significant pastoral and line management responsibilities, making their rise in confidence levels (after training) to support students with mental health issues/EDs of strategic value: from 5.97 to 8.23 on a scale of 0–10 (2017) [ C:16]. Bartel’s contribution on ED-narratives gave participants greater knowledge of EDs in men: it ‘improve[d] my knowledge of the range of people who are affected by eating disorders. […] I had a gendered perception of the disorders’ [ C:41], and ‘I genuinely feel more confident to approach young people […] about mental health’ [ C:18]. Participants reported plans for changes in schools as a result of the training, e.g. mental health action initiatives, fundraising for books, lunchtime drop-ins, and reshaping PSE (Personal and Social Education) programmes: ‘The training influence[d] the way we, as a school, teach about mental health and eating disorders and the resources enabled me to put together a [PSE] scheme of work’ [ C:100].

As Board Member (since 2019) of Nottingham’s White Hills Park Trust (four local academies), Bartel uses narratives to influence practices to aid education about gendered body image issues and mental health. In February 2020 she started ‘Shelf Help for EDs’, a reading programme on EDs, in one school, with plans to roll it out regionally to schools and public libraries (Covid-delayed) [ C:103-104]. As Local Advisor to the youth-led NHS-commissioned project ‘Mental Health 2000’, Bartel engaged 31 young people (aged 14–25) in her narrative research in mental health, helping them to communicate to their peers problems that are often stigmatised, including EDs in males. These insights found their way into a youth-led poster campaign, advised by Bartel ( 1, 6) (presented online instead of ‘live’ across Nottinghamshire due to Covid; Sept. 2020). Its slogans communicated the young people’s findings about mental health and ED stereotypes: ‘ *Why should I man up?*’; and ‘ *What is normal anyway?*’ [ C:89].

As representative for EDs in Student Services, Bartel has helped the UK charity Student Minds to shape its ED Audit Expert Panel’s response to Covid-19 and what this pandemic means for HE students with EDs, including male students and those identifying as male [ **C:**91-92]. Using social media Bartel has reached a broad audience (March–Dec. 2020): 4,411 views on Youtube; 250 likes on Twitter, YouTube and UoN homepage [ E:62-69].

Focusing on educating pupils, Bartel’s two one-day events about art, literature and ‘Good Mental Health’, with a total of 112 (72+40) pupils from seven East Midlands secondary schools (Jan. 2017; April 2019), resulted in 92% of 72 students reporting greater awareness (2017) and 83% of 40 better knowledge (2019) regarding EDs in boys and men; one teacher was particularly impressed to see the boys ‘ open up’ [ **C:**98]. Five arts-centred public events introduced Bartel’s work to diverse public audiences, including pupils and students: one reading for 40 pupils of Sam Pollen’s 2019 teenage novel The Year I Didn’t Eat about a boy’s ED (2019); one exhibition for approx. 200 (‘Wonder’ at UoN, 2018); ‘Drop-in Cafés’ commissioned twice for the national ‘Being Human Festival’ (Nov. 2018; Nov. 2020) for ca. 80; and one stand-up comedy gig by a comedian recovered from an ED (Jan. 2018). 85% attendees of this gig (29) agreed that it helped them ‘to think about male EDs in a new way’, and one wrote: ‘You have given me the confidence to speak up about my own problems with food— as a man! Thank you!’ [ C:11].

4. Impact among creative organisations and practitioners

In 2018 Bartel collaborated with the film company Simply Thrilled (ST) to produce five videos from the 13 ‘Poems for Doctors’ (see above) with a diverse group, including men with experience of EDs. Inspired by the poems’ capacity to challenge audiences’ preconceptions and (visual) stereotypes ( 2), ST’s CEO states that they learned to be ‘particularly conscious about our use of perspective, camera angles, frames and cuts and […] we were especially careful about delivering intimate close-up shots whilst still retaining the personal integrity of the individual’ [ D:12]. ST’s creative take on the theme of ‘control’ was especially pertinent and informed by Bartel’s research ( 1, 2) [ D:12]. Working with Bartel on EDs has given ST ‘new impulses to rethink and refine practices that we have since applied in other productions’, e.g. for DARE, a drugs awareness charity for young people [ D:12]. A male author and performer with experience of EDs evaluated the impact of Bartel’s research ( 1,2) on creative practice generally, and on ST: ‘these […] creative decisions have a huge effect on the overall product as it makes participants more comfortable, considered and protected, meaning that they are more likely to share honest portrayals of their struggles which will help others’ [ D:2]. Furthermore, Bartel’s research into arts-based communications of EDs ( 1- 6) informed her collaboration with the animation studio WovenInk on the training film for NHS healthcare ‘Consider EDs in Men’ [Aug. 2019–March 2020, D:13], nominated for the 2021 WHO ‘Health for All’ film award. This has shaped WovenInk’s profile to establish themselves as the company for arts-based educational campaigns on EDs leading, for instance, to a 2020 film-project by the ED charity FREED: ‘Social Media, Food and Me’. Since 2016 Bartel has also changed the practices of four other creative practitioners. A well-known German author has, through Bartel’s research ( 4, 5), gained ‘ a new awareness for the real impact of [a] particular story’ she wrote about EDs in a family context (‘Salzwasser’; Saltwater; 2010). At public readings she now introduces and reads this story with a heightened sensitivity to the range of possible audience responses [ D:15-16]. Bartel’s research ( 1, 2) has also since influenced this author’s choice of topics for her further creative work [ D:16]. Bartel also enabled a UK stand-up comedian to trial a comedy gig on his own experience of EDs in Nottingham (Jan. 2018). This led to him performing the material at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019 [ D:17] and to designing an NHS-funded programme of workshops on stand-up comedy, mental health and EDs [ D:17]. Bartel’s scholarship ( 1, 2, 6), has also ‘ changed and enriched’ [ J] the work of an acclaimed Austrian documentary photographer. Bartel’s research is now included in this artist’s patient-centred photobook and international touring exhibition A Story to Tell: Regarding Male EDs ( 6) adding ‘ new theoretical perspectives to our work making it even more effective as an intervention’ [ J].

Finally, one poet (a participant in ‘Poems for Doctors’) whose poem Bartel recorded with a young rap artist, sums up the overall thrust of Bartel’s research and its benefits for others: ‘finding voices to articulate such a difficult and under-explored area will change things’ [ D:22].

Kapcia’s research provides an evidence base to question the misconception of the Cuban leader as the sole decision-maker in the country’s political process. This misconception impedes relations between Cuba and the outside world and frames Cuba’s reception in popular, media and international policy discourses in anachronistic terms. Through providing beneficiaries with an understanding of the significance of the role of negotiation in the collective decision-making process, an appreciation of its prolonged, cyclical nature, and skills to identify windows in time appropriate for intervention, Kapcia has enabled a better response to, and representation of, Cuba’s political process.

The UK government through shaping FCO policies towards Cuba

Kapcia’s research, delivered through workshops and briefings, has enriched the knowledge base of policymakers in the UK and in turn informed the UK Government’s diplomatic policies towards Cuba in response to new developments and the execution of these policies. Since 2014, Kapcia has regularly advised the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) (at least once a year) on recent developments in Cuba and their likely evolution. In turn, these contributions have informed numerous decisions about the United Kingdom’s relationships with Cuba: ‘ Professor Kapcia has been a regular contributor to the British Government’s assessment of Cuba and Cuban issues, over many years and in different ways’ (Americas Group Research Analyst at the FCO, A).

Kapcia’s research ( 2, 4, 6) shaped the outlook of two new UK ambassadors to Cuba (each with a tenure of 4–5 years), briefing them in advance of their appointments [ A]. Kapcia’s work equipped the new ambassadors with the necessary understanding of the Cuban political system’s intricacies to enable them to navigate it successfully, particularly in relation to issues on the agenda when they arrive in Cuba. This is particularly important as high rotation of diplomatic staff between posts, especially at the first and second secretary levels, often causes a loss of expertise.

In addition to regular and ambassador briefings, Kapcia has ‘ given exclusive briefings to groups of FCO officials and to individual senior officials, both to consider Cuba in general terms as well as specific topical developments’ [ A], which included the working of the political system, the significance of recent and forthcoming events such as party congresses and elections. These briefings equipped the FCO to respond flexibly to evolving situations and informed confidential FCO initiatives. ‘ Most recently, on 17^th March 2020 (…) he gave an assessment of the situation in Cuba, including future prospects at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’ [ A]. This testifies to Kapcia’s instrumental role in maintaining up-to-date intelligence on Cuba and his close involvement in informing FCO practice. In the words of Americas Group Research Analyst at FCO, Kapcia’s input ‘is of considerable assistance to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the development of government policy towards Cuba’ [ A].

Building on his role as a key source of intelligence for the FCO, Kapcia ‘ *was commissioned to produce a podcast on Cuba for the FCO Diplomatic Academy’ [ A]. This consisted of a 20-minute training resource on contemporary Cuban politics. The FCO Diplomatic Academy is open to all FCO staff (currently 12,500) both in the UK and overseas and ‘ provides its staff with skills and knowledge needed to represent the UK national interest’, with Cuba covered under the theme of ‘States and Societies’ [ B pp.1,5]. The podcast was taken up by the UK ministries, including the Ministry of Defence and Department for International Trade, and ‘ is now in use with FCO staff seeking to learn more about the affairs of that country’ [ A]. While in-person consultations occur at the level of FCO Section and Department Heads, Kapcia’s input into the FCO Diplomatic Academy has served to develop a sustainable and accessible knowledge base regarding Cuba at the FCO. Kapcia’s research provided insights regarding predicted changes to the security and economic situation in Cuba, which would impact on the UK’s national interests in Cuba and the Latin America region.

Informing [Redacted text] Government’s relationship with Cuba

[Redacted text]

Transforming media discourse about politics in Cuba

UK and US media perceptions of Cuban politics continue to be shaped by decades of Cold War readings of post-1959 Cuba, the focus on the Revolution and on the figures of Fidel and Raúl Castro. Through frequent media requests to comment on individual events and developments (four per year on average), Kapcia has countered outdated visions of Cuba, contributing to dismantling the legacy of Cold War thinking in media discourse on post–1945 communist countries. As a Reuters Correspondent and Financial Times contributor in Cuba testifies, Kapcia ‘ stands out as a source of information’, with ‘ an extraordinary understanding of Cuban culture, daily life, and the self-narrative of the Cuban Communist Party, the state and people. (…) His academic rigour provides objective analysis and critical insights on the situations in Cuba’ [ E].

Approaches based on a Cold War legacy are especially prevalent in US media, with sources mostly drawn from the Cuban American community and Latin American journalists in the US, who represent dominant narratives seeking to confirm western stereotypes of Cuba. Through his research, Kapcia provides an alternative perspective that has empowered the media discourse to move beyond polarising interpretations. Kapcia’s ‘ standing up to the dominant first world narrative about [Cuba]’ with his own interpretation is ‘important for the journalist profession seeking an unbiased view on events’ [ E].

Kapcia’s role as an interpretative authority informing media practice and discourse is further confirmed by the continuous flow of requests for contributions. Since 1 January 2014, at least 111 news items in press and on the radio have quoted Kapcia’s work, with an average impression count (number of times an article is displayed) of 14 million views per news item, and upwards of 3 billion impressions for the most popular article on easing US sanctions towards Cuba early under the Trump presidency (MSN.com article, 19 Dec 2014) [ F] . With at least 54 direct quotations in US media alone [ F], Kapcia’s intelligence informed the media coverage in 22 countries worldwide: in Europe (Austria, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, UK), Asia (Arab Emirates, China, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore), South and Central America (Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela), Canada and South Africa. The channels and media sources include BBC Radio 4, BBC 5 Live, BBC World, BBC World Service, CBS, Radio Sputnik, Al Jazeera, Russia Today, TRT Turkish TV and the Economic Times [ F].

As Kapcia ‘provides reflection on the interpretation of emerging news stories in journalistic practice’ [ E], key stories whose interpretation was informed through challenging often stereotypical media questions and polemical press views include:

In December 2014, following the unexpected US-Cuban diplomatic détente, Kapcia’s research on Cuban foreign relations ( 1, 2) allowed him to locate this event within recent developments, highlighting the serious limitations of what most observers wrongly saw as the end of the US embargo. His reading proved accurate, given the embargo’s significant strengthening and the increased US pressure on Cuba under Trump, and was featured in 18 countries [ F]. In November 2016, Fidel Castro’s death led to media enquiries about his historical significance. Kapcia corrected misunderstandings, which had exaggerated the extent of his political control over decision-making, and signalled probable developments in the future of Cuba’s leadership ( 2, 4, 5, 6). Among many shorter interview appearances, Kapcia influenced the interpretation presented in the 2016 Last Words obituary programme on BBC Radio 4 (30 minutes) on Fidel Castro, highlighting misunderstandings regarding an exclusive emphasis on Castro’s personal power [ G]. In January 2017, Kapcia focused on the interpretation of worsening US-Cuban relations after Trump’s accession in the light of the limits to Obama’s détente ( 1, 4, 6). Particular influence was felt in Argentina, Bolivia and Venezuela, with an interview with Kapcia on Infobea, Venezuela’s leading online news outlet, with a centre-right outlook reaching over 8 million impressions. Challenging the typically anti-communist stance of Infobea, the interview prompted the editorial board to question the stereotype of Fidel’s drive for autocratic power and opened up a discussion of the role of the unstable system in his prolonged political position. In the spring of 2018, after Raúl Castro’s retirement and Díaz-Canel’s election, Kapcia was requested by International Business Times (US) and the Express (UK) to explain the change, his responses later picked up by other news outlet. Informed by ( 2, 4, 5), Kapcia analysed the new leadership and explained Raúl Castro’s continuing role as a party leader till 2021 [ F].

Kapcia is one of the main media informers on Cuban affairs and has made a mark on the ways in which Cuba has been reported in the media in the last decade. As a journalist reports: ‘I turned to Kapcia for guidance among other [journalists], as all these events unfolded and that filtered higher up both in Reuters and the Financial Times, as well as other clients such as ABC News, the Economist, The Washington Post and Clarin, in countless discussions with editors regarding editorial decisions and the interpretation of news on Cuba to their readership. Thus, I do not simply use Kapcia as a talking head for a few quotes in a story, but seek his council in search for perspective on my work’ [ E].

McLelland’s research has (1) informed decision-making in national and international policy and practice, (2) enhanced language teachers’ capacity to adapt to curriculum and policy changes and to act as languages advocates, and (3) increased young people’s and the wider public’s understanding of language learning and multilingualism, and of their value.

1. Informing national and international decision-making in policy and practice

McLelland’s historical insights into the what, who and why of language learning ( 1, 2, 3, 4) have enabled policy-makers and shapers, for the first time, to draw on robust research on past policy and practice to inform contemporary policy recommendations. In 2019 McLelland was one of a 20-strong international group of experts invited to support the development of the OECD 2024 Foreign Language Assessment (FLA) Questionnaire Framework, part of its flagship Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) series of educational studies. Her historical expertise, especially on teaching outside Europe ( 4) enabled the PISA FLA to enhance its conceptual framework for investigating factors ‘influencing foreign language learning of 15 year-old students around the world’ [ A]. In the UK context, the 2019 Higher Education Policy Institute report, A Language Crisis?, used McLelland’s work to conclude that current problems ‘should not be treated as a very recent failing but rather as a methodological and pedagogical debate which has gone on since the beginning’, and that there are ‘ narratives of progress and optimism to be found alongside those of crisis’ — an important perspective for supporting language advocates working in the face of prevailing narratives of decline and loss [ B].

Meanwhile, as the UK increasingly looks to its global connections, McLelland’s participation in round tables and conferences has given a new research- and evidence-based understanding of the past to language advocates and opinion-makers in HE, schools, major libraries, and beyond, to inform their lobbying and decision-making. For example, in 2018 McLelland critiqued the role of schools and universities in meeting Chinese language needs of the UK business community at a high-level round table at the House of Lords. At a 2018 British Academy hosted event, McLelland reviewed progress against the goals of the 1918 Leathes Report on languages, ‘enhancing understanding of how MFL has developed as it has over the last century’ (participant comment) [ C] .

1. Enhancing language teachers’ capacity to adapt to curriculum and policy changes and to act as language advocates

Through training sessions, McLelland has given teachers and language advocates the capacity to make critically and historically informed interventions in curriculum and policy, and has equipped them to respond to the challenges they face, including major curriculum changes such as the introduction of languages at primary level in England, more demanding GCSEs, and the continued decline in uptake at secondary level. McLelland’s training, provided to ca. 150 PGCE Modern Languages students at the University of Nottingham since 2015, is especially important in a region such as Nottingham and the East Midlands, with high poverty and low social mobility (East Midlands ranked lowest in the UK in 2017), factors which correlate with low language learning uptake beyond Year 8 (e.g. Language Trends, 2020, p. 12). A newly-qualified teacher from the University of Nottingham who looked back on McLelland’s training commented, ‘I have felt more comfortable approaching new methods with a critical eye and asking questions about the proposed objectives of new material’ [ D]. Her training has bolstered trainee teachers’ resilience to cope with future change via insights into the social and political forces that have shaped educational policy and practice historically: ‘An understanding of how policy has evolved, and that it will continue to do so, has prepared me for inevitable change in the future’, said one [ D]. Under McLelland’s guidance, teachers have become more confident language advocates. One newly-qualified teacher reported that ‘the lessons learned […] will see me more effectively promoting language learning to the wider school body and to prospective students and parents – something which, in the era of Brexit and declining pupil numbers, will prove invaluable in keeping the passion for language learning alive in my school’ [ D]. As the cultural capital of languages study increasingly risks becoming the preserve of an elite, such advocacy for languages in culturally relatively impoverished areas is critical.

McLelland’s work to incorporate the historical dimension previously lacking in languages teacher training has now been rolled out at other HEIs in the UK and internationally. McLelland has delivered seminars and sessions to teachers and trainees in numerous venues, including at the UoLiverpool’s Centre of Teaching Excellence for Language Learning, where 17 of 18 respondents agreed that an awareness of HoLLT had given them a better understanding of language teaching today [ E]. In 2018, when UoWarwick established a ‘Developing Teaching in Languages’ (LN306) module (still running) on the BA in Modern Languages, the convenor ‘found ( 4) hugely useful in supporting the design of this new module [as] Nicola’s work helps us to understand the past in order to plan more effectively for the future’ [ F]. Beyond the UK, the convenor of an MA for Swiss language teachers at the UoFribourg cites ( 3) as ‘ an important inspiration’ for one strand of the content of the MA (which reaches ca. 25 students annually) [ G].

Responding to the strong evidence of appetite for accessible materials to embed a historical dimension in training and CPD, McLelland obtained AHRC follow-on funding [ G6] to transform the reach of her work by developing stand-alone teacher-training resource packages. The project has been significantly delayed (COVID-affected), but the first of five packages was piloted (not yet professionally filmed) in September 2020. Initial feedback (e.g. a teacher-trainer’s comment, ‘ This is brilliant! […] I have just watched the video and will use some of the tasks from the Participant Handbook to set the scene when we start discussing differentiation/meeting pupils’ needs’) confirms that the packages address a real need [ H].

1. Increasing young people’s and the wider public’s understanding of language learning and multilingualism, and of their value

In addition to her work with teachers, McLelland’s work on the importance of multilingualism for generating social cohesion ( 5, 6) has also inspired young people and the wider public in Nottingham and the East Midlands to learn a language, to value their own languages, and to be more open to other languages around them. The Pop-Up World of Languages (funded by G4) is central to this endeavour, as the UK’s first languages museum, consisting of fifteen hands-on activities in the style of a Science Museum. Between October and December 2019 the museum toured Cambridge, Belfast, Edinburgh, and Nottingham. *** Of the 595 pupils who accessed the museum nationally as part of a school visit, almost half – 265 (45%) – did so in Nottingham; 76.9% of those 265 came from the wider East Midlands region. Crucially, up to 52.3% of pupils who attended in Nottingham receive Free School Meals; this opportunity helped counter the trend of cultural deprivation correlated with social deprivation [ I].

Over 40% of 145 Nottingham and East Midlands pupils who provided feedback appreciated the opportunity to learn new words and phrases, significantly from non-European languages and British Sign Language, not covered in their usual curriculum. The museum also enabled pupils to reflect, perhaps for the first time, on the social meaning and cultural benefits of language learning: ‘every language is a different vision’, said one; ‘people are not always what they speak’, said another [ I]. The Museum received 3,108 visitors nationally. In Nottingham alone, over half (55%) of the 138 adult visitors who left feedback reported that the museum changed their thinking about speaking more than one language, and almost a third of these applied this to their own lives, inspiring them to learn a new language or pick up an old one: ‘ It makes me want to learn some more’ [ I]. A further 28% said the museum reinforced their existing commitment to language learning: ‘The [museum] made me realise how multilingual I already am / we are’ [ I]. With positive impact reported in over three-quarters of adults’ feedback, the Pop-Up World of Languages thus provided a compelling proof of concept which we expect to form the basis for further development of the World of Languages, filling a major gap in public cultural amenities. Teachers (15 in total) from the Nottingham school visits praised the museum for enhancing accessibility to languages, and 14 out of the 15 expressed the need for a permanent languages discovery museum of this kind in the UK [ I].

The Pop-up World of Languages was partly so successful among schools in Nottingham because it built on three years of work with local schools in smaller creative writing workshops conducted with Year 7 and 11 pupils in partnership with Nottingham Writer’s Studio and the City Council’s IDEAL team (supporting the Identities of pupils with EAL, i.e. English as an Additional Language). Drawing from the heart of McLelland’s research on the sociolinguistics of multilingualism, these workshops (8, from 2017 to 2020) encouraged pupils to reflect on multilingualism’s challenges and opportunities, including contesting hierarchical perceptions of languages based on monolingual standard language ideologies. The last of these workshops took place during lockdown and provided a significant opportunity for young people, some of whom had only arrived in Nottingham shortly before lockdown, to reflect creatively on their developing identity as part of a multilingual community in Nottingham.

After the workshops, first-language English speakers reported new-found respect for their multilingual classmates (‘ I have realised how hard it must be for people to learn a language such as English’), and, when asked whether they thought people in the UK would be interested in their languages, 50% of EAL [=English as an Additional Language] students, who had initially responded ‘Don’t know’, afterwards ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’. Both groups recognized that knowledge of more than one language (in the words of one student) ‘means we have empathy with different people’. Post-workshop, students were more likely to identify as multilingual and to take pride in that identity (‘ Now I feel really proud about speaking different languages’) and to express a desire to take languages study further ( ‘I understand now how good it is to be multilingual – I might want to develop my language so I can speak it better’) [ J]. One EAL workshop participant was identified to contribute a chapter to How Languages Changed My Life (2020) , an accessible collection of 26 stories exploring the importance of languages in shaping the lives of individuals and communities, to which McLelland also contributed a chapter. The book is now ‘an important point of reference at the start of the Modern Languages (ML) PGCE Course’ while The Martian’s Guide to Nottingham produced by pupils in the IDEAL workshops is now ‘used by the ML PGCE students in partnership schools to build on the diverse linguistic skills of pupils in their schools and to promote the plurilingual approach to language learning that underpins the ML PGCE at UoN’ [ J] .

Finally, the partnership with the Council’s IDEAL team allowed them ‘to provide more effective support to EAL learners in Nottingham, and to raise their profile in schools and the city more widely’. It has, moreover, influenced the way the team works, ‘encourag[ing] us to continue to engage […] with local recognized groups and bodies to support the achievement of EAL and minority ethnic learners’ [ J].

***Project-wide scoping and discussions with a museum educator and a designer involved all project members including McLelland, but the leadership for, and the selection, design and professionalization of, fifteen activities to museum standard was undertaken in Cambridge; Nottingham research directly underpinned one of the fifteen activities and informed refinement of one other. The Nottingham-based activity was, pleasingly, ranked in the top three most popular activities in feedback from Nottingham schools and pupils.