Impact case study database

Over the last ten years, research by Hodges and Prys has had demonstrable impact across a range of sectors at local and national level including Government Policy, Education, Third Sector, Healthcare and Civil Society. The impact has been affected through influencing policy and practice in three key, interrelated areas: Welsh Government (WG) Language Policy and Projects; the work of the Welsh Language Commissioner (WLC); and the field of Language Promotion and Education.

Research has significantly influenced WG priorities in the area of language planning as attested by Deputy Chief Social Research Officer, WG: “Understanding the factors that influence the use of Welsh in informal settings and at community level is a key element of the Welsh Government’s work in relation to promoting the use of Welsh. Research undertaken by Dr Cynog Prys and Dr Rhian Hodges has contributed to the evidence base that is available to us, as we increase this understanding” [5.1]. Citing the evaluative analysis undertaken by Hodges and Prys into the efficacy of WG’s flagship language strategy, A Living Language: A Language for Living (2012 - 2017), the WG has changed its strategic priorities within the current WG language strategy, Cymraeg 2050, to focus efforts on community Welsh language use by prioritising key language use domains [5.2]. In particular, the strategy calls for further opportunities for teenagers and young adults to use Welsh socially, as highlighted in Welsh Language Use in the Community for which Hodges and Prys provided expert input [5.3]. The strategy also responds to the research finding that fluent Welsh speakers tend to switch to English when speaking to Welsh learners and new Welsh speakers. Based on the research, WG outlined their aim of embedding “positive language use practices supported by formal and informal opportunities to use Welsh socially” [5.2]. Research findings were also referenced by WG in its Welsh language strategy A living Language: A language for Living - Moving Forward [5.4]. Following recommendations surfaced by Prys in Exploring Welsh speakers’ language use in their daily lives (S4C, BBC Cymru Wales, WG, 2013) [5.5], the WG developed the marketing campaign ‘Pethau Bychain’ (Little Things) to influence daily linguistic behaviour and norms. Additionally, this research contributed to the WG policy of providing an active offer of Welsh language services within the health and social care sector as outlined in the WG’s Strategic Framework for Welsh Language Services in Health, Social Services and Social Care, More than just words (WG, 2019). The research is also referred to within a key policy consultation document National policy on Welsh language transmission and use in families (WG, 2020). In addition, Hodges and Prys have been regularly approached to provide expert input to key WG reports and evaluations in the area of language planning, for example, Process Evaluation of Cymraeg for Kids: final report [5.6].

Research undertaken by Hodges and Prys is regularly used to support WLC decision making and inform those public bodies legally required to adhere to the Welsh Language Standards published in 2015. Bangor University research underpins a co-produced WLC report assessing the use of Welsh within the voluntary sector in Wales [5.7]. The report contains twenty recommendations for good practice and are the only guidelines for language use in the Third Sector. Senior Officer, Welsh Language Commissioner’s Hybu Team states: “We refer to this work in our training sessions for third sector organisations. The slides we have prepared include quotes from the research and our top tips were created based on this evidence” [5.8]. The WLC held several public events with voluntary organisations and stakeholders to promote the research findings and highlight examples of good practice. The WLC used the study to: “Raise awareness of the findings and recommendations through meeting with stakeholders such as Welsh Government, WCVA, County Voluntary Councils, county volunteer bureaus, GwirVol and The Duke of Edinburgh Award, Welsh Sports Association” [5.7]. Bangor research [3.2] also informs the WLC report, My Language My Health [5.9] and the best practice guidelines published by the WLC for county borough councils and National Park authorities [5.10].

Research has informed language promotion initiatives across Wales and education practice across a range of age groups. A key development is the co-produced toolkit [5.11] (with Mentrau Iaith Cymru, the national organisation which supports the work of 22 local Menter Iaith language initiatives) to promote the use of Welsh in the community. The toolkit is used by Mentrau Iaith Cymru (MIC) to train staff and it is hosted on its website for community actors to download. Menter Iaith Bangor, Cered and Menter Iaith Caerffili use the toolkit to facilitate discussions, to understand how Welsh speakers use the language in a variety of contexts, and Menter Iaith Bangor has since expanded their activities by hosting workshops and organised bi-monthly community language panels (Popdy Trafod Iaith). Funded by Bangor University’s ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, dissemination and discussion workshops were held with local stakeholders in eight communities across Wales between March and May 2017. Confirming the use and significance of the toolkit, Team Leader, Mentrau Iaith Cymru states: “This practical resource has been of great use for both MIC and the local Menter Iaith initiatives, of which there are 22 organisations and over 100 members of staff. The toolkit contains valuable examples of innovative programs that can be adapted to work in various communities in Wales. As a result, the toolkit has been used during workshops and training days hosted by MIC” [5.12]. The toolkit was launched by the Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language at the 2017 National Eisteddfod and ignited important discussions on Welsh language community sustainability amongst practitioners and policy makers alike.

Responding to the need identified through research for enhanced availability of targeted materials in Welsh, particularly in relation to the prioritised group of teenagers and young people, Hodges and Prys have led on the development of unique multimedia Welsh-medium Sociology materials and worked to develop new and standardised terminology. These are used to teach A Level, Welsh Baccalaureate, and Degree-level Sociology across Wales. Their ground-breaking Dulliau Ymchwil (Research Methods) online resource [5.13] has over 1000 views and is used in other disciplines, such as education, history and music. This work also contributed to the development of Welsh language terminology in sociology and research methods. Examples include coining terms such as ‘hapsamplu syml’ (simple random sampling) and ‘tanddosbarth’ (underclass). Their work has been incorporated into the Termiadur Addysg (Education Terminology Dictionary) which is utilised by all primary and secondary schools, further education colleges and universities in Wales.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Research undertaken by Bangor’s Language Technology Unit (LTU) has substantially modernized approaches to the use of the Welsh language and informed practice more broadly in the area of less-resourced languages. Research has had impact in four key areas: Influencing Policy; Fostering the Daily Use of Welsh; Developing Assistive Technology; and Supporting Industry.

Researchers have influenced policy in Wales and globally. Professor Delyth Prys and Dewi Jones have served as advisors on the Welsh Government (WG) Welsh Language Technology Board since 2012, helping inform the approach to language revitalization through language technologies in WG’s strategy Cymraeg 2050 (2017). The subsequent Welsh Language Technology Action Plan (2018) references LTU work, highlighting speech technology, machine translation and conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI), together with terminology, lexicography and corpora resources [5.1]. On a global level, D. Prys, Jones, Andrews and G. Prys have advised on UNESCO’s LT4All initiative, the Digital Language Diversity Project (2015-2018) [5.2] and the successful EU Parliament Resolution on Language Equality in the Digital Age (adopted 11 September 2018). The Rapporteur, an MEP, referenced LTU research in her parliamentary speech [5.3]. This resolution has now resulted in the PPPA-LANGEQ-2020 call for ‘Developing a strategic research, innovation and implementation agenda and a roadmap for achieving full digital language equality in Europe by 2030.’

Research has directly influenced the public’s use of Welsh. Cysgliad is credited by the Welsh Language Commissioner with helping members of the public gain confidence in writing Welsh, as well as being an essential aid in education and for translators and professional administrators [5.4]. Language technology tools developed by LTU researchers are in daily use across Wales The Welsh Language Commissioner mandates all public authorities to install Welsh spelling and grammar checkers on their computers for which Cysgliad is the only available product [5.5]. During October 2020, approximately 1,000,000 words per week were spell- and grammar-checked on the free website Cysill Ar-lein. Between September 2015 and October 2020 approximately 270,000,000 words were added to the Cysill Ar-lein corpus. As of 7 October 2020, Cysgliad is licenced to 492 public and private authorities in Wales, and individual licences (paid for) total 5,392. In 2020, the Welsh Government sponsored free Cysgliad licences for the public, schools and SMEs to help during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the first six months of the offer (between May and October 2020), an additional free 4125 licences were downloaded.

Between August 2013 and October 2020, the Ap Geiriaduron, including Geiriadur Termau’r Coleg Cymraeg, was downloaded 230,646 times. A review (24 July 2019) on Google Play states “This is an incredible app for searching a word I don’t know in a welsh text”. Between March 2015 and October 2020 Vocab, with a unique identifier key downloadable from the National Terminology Portal, was used on 68,537 unique Welsh web pages and on 19 websites, including BBC CymruFyw and Golwg360, and 544,844 word searches were carried out. Development of the Macsen personal assistant has changed attitudes on the possibilities of Welsh language technologies across the generations, evidenced by the positive responses of schoolchildren employing Bangor language technology during coding sessions to make a robot talk in Welsh [5.6].

Research in Welsh speech technology has improved the lives of visually impaired Welsh-speakers, as well as those with reduced mobility and communication difficulties [5.7]. Users were previously unable to access Welsh text-to-speech, and Welsh voice-activated applications. Tools and resources for Welsh speech technology, published by LTU under open licences, fed into improved synthetic voices developed also by commercial companies e.g. Ivona (since acquired by Amazon). The Trawsgrifiwr program is also being used by the National Library of Wales to help their volunteers transcribe audio material from their broadcast archives for their Voice2Text project. The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and others use these synthetic Welsh-speaking voices to enable visually impaired users to access Welsh text-to-speech. In April 2017, the speech recognition research led to Lleisiwr, a joint Bangor University / NHS project whereby users about to lose their power of speech can bank their voice and have it rebuilt as a synthetic voice, as shown in an S4C documentary programme ‘Drych: Achub Llais John Wyn’ (April 2019) [5.8]. Researchers were awarded the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists’ Giving Voice Award for their “outstanding commitment to raising awareness of people’s speech, language and communication needs at a national level” in September 2019 [5.9].

Research has helped companies locally and globally to develop new products, providing economic stimulus to peripheral areas and giving Welsh an international presence. In 2017 Facebook expressed appreciation of LTU-developed resources: “thanks a lot for the pointer […] since this is Apache 2.0, we have been able to download this data already” [5.10]. Pioneering use of crowdsourcing for the Paldaruo speech-corpus has informed methodologies used by major international companies to gather speech data for multiple languages. Mozilla adopted this approach for its Common Voice project [5.11] and the Paldaruo corpus itself has been downloaded 73 times by other developers. The containerized version of the Welsh/English machine translation Moses system in Docker enables translation companies to build their own translation engines from legacy translations. It has been downloaded 415 times through the National Portal. It led to a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) between 2017 and 2019 [3.g] with a local translation company, Cymen, (awarded an A [outstanding] grade) and also led to funding from the Innovate UK Accelerated COVID-19 Response Call [3.j] in 2020, enabling LTU to work with two local companies, Animated Technologies Ltd and Zero Dependencies Ltd, and Menai Science Park (MSparc), to develop Inclusive and Advanced Online Conferencing, including multilingual translation functions.