Impact case study database

Impact was delivered in two phases. In phase one, companies collaborated with researchers to develop new KE approaches, leading to economic impact and business innovation. In phase two, the public and voluntary sectors used the outcomes of the research, leading to positive impacts on social welfare, economic activity, public policy, service delivery, and participation.

Phase 1: Enabling economic growth and business innovation for companies through the Creative Exchange (CX) project

During the CX project, the research team collaborated with 107 organisations, across 94 projects. Drawing on research insights [i1, i3], this had immediate effects on the work of collaborators, and long-term effects on the ways in which partner organisations conceptualise and frame the potential of KE. The scope of CX as a platform for impact through KE is demonstrated in the following two examples.

a) Red Ninja: In terms of economic growth and business innovation, some partner organisations were profoundly affected by CX. Liverpool-based high-tech SME Red Ninja is an example of this transformation. In 2012, Red Ninja was a loss-making company with one full-time owner-manager. CX changed the very DNA of the company, as the CEO of Red Ninja states: "CX is the one project we got involved with that had the most genuine and lasting impact. CX helped us develop a new way of working. It was a very different type of business support with hands-on innovation, working directly with great researchers. Since our collaboration with CX began we have had over 40 projects, created two spin-out businesses, exported projects and moved a team to the USA. Our turnover went up 800% and we hired 8 new people. We are also sponsoring people to do PhDs so we really had a commitment to working with research, producing new ideas and making direct real-world impact. CX changed everything for us” [i2, S1].

Building on research insights [i1, i2, i3], Red Ninja went on to collaborate with the Transport and Future Cities Catapults, Oxford University, Google, ARM (a world leading chip manufacturer) and Microsoft and continues to train all new staff in the methods and approaches developed as part of CX. Currently Red Ninja are working on the Healthy Ageing Grand Challenge, where one of their products, Safe Steps, has reduced the number of falls by 30% in over 100 health and care institutions; this is directly attributed to working with CX. Safe Steps is now part of the NHS Digital Health Accelerator and Red Ninja are working to scale the product nationally. An independent evaluation by the NHS estimates that the product, if scaled, could save the NHS GBP600 million [S1]. The profound impact CX has had upon Red Ninja is acknowledged by the CEO: “ I think this is the true impact of CX, saving lives, saving money, creating value for industry and creating jobs” [i2, S1]. This is an example of the multi-level impacts CX has brought about for professional practices, new product development, and impact on wellbeing and health.

b) BBC R&D: Interactions between Lancaster researchers and the BBC’s R&D team (North) led to changes in the creative practices of staff, a shift in the organisation’s approach to innovation, and organisational policy change. The BBC’s R&D team were collaborators on two CX projects, ‘Perceptive Media’ and ‘The Physical Playlist’. The result was a policy shift from larger, monolithic project structures to more nimble, responsive approaches. A Senior R&D ‘Firestarter' Producer stated: ‘through our collaboration with CX we realised that we had to create smaller, super-agile projects in order to really explore emergent technologies’ [i3, S2]. This collaboration impacted not only on new product development, but also on the methods and policies of BBC R&D, as the following quotations demonstrate: “ In 2017 we restructured to reflect these new ways of working, with the majority of staff now working with the agile, prototype-driven methodologies first proven to be so effective through our work with CX” [S2]. “This year we are releasing Perceptive Radio on the Google Play store, an app with its roots in the Perceptive media project funded by CX in 2013, this app will be released publicly as a beta prototype and will remain in Beta forever. This is indicative of the lasting influence of CX on our exploration of IoT technology, but also how our ways of working have fundamentally changed by this collaboration” [S2] . “ Our collaboration with CX has permanently changed how BBC R&D work” [i3, S2].

These two examples demonstrate CX’s impact on economic value, professional practices, new product development, wellbeing and health, creative practice of staff, organisational innovation approaches and organisational policy change.

Phase 2: Enhancing social welfare, economic activity, public policy, service delivery, and participation in the public and voluntary sectors through the Funding Accelerator (FA)

Insights gained from CX in phase one (team-based approaches [i1], platforms of innovation [i2] and novel KE methods [i3]) were adopted by the voluntary, public and third sectors in the subsequent Funding Accelerator (FA) project, which was supported by Lancaster University’s HEIF and ESRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) funds. The FA project helped public and third sector participants overcome a critical loss of capacity and expertise in bid writing, due to cuts in public sector budgets and services since 2010. The project put practitioners together with the research team to identify funding opportunities and to create greater capacity by giving practitioners the skills needed to write funding bids [S3, S5]. The FA project consisted of 19 events, including workshops, retreats and coaching sessions with 104 participants, who often had no bid development experience at all. In terms of economic impact, FA has helped the public sector and third sector participants attract GBP1.93 million of new funding through 29 projects. This financial success across a range of projects, ranging in scale from GBP500 to GBP380,000, is directly attributable to FA support. The group achieved a high success rate of over 60% in its funding applications, suggesting a positive effect on the professional practice and skills of inexperienced bid writers. Funding came from a diverse range of bodies including The Arts Council, Sport England, the Textile Guild and the Heritage Lottery Fund and allowed public and third sector organisations and social enterprises to undertake further activities with significant social and economic impact.

a) Blackburn College: One successful funding application led to the ‘Friendship Feast’ project, which resulted in both social and economic impacts. Applying newly learned co-design methods through FA, a lecturer at Blackburn College secured GBP7,000 from ‘Awards for All’ (National Lottery Community Fund) to run a 12-week course to help refugees work towards employability, gain confidence, and cook for their families using UK staple foods. As the project lead described:

“The first week they did a Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate, which will give them the qualification to actually go and work. The next week a catering tutor did a class with them on how to make delicious meals out of food bank ingredients, because they get bags of food from the food bank and have no idea what they are” [i2, S3]. The lecturer reported a statistical increase in self-efficacy and an associated increase in self-esteem amongst refugees, as a consequence of the participation in the project [S3].

b) The Making Rooms: Further economic and social impacts can be seen where the Director of The Making Rooms (Blackburn) was supported by FA in a successful application for GBP16,400 to the Blackburn with Darwen ‘Access to Industry’ fund. The award led to the ‘Tech Blackburn’ project, creating 15 jobs within 6 months, through a programme supporting new technical start-ups. The Making Rooms also applied FA approach in securing an ‘Award for All’, enabling 36 people with mild to severe physical and learning disabilities to design and make their own assisted living devices or products, thereby improving social inclusion and helping them be more self-reliant and confident [S4].

c) Public Health in Blackburn with Darwen Council: This example demonstrates a significant impact on practitioners and service delivery. The Head of Engagement Research Intelligence stated that as a consequence of working with FA, there has been significant impact on practitioners and service delivery, notably bid writing skills amongst staff in key positions: “ It’s created greater capacity and a new set of skills” [S5]. The research insights [i3, i4] have enabled these staff to secure additional funding: GBP155,000 to undertake a population impact evaluation of health interventions in Blackburn (2019 to 2021) and GBP300,000 for a three-year Childhood Obesity ‘trailblazer’ project (2019 to 2021) funded by the Local Government Association. Both are directly attributed to FA [S5].

d) Together an Active Future (TaAF) and Sport England: The open, collaborative, creative approach of FA was recognised by the Head of Engagement Research Intelligence Blackburn with Darwen Public Health as something that was lacking in the large Together and Active Future (TaAF) project he was involved with. TaAF is a collaborative programme involving 6 local authorities across Pennine Lancashire, funded by Sport England, and aims to support up to 0.5 million people to become more active. Through an existing relationship, he sought advice from the research team and introduced their insights to the TaAF project [S5].

Adoption of FA insights led to multiple benefits for TaAF: i) upon professional practice; ii) upon partners’ and participants’ thinking; iii) in gaining additional ‘Pathfinder’ funding from Sports England. Uptake of the insights led to wider changes in the culture of engagement and participation in significant sections of the public sector in Pennine Lancashire. The TaAF Project Coordinator testified, “ It's just been the fundamental backbone of everything we do, that ethos of dare to be different and being bold” [S9]. This change in ethos, in becoming creative, has had an impact on both practitioners and their services as stated by the TaAF Programme Manager:

“Our work with Leon and ImaginationLancaster has changed the way we approach engagement and involvement, from concept through to planning to delivery of interactions, it has given us the skills and the confidence to involve people in effective, engaging and fun ways. This has resulted in new types of conversations and insight with people as well as creating an energy which draws them in” [i2, S6].

The adoption of the research insights not only improved the engagement practices of the TaAF team, but also fundamentally changed their thinking about engagement, giving them not only more capacity, but also a radical new perspective. In the words of a TaAF partner, Rossendale Leisure Trust:

“I think as we've seen the approach working and then been able to do it ourselves, it's felt like a door into a new world. Not a risk. It's a world we desperately wanted to be in, but never been able to get through the door.. [and] collaborate properly with other organisations to make an actual difference ….Since adopting these approaches…there has been a collective change in mind-set and practice. This is a different approach, and probably a better approach than people have ever seen before in terms of that collaboration... The use of creative engagement has become so instilled that there is no prospect of us returning to our old ways”, and “These changes have resulted in improved inputs, a shared sense of purpose, significantly enhanced outputs, and a clearer sense of direction, vision, and modes of collaboration going forward” [i2, S7].

Sport England are taking up these insights at the highest level: “ It's an approach that has been recognised certainly from our directorate level as an approach that they see will make an impact going forward” [S8]. In addition to strategic impacts, insights summarised in [i4] had an impact on funding for TaAF, enabling them to secure Pathfinder funding from Sport England. Pathfinder funding is the next step on from the pilot funding which TaAF initially received, an award of GBP3 million for exploratory funding.

e) Partners in TaAF: The transformation enabled by this research has fundamentally changed the working culture of the partners in TaAF (e.g., Rossendale Leisure Trust). The practitioners are adopting FA ideas they have been introduced to into practice. “ Some simple tools and activities make a massive difference. It's really a mind-set shift that's been the biggest thing” [S7]. This impact on practice is also evident on a more personal level. As the Programme Manager for the TaAF project explains, “ because of Lancaster I couldn't go back to doing stuff the way I used to do, because it's too inhibiting and because I've seen too much benefit and value of doing things the way that we’re doing it” [i1, i2, S6]. As the Chief Executive at Rossendale Leisure Trust testified: “We've now been able to find ways to talk to the community and engage with them in a way that they can explain how they really feel about it and what some of these challenges are” [i1, i2, S7].

These examples evidence FA’s transformative effects on social welfare, economic activity, public policy and services, practitioners and service delivery, and participation.

The sustained body of research undertaken by Cooper, Dunn and the research team has contributed to:

1. guiding national policy makers’ approach to planning, and further enabling 19 cities across the UK to undertake their own fore-sighting activities through having the confidence to think and plan for the long term.

2. redesigning and redeveloping official regulatory documents and systems, in response to the Grenfell Inquiry.

3. shaping local government thinking around strategic city planning and wellbeing.

4. steering the strategic direction of organisations in terms of future planning, mobilities and health and wellbeing; from the Connected Places Catapult to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

1) Guiding national policy makers’ approach to planning

Cooper, with support from Dunn, had a ‘crucial’ role as a member of the Lead Expert Group (LEG) in the GO-Science Foresight project Future of Cities (FFC) between 2013 and 2016 [S1]. Commissioned by the government’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Foresight projects have been running for 25 years; they focus on government imperatives, particularly long-term trends, challenges and implications for policy. The FFC project was championed by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Greg Clarke MP. Cooper was chosen to be part of the LEG due not only to her expertise in design, urban design and wellbeing, but also her previous extensive experience with other Foresight programme projects. The Lead Foresight manager said, “ Rachel’s expertise in the fields of health, wellbeing, and urban design, alongside her wealth of experience in contributing to, and leading on, government funded projects (including an earlier Foresight project), meant she was an obvious choice for inclusion on the LEG. Rachel’s role was really critical because she was one of the few people who…had a really good idea of the end result of the project should look like for best impact ” [S1]. Chairman of the LEG added that where most researchers only carry out analysis, “ Rachel’s other key contribution to help the project was in inventing possible futures and it was incredibly important to have her on the group…she helped us to design scenarios and alternative plans and policies that would underpin different scenarios” [S2].

Both sources further commended Cooper’s research, strategically utilised in the design of the highly successful Fore-sighting Manual (2016). The Manual has been used extensively by city and county councils and local authorities: “ being an expert in communication and event design (she) was also being called upon to help us design workshops and materials for workshops and communicating on complex ‘city futures’ issues and between academics and policy makers and government” [S1]. Engaging research users with the work in this way has impacted upon 19 different cities across the UK, e.g., Milton Keynes, Rochdale, Newcastle, Manchester, Reading and Belfast, who used it to develop their own Foresight projects and, in some cases, went on to develop their own 50 year future visions. Milton Keynes is a notable, highly successful example of this process, with its City Council unanimously accepting the recommendations of the MK Futures 2050 Commission in 2017 [S3]. Newcastle also developed its own City Futures Development Group, comprising local authorities, universities, the Local Enterprise Partnership and the private sector, to develop a long-term plan for the city’s development and research needs, with support provided by Foresight’s Future of Cities project [S4]. The manual was influenced by the creation of a City Visions Network (2013) across the UK and developed and used in workshops led by Cooper and Dunn. The approach developed from a local to a regional initiative, and then grew into a national network, feeding into Foresight work in helping people to develop future visions, with a particular emphasis on second and third tier urban centres. For example, Dunn’s leadership of the Future of Rochdale project was a precursor to the levelling up agenda and subsequent initiative Stronger Towns Fund, through which Rochdale received GBP173,029.

Building on the City Visions Network, another continuing benefit of enabling cities to think about and envision long-term futures was the creation of the Urban Insights Group, a collaboration between Lancaster City Council and Cooper and Dunn in 2016. The Lead Planner at Lancaster City Council said that adopting this approach, “ had given the council team confidence in our work and our long term vision and to think beyond the immediate issues and politics” [S8].

2) Redesigning and redeveloping official regulatory documents and systems, in response to the Grenfell Inquiry

In the wake of the Grenfell tragedy, the UK Government’s Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety (2018, led by Dame Judith Hackitt) labelled the regulatory system covering high-rise and complex buildings as ‘not fit for purpose’ and having ‘deep flaws’. This included the suite of Building Regulation Approved Documents used by many thousands of builders, building inspectors, construction companies and architects across the UK. As a result, the Buildings and Regulations Advisory Committee (BRAC) commissioned an expert group and tasked them with making recommendations to improve these Documents. Drawing on the research and her team’s expertise on the design, construction and planning of cities, and the visualisation of complex issues in cities [R1], between January and June 2019, Cooper made a major contribution to the group’s report, as one of only two members with no background in the construction industry. As the Secretary to BRAC stated: “ her background in design would also allow her to look at the overall suite of documents, and help design the most effective approach to answer the challenges raised by Grenfell, and to ask the difficult questions, i.e. why do you do it this way and what does it mean to be user friendly?... It was a hugely successful group who wrote a hugely successful report that Dame Judith Hackitt was delighted with. She was very, very positive about the report” [S5]. Due to delays caused by the 2019 general election and coronavirus pandemic, the report has yet to be published.

The Secretary stated that recommendations in the report - to reorganise, streamline and digitise the Approved Documents - will “ make people’s lives easier… it will have significant long-term benefits for the construction sector, making it easier for builders, construction firms, architects and building inspectors to meet and adjudge the new standards, but also by extension the general public, as it will ensure safer buildings for us to live and work in”. Speaking to broader significance, the Secretary also offered: “ At a policy decision-making level, the report and Rachel’s insights on digital design and accessibility have given the Ministry for Housing and Local Governments food for thought about what is specifically achievable from a regulatory reform and communication perspective, and what we really need to prioritise in the rolling out of such major changes. It has triggered a lot of reconsideration in how we can do things in the future and bring them more into the digital age, but also then keep them in the digital age and not slip back into old habits. Digital design can help make regulations and policy more accessible and this has been a critical learning from our work with Rachel” [S5].

3) Shaping local government thinking around strategic city planning and wellbeing

Dunn, Cooper, Pollastri and Cureton drew on their insights into wellbeing and place making [R1-6] when building capacity amongst Lancaster City Council city planning team, between 2013 and 2017. Through workshops designed to involve participants in the research process, the city planners and the research team co-created and developed understanding and knowledge of the complexity of city design, place making, transport systems and wellbeing. The Lead Planner at Lancaster City Council said of the interaction: “ The workshops explored issues relating to transport, infrastructure and sustainability, but also explored ideas around health, wellbeing and liveable places. These engagements have continued over the past years since our first meeting, and they have provided substantial benefits to both the City and [Lancashire] County Councils and helped influence the direction of both authority’s programmes in these areas” [S8]. More recently another series of workshops, led by Dunn and Cooper, has further influenced the development and testing of a collaborative initiative between Lancaster City Council and Lancashire County Council (the higher tiered local government body). The Councils’ plan to realise a vision for Lancaster city centre’s future development is laid out in Lancaster City Centre Movement and Public Realm Strategy and is described by the Lead Planner as a ‘once in a generation opportunity’. He stated the research-informed workshops had “ helped inform the work that the City Council is currently undertaking regarding planning for post-Covid recovery, as we seek to reinvent the function and purpose of our established town centre” [S8] .

Moreover, Cooper’s relationship with Lancaster City Council has helped to shape its strategy and overall outlook, and relationship with Lancashire County Council: “ Rachel’s research insights in health, wellbeing and place making has helped inform, but also gives us confidence to be able to take forward our own thoughts as well because we share the ambition for the city with Rachel and her team and we want to see it fulfil its full potential… not just in terms of a physical concept, but what it means in terms of the wellbeing of the population, it’s helped us move the debate forward and shape it with [Lancashire] County Council as well” [S6].

4) Steering the strategic direction of organisations, in terms of future planning, mobilities and health and wellbeing; from the Connected Places Catapult to SMEs

Cooper was a non-executive director of the Future Cities Catapult (FCC), now the Connected Places Catapult (a merger of FCC and the Transport Systems Catapult in 2019) between 2013 and 2020. Catapults are not-for-profit organisations backed by Innovate UK to translate research and knowledge into commercial opportunities for the benefit of UK industry. The Liveable Cities project and all the 14 corresponding little Books (edited and produced at Lancaster) relating the findings were distributed and communicated at a workshop with the Catapult team in 2016. The Chief Executive of the Connected Places Catapult said “of particular importance have been the little Books of Liveable Cities … incredibly valuable, offering digestible insights into the latest thinking on urban and digital design and have influenced how we approach the future of places.” Furthermore, Cooper’s research insights from Liveable Cities project have meant that “ she has played a critical role in the governance of [Catapult’s] success”. The Chief Executive added, “ In 2017, we had a big policy debate, as part of the review process that Rachel was overseeing. It centred on the important question: are we here to make cities better, or are we here to grow UK PLC? … Not everyone on the board got this nuance. Rachel’s contribution ... ensured this was correctly communicated, and her role in developing strategies around these related issues has had a major impact on the policies and steer of the organisation. She sat on every strategy sub-committee, to rewrite the strategy. Her contribution and insight there was invaluable” [S6].

The Chief Executive and the Policy Lead at Connected Places Catapult also alluded to Cooper’s research insights having influenced the Catapult’s direction and focus on the future of planning, mobilities and health and wellbeing [S6, S7]. The former said, “ expertise in digital design, was also critical in terms of our approach to land use, planning and city design. As a direct consequence of her intervention, the organisation now increasingly looks at this in terms of digital planning and design of the built environment. Two principles that come directly out of Rachel’s research insights. These approaches have been further entrenched through her role in informing various iterations of our strategy (https://cp.catapult.org.uk/about\-us/our\-mission\-and\-role/)”. Consequently, FCC has made an impact on the digital land and planning landscape by supporting research and innovation to change regulations and by digitising the system with the support of over 200 SMEs working in this area. It has also impacted upon the development of internal skills and the capacity of the Catapult with regard to local government strategy and planning. The Policy Lead said, “ There are many companies now developing products and services in this space, there’s about 100 local authorities are benefiting from the work…The ministry of housing now have 30 people on it working around changing urban design and planning the regulations in line with the principles of FCC and by extension, Rachel” [S7].

As a member of the FCC board, Cooper’s contribution to strategy and governance saw the FCC successfully merge with the Transport Catapult to form the Connected Places Catapult in 2019, with a place centred vision and strategy that meant it was funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to 100% of the original funding for both of the original two catapults. This level of funding allows the successful work of both catapults to continue for the next 4 years.

LF’s tools are created and used daily by its co-design collaborators, in some cases thousands of times, as in the ‘Target Control’ tool with NHS evaluation organisation Health Watch, and national food poverty programme Food Power [S1]. LF tools are also published and can be freely downloaded and modified from its website ( www.Leapfrog.tools). LF has improved the ways in which individuals and organisations interact with communities, leading to deeper, more mutually productive, and more economically beneficial, relationships. These improvements are exemplified in the impacts described below.

Between 2014 and 2020, the research team held 103 co-design events, reaching 720 participants from 83 partner organisations, and resulting in the co-creation of 83 unique engagement tools. Participants ranged from the V&A Museum to small community organisations supporting people living in food poverty, to leaders of international design festivals. The tools have been widely distributed to 292 community organisations, reaching 3,802 beneficiaries via 95 tool-sharing events. The LF website which shares tools has been viewed over 100,000 times in 146 countries (from Andorra to Zimbabwe) with over 5,000 downloads of the tools, tracked through the LF website. Examples of users include the NHS evaluation organisation Healthwatch (Blackburn), which has engaged with over 2,000 children and young people in order to shape local health care provision [S1], and the Food Justice Network which has partners on 4 continents [S1].

1. Enhancing professionals’ engagement practice and the delivery of professional services: LF has been responsible for improving the quality and effectiveness of engagement amongst professionals who carry out public and user engagement on a daily basis. The Head of Libraries, Museums, Culture and Registrars for Lancashire County Council describes how LF has changed professional practices, examples including practices amongst those working with cared for young people [S2] and through national professional bodies such as CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals). At two LF workshops she ran, she “ witnessed how people started to rethink the tools” as they were adopted into their practice (i2, S2). Below are further examples of impact on the practices of professionals.

At local level, a Youth Action researcher working for CancerCare (Lancaster) has completed arts projects with young people using a wide range of visual arts materials for 20 years, but states that “ Leapfrog has transformed my practice as a youth arts worker and as a community worker” [i2, S8]. This transformation was initiated by a ‘Tool-fest’ - a tool sharing event in July 2016 where the research team presented the ‘Sound Advice’ tool, developed by cared for young people and using a mobile phone to record advice to their younger selves. One of the biggest impacts was a change in her practice: “it’s taken me into using digital…. It's broadened my horizons enormously… I've entered into a whole new body of work that really captures the essence of what young people think” [i2, S8]. Between October 2019 and March 2020, she employed LF tools with over 500 children and has since reflected that LF fundamentally changed her approach to engagement: “ I've gone beyond changing my own practice technologically and having a whole new range of skills now, into using those tools to help me not just facilitate issue-based work but to plan it as well” [i2, S8].

At national level, the Empowerment Programme Officer of Church Action on Poverty, coordinating the national food poverty programme ‘Food Power’, collaborated with LF in the co-design of new engagement tools with food poverty experts by experience. This included working with schoolchildren in Blackburn and adults in Byker, Newcastle. LF changed the way the Officer worked with participants, allowing for “ conversations to be more holistic and inclusive” and enabling “ people of different abilities to contribute... nobody feels excluded” [S1]. There were also more profound impacts on practice for him: LF “ made me think about the whole design of projects in a different way. It really embedded that kind of co-production ethos into my work and into the organisation…Even when we weren't using the Leapfrog tools, the way in which we went about them was quite different, that we embedded people with lived experience right at the very start” [i2, S1]. LF has also improved how the Officer interacts with the 69 Food Power alliances which make up the programme, each with 3-7 local groups working together to address food poverty. The Officer confirmed that as a consequence of LF, these alliances have become more independent from him, needing less intensive support [i4, S1]. LF tools have increased Food Power’s capacity to increase their engagement, which informs decision making: “ volunteers have been able to take it and use it and increase the capacity and the amount of information we gather taking those findings to somebody who's making decisions at a strategic level, it's quite easy” [i3, S1].

In demonstrations of changes to engagement practices include Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where the Paediatric Patient Experience Officer confirmed the use of LF tools has led to improved professional practice: “I’ve become more creative in the way I engage with young people and families” and “ the tools have given young patients more ownership with their experiences… to have their voices heard and to be listened to by the right people" [i2, S3]. The quality and originality of the tools that LF co-designed with young people was recognised through the Youth on Board Innovation Award (British Youth Council) in 2017. The award, voted for by young people, acknowledged the innovative co-design of tools by the research team and 12 cared for young people, created to help young people interact with the social services in a more positive, egalitarian manner [i3, S6]. Then in 2017, after Ofsted had visited Blackburn’s safeguarding provision, their subsequent inspection report singled out the efficacy of LF communication tools in engaging children [S9, para.75].

2. Transforming public policy: public sector bodies’ engagement with citizens and their operation of services: LF has impacted upon the infrastructure, organisation and operation of public sector bodies, so much so that it has become embedded in 3 local authorities. In Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council (BC), LF enabled their Public Health arm to “transform the ways in which we engage with and involve citizens in planning service… the tools have been adopted and adapted in a wide range of settings: from Children’s Services where they have helped to transform the creative methods for ensuring that the voice of the child is embedded in service development planning” [S7, i2]. LF helped Blackburn with Darwen BC in “ filling a significant gap in the ability of policy makers and strategists to develop policies” [S7].

In Lancashire County Council, LF collaborated with the Library Service at a time when half of the libraries in the County were scheduled to close. Through developing public engagement tools, the Head of Libraries comments that LF “has both challenged and empowered my teams which has assisted them to be far more resilient” [S2]. These tools, co-designed by librarians, are now embedded in the training and resources available across the County Council. The tools can be ordered and made by the County’s printers, new staff are trained to use LF tools, and they are part of everyday engagement practice across Lancashire County Council [i4].4

For Lancaster City Council, LF’s impact has been profound, resulting in a major reorganisation of its structure and approach to delivering services. As the Director for Communities and Environment at Lancaster City Council says, LF “ changed the way we think about working with the community … [and] made me step back a bit and think we're about a million miles away from the world that Leon's talking about” [S4]. Challenging the traditional consultative approach of thinking that “a survey was good engagement”, LF “ provided the council a wider knowledge and expertise for effective consultation and engagement” [i2, S5]. Faced with a 60% reduction of the operating budget, rather than thinking “cut cut cut” the Council looked to LF and co-design to fill the gap, placing community engagement at the heart of a new strategy: “ we’ve invested as a council, we’ve reprioritised, we’ve put money into staff who do engagement. We’ve looked at delivering services on a more area basis… to invest more in helping give the community capacity or pulling the community...” [i4, S4]. This investment has resulted in an improvement in green spaces, despite the drastic reduction in funding (an economic impact described below). The Director for Communities and Environment attests to this policy and structural change in the Council being directly associated with LF: “‘Could you attribute the concept of this new team and that strategic change in direction to the involvement and learning from Leapfrog? Absolutely... Would you call that a strategic change? Yes. And a step-change as well” [i4, S4].

3. Enhancing participants’ learning, understanding, and engagement: As stated earlier, LF co-designed 83 new tools with 720 people to promote innovative forms of engagement. These colourful, accessible and adaptable tools have been used many thousands of times in the UK and internationally. A LF toolbox for the V&A Museum is used by their Learning & National Programmes team to evaluate the 1,600 events they run annually with 420,000 participants; and evaluation tools co-designed with the World Design Weeks organisation are used in design weeks (festivals) from Tokyo to Milan to Melbourne. There is also a significant benefit for the people doing the co-design, where small groups come together to co-design engagement tools specifically to meet their own needs, but which are shared more widely in a more generalised form.

The empowering effects of the co-design are evident in the pride and ownership participants take in the tools. This is especially significant for the Food Power participants, who often face other life challenges compounded by hunger and restricted access to food: “ Now people are using the tools, because it's not something that they've been given to use, it's something that they've been involved in producing, they have ownership. I think that is as a result of them feeling empowered during the process of co-designing the tools for food stories, that it changed their perspective on things” [i1, S1]. This commitment has led to co-design participants presenting evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on Food, Poverty, Health and Environment, also travel to an international conference in the USA to present their work. In an interview on Channel 4 News, the Empowerment Programme Officer, Church Action on Poverty credited the LF ‘Food Safari’ tool with helping affected school children to articulate: “ it helped the young people join the dots and give them a bit more of a journey, a structure, of how the local food scene linked to individuals, linked to the community, linked to access, affordability, choice” [S1]. In a further example from Blackpool Teaching Hospital, the Paediatric Patient Experience Officer how LF had enabled “ Young people have been empowered to engage directly with managers, rather than having to go through engagement professionals” [i1, S3].

4. Securing funding and saving resources in the public sector: The economic impact of LF on the public sector has been considerable. The adoption of a community-led approach supported by LF tools that help facilitate a dialogue between council officers, communities and friends groups has been instrumental in identifying and providing evidence for genuine needs in Lancaster City Council: “ This [approach] has been used to successfully secure external funding grants. Through ‘friends of’ groups we've obtained over £1m of additional investment in parks, plus immeasurable amounts of volunteer hours” [i4, S4]. These additional resources have enabled the City Council to improve the parks and green spaces of Lancaster. The City Council used LF tools to engage with friends groups productively, maximising the mutual benefit of these (human and monetary) resources with dramatic effect: “ Engaging our communities in the design of public space in this way has led to a number of positive outcomes for the council. Even though we've had a 60% decrease in resources through austerity across the board, our parks, open spaces and things like that are now in better condition than they were pre-austerity. What we're kind of saying is that by looking at things completely differently we're getting more now than we were before. We’ve seen increased participation, a greater appreciation of the outcome and a significant reduction in long term vandalism” [i4, S4].

5. Enhancing individuals’ wellbeing and helping shape life courses: LF was ultimately about design research helping people prosper through making the best contribution possible and improving lives together. Two examples follow, where an individual’s wellbeing and likely life course has been shaped by LF. In the first, cared-for young people (children between 13 and 17 years old), were involved in the co-design of tools to help facilitate their interaction with the social care system. Follow-on contact as part of Blackburn’s ‘champions network’ showed that 4 of these young people are now pursuing qualifications to go to university having never considered this before, with each being the first members in their family to go onto higher education [i3, S10].

In the second, a 6-year-old girl was orphaned and there was dispute between her immediate and more distant family members as to who should have contact and responsibility for her welfare. A LF tool called Target Control (a visualisation activity) enabled a social worker to keep the girl away from what would have been a more intrusive intervention involving a difficult family conference. Target Control helped the girl to identify who in her family was closest to her and who was more distant, and why. Throughout this process, her voice was pivotal; she was able to directly influence the choice of guardian. The LF tool gave her perspective centre stage, enhancing her agency and avoiding the need to attend a potentially distressing large meeting with family and Social Services [i3, S10].

Practice-based research by Etchells and Quick has brought about social and cultural impact upon three main constituencies: audiences, artists/practitioners and students in secondary, further and higher educational contexts. With their respective companies as the platform to reach these constituencies, their research has shaped not only how contemporary theatre is experienced, made and imagined, but also how theatre might be taught and critically reflected upon. Both researchers have disseminated new techniques and performance making processes to help develop the practitioners of the future.

The broader influence and cultural significance of this innovative practice is reflected in the Norwegian Government’s Committee Statement (2016), announcing that FE had won the prestigious International Ibsen Award (EUR300,000). The Committee stated: “ Forced Entertainment have created their own performative space within the history of theatre. Here, theatrical conventions are played out, and then they are torn apart. This influential theatre group is a group that recognises the theatre as a central voice within society, and which sincerely and with dedication uses theatre as an arena for public debate; an open, reflexive and poetic space with ethical and social value” [S1a].

Similarly, commenting on the significance of ITD’s work in the context of British Theatre, the Artistic Director of Leeds Playhouse observed: “ At the centre of any body of practice are the ideas that are being explored. As above, one can sense the relationship between research and practice through the ambition of the ideas being negotiated in the company’s unique approach. ITD not only explore new and challenge existing forms of theatre, they pursue this innovation always with an eye on the political importance of their interrogations of existing texts and stories. They are a company who are certainly changing how we think about theatre and what it is and what it might be in the future, but social, political and ethical concerns always appear to carry an equal weight to their more formal examinations of what theatre is and might become” [S2].

The impact of their research is not only ground-breaking in terms of formal innovation but also in bringing the attention of different users and interactors to the cultural significance of theatre, as a medium to understand and actively engage in contemporary life. The Executive Director for Arts and Culture, Arts Council England, stated that the work of Etchells and FE, has a “far reaching influence on the contemporary and performance scene.” The Director of The National Theatre observed that the company are “a constant reminder that the way that we make work in the mainstream is only one very narrow way of making work…They are challenging, they are always provocative. They are prepared to have a real proper conversation with their audience” [S1b].

Engaging Audiences: new narratives and forms of practice

Since 2014, Etchells and Quick have been at the creative centre of the research-informed production of 24 original works that have toured and performed both nationally and internationally. Total audience figures are in excess of 800,000 (live events) and over 400,000 (on-line events) [S3]. Both researchers have responded dynamically to the Covid-19 Pandemic, producing a number of original works online, which have created new forms and new audiences for online performance. For example ITD’s Airlock series commissioned by the BBC’s Culture in Quarantine Programme (2020) utilised live performance and live computer programming to create three performed graphic short stories, and their Covid-19 designed outdoor tour of Dr Blood’s Old Travelling Show (2020) extended formal experimentations with mixing live and mediatised performance into outdoor contexts [S4]. FE’s on-line productions of Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare: At Home (2020) explored new forms of solo performance via the internet. Similarly, their End Meeting For All (2020) series examined the dynamics of rehearsals as an extended Zoom meeting, foregrounding the emotional impact working on-line is having on so many people [S5].

Audience demographics have been highly varied, including large audiences (350,000) at major outdoor events such as ITD’s Arrivals and Departures, which launched Hull’s City of Culture in 2017. Other works were made specifically for children and families, for example, ITD’s Hanuman: The Superhero Monkey, a 28 performance run at The Singapore Repertory Company in 2016 (nominated for the Best Production for the Young by The Straits Times Theatre Awards, 2017). Both works experimented with new narrative forms, combining live and mediatised approaches to create new narrative experiences for their audiences. FE’s That Night Follows Day: Rehearsal Reading in 2017-18, which toured across the UK and was also made and performed in China, Korea, Germany, Ireland and Lithuania; and FE’s The Impossible House, staged at The Barbican, London in 2014 [S3]. Both works explored new formal ways to tell stories in the theatre.

A significant impact is upon audiences that attend middle-scale theatre venues - and here both companies challenge expectations and engage in ‘conversations’ with existing and emerging audiences. These conversations take place through live performances, in after-show discussions, through audience feedback surveys and in social media communications and are extended in media interviews, newspaper and on-line reviews of individual works and podcasts that always accompany the tours and performances. Both companies have to submit audience returns and feedback as a condition of their National Portfolio Arts Council England (ACE) membership. Details of these surveys (2014 to 2020) can be found in the companies’ annual return forms to ACE which are in the public domain [S3]. Some examples of how the work has affected audiences is demonstrated through the following comments: “ thank you so much for the tabletop Shakespeare series – and also this charming after talk tonight. Obviously, your work has made a big difference for people in these times”; “ Really enjoyed ‘ Real Magic’ last night. Another masterclass in changing energy on stage through a simple game. Moving, thought provoking, boring and funny all at the same time. Loved the post-show discussion with Tim Etchells too. Super inspiring”; “ I have honestly never seen anything like it! [Heart of Darkness]. Amazing use of digital technology to tell what was often a very disturbing story” [S6].

Reviews by theatre critics and commentators extend the conversation about innovative theatre practice and its cultural relevance into a wider public sphere. Etchells and Quick’s practice has been reviewed and discussed in over 200 newspaper articles, radio broadcasts, interviews and podcasts since 2014 ( The Times; The Sunday Times; The Guardian; The Observer; The Daily Mail; The Sunday Mail; The Daily Express; The New York Times; Vogue; The Stage; Kulturennews; Exeunt Magazine; Deutschlandfunk; ExBerliner Magazine; Time Out; The Stage; Total Theatre; The Big Issue; Northern Soul Magazine; Fangoria; Broadway World; British Theatre Guide; American Theatre and numerous local papers) [S7]. The work has been discussed extensively on podcasts and radio broadcasts, with two appearances on BBC’s Front Row (2018; 2020). On A Farewell to Arms (2014): “In the Imitating the Dog company’s intellectually bracing and visually inventive inversion… the complex framework never gets in the way of the pleasure of watching a moody thriller” The New York Times (2020). The Stage observed in 2016 that FE “ is among the most important and influential theatre makers in the UK, inspiring generations to break away from narrative-based work, play with form and explore what performance is and could be”. In response to Out of Order (2019), The Guardian commented, “Where it feels truly current is its criticism of communication; the way we blindly follow and drown each other out. Out of Order may test our patience and push past the point of laughter, but by pinballing between childish hysteria and tumbleweed brutality, it mirrors our own absurdity; an uncommunicative society led by a bunch of clowns” [S7].

Informing new thinking and discourse around theatre practice: shaping performance

Etchells’ and Quick’s research has impacted on professional practice across a number of contexts by exploring, training and introducing new models for theatre making and storytelling in performance. Between 2014 and 2020, 30 workshops and 6 international residencies have enabled 80 theatre professionals in 10 countries across Europe, South America, North America, Asia and Australia to engage with the research through the platforms of FE and ITD. An annual International Skills/Ideas Exchange programme hosted by ITD, and delivered through Lancaster Arts (Lancaster University’s public arts organisation), brings together practitioners from different disciplines and backgrounds to exchange skills and ideas around practice. In reaction to The Digital Horizons Exchange of 2018, emerging artist Josh Cannon (Popbox Theatre) stated: “ It was a unique space for practitioners to share best practice and learn from each other. Training was part of the mix, but it was also about networking, discussing core ideas and principles. So important for my development. We were encouraged to dream and imagine what theatre might become” [S6].

In the same period, workshops have taken place in 40 schools and 30 universities to support the development of emerging talent and support schemes include: FE’s Forced Entertainment Award, which is aimed at an artist or company who is re-inventing theatre and performance for new audiences includes mentoring, training and in-kind and cash support (GBP10,000); and ITD’s annual internship programme employs and mentors an emerging artist to collaborate on specific projects for 12 months. The 2019-20 intern states; “My work with ITD on two major projects, Night of the Living Dead – Remix and Street (2020), has had a huge impact on my career. I have moved into performance having worked previously in other industries and this year has allowed me develop and be creative in ways I never thought possible” [S6]. Workshops with professional practitioners and emerging artists have taken place in Georgia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Brazil, Poland, Canada, Belgium, Germany and France. Many of these workshops have taken place with support and collaboration from the British Council. The British Council’s Theatre and Dance Senior programme manager describes both companies as having “made valuable interventions in developing and communicating new theatre techniques to emerging artists from many different countries” [S8]. The Festival Director of Porto Alegre em Cena, Brazil communicated the following after a three-week ITD residency, “ I was very inspired by the residency you ran with the Living Dead project… We would love you to return with some of these workshops to collaborate with more local companies and artists… Your approaches are unique and important for how we can develop theatre here in Brazil” [S6].

Quick’s research has directly impacted upon 2 regional theatres in the north of England: The Dukes, Lancaster and Oldham Coliseum. Creating the scenographic designs for The Life and Times of Mitchell & Kenyon (The Dukes, 2014) and Mist in the Mirror (Oldham, 2015), Quick and the ITD team worked closely with the designers, directors, and actors of these organisations, introducing them to new techniques and processes. The Executive Director of Oldham Coliseum 2010-17 stated: “The significance of imitating the dog’s work with us on two major productions, Hound of the Baskervilles in 2012 and later Mist in the Mirror can’t be underestimated. They introduced a whole new way of integrating technology into the design of these works. Not only that, but new ways of rehearsing as well. This was a completely different experience, not only for our technicians and the director, but to the actors as well” [S9].

Enabling critical thinking amongst future practitioners

Working with young people and shaping future practice is a key function and outcome of this research. Etchells and Quick have had a significant impact on the lives of young people from the age of 11 onwards by introducing them to new creative methodologies. Specific projects include FE’s Art Breakers, started in 2017, and which created a space where, as one 11-15 year old participant described: “ [I] can play with new ideas about performance”. A parallel project, working with a similar age group, is FE’s That Night Follows Day Rehearsed Readings, which involves a collaborative partner working with the company for 6 to10 days, often involving teachers and youth workers. Having worked on this project, an educator from Lithuania said that, by participating, they had “ learnt to educate better” [S6]. There have been further collaborations with youth theatre groups from Lancaster, Oldham and Wellingborough. A week long ITD residency with 20 young people in Wellingborough drew the following response: “The week blew my expectations out of the water. It was so much fun. The set was amazing, the company was just brilliant to work with, they treated us with so much respect. They gave us so much to work with and they taught us loads. I literally cannot thank them enough. It’s been a brilliant experience” [S6].

In summary, research by Etchells and Quick has transformed the landscape of contemporary British theatre, challenged and changed public perceptions of what theatre is and might be and disseminated new approaches and techniques to a wide range of beneficiaries. The transformative effect of this work is perhaps best summarised by the British Council, who observe: “ Forced Entertainment and imitating the dog have and continue to bring positive influence to the development of theatre practice in the twenty-first century, in both a UK and international context.  Their reach overseas is significant and their combined expertise in relation to the use of new technologies, new writing techniques, approaches to devising and collaboration is regularly called upon in relation to the British Council’s professional development programmes around the world” [S8].