Impact case study database

The findings from the body of research outlined above have led to the development of new standards and guidelines, and to the establishment of new sector-wide committees to achieve greater equality and inclusion in Higher Education and the horse racing industry in the UK and beyond. The changes instigated by the research have benefitted, and will continue to benefit, large numbers of individuals working in these sectors by removing barriers that can cause disadvantage and instead promote equality of opportunities.

Achieving greater inclusion in REF 2014 and 2021: Manfredi and Vickers’ research (R1) has been instrumental in enabling the UK Funding Councils to develop clearer and more robust equality guidance. This has led to the adoption of better practices at HEIs to facilitate self-disclosure of equality-related staff circumstances and create institutional submissions with greater inclusivity.

Key findings and recommendations from the study shaped equality guidance for the Research Excellence Exercise (REF) 2014 and continue to have an impact in informing the equality guidance for REF 2021 (E1), removing inconsistency of treatment of Early Career Researchers (ECRs) by main panels and sub-panels through adopting a more precise set of criteria to guide decisions relating to reduction of outputs for staff with equality-related circumstances as specified in Annex L ‘Reductions of staff circumstances’ (pages 114-116) of the REF 2021 ‘Guidance on Submission’ (2019/01), E2). (The impact of this research on equality guidance for REF 2014 was evidenced in the Manfredi impact case study submitted in 2014). As recommended by the 2009 study (R1), REF 2021 equality guidance requires institutions to “establish safe and robust processes to facilitate self-disclosure” (E2, p.40) and to undertake equality impact assessments. The importance of appropriate institutional processes to facilitate self-disclosure was stressed by the Chair of the national Equality and Diversity Advisory Panel (EDAP) in her open letter to the UK HE sector, as she highlighted the need for institutions “to establish safe and supporting processes to enable individuals to declare voluntarily their individual circumstances” (E3).

Although it is too early to quantify the extent of the benefits to individual researchers of the revised equality guidance in the run up to REF 2021, there is evidence that the revisions to the REF 2014 equality guidance, based on Manfredi and Vickers’ research, had significant impacts: the proportion of staff submitted with reduced numbers of research outputs due to equality-related circumstances rose from 12.2% in RAE 2008 to 29.2% in REF 2014 (N=16,361, including 10,099 ECRs) (E4, p.6). The EDAP report started: “This increase indicates that the new arrangements have enabled institutions to be more inclusive in their submissions, and that staff trusted the process and were provided with a safe environment in which to disclose their circumstances”. Manfredi and Vickers’ research (R1) has thus benefitted, and continues to benefit, not only individual careers but also the UK research base, by ensuring maximum benefit from all excellent research. According to Universities UK, HE employs 429,560 staff, 49% of whom are on academic contracts.

Setting new standards to achieve greater diversity in the governing boards of HEIs and in other sectors: The research examining the role of Executive Search Firms (ESFs) in the selection and recruitment for senior appointments in HE (R2, R3, R4) has resulted in the development of accountability frameworks that have ensured more effective compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty within the 2010 Equality Act, which requires the HE sector to place equality considerations at the core of their activities.

The research findings generated much public debate within the HE community (E5), and led its funders, Advance-HE (an organisation which supports strategic change and continuous improvement within HE), to seek Manfredi’s expert contribution to develop a Diversity Principles Framework (E6) and a Board Recruitment Framework (E7). These frameworks focus on board level positions within HEIs where there is an aspirational target of 40% women’s representation by 2020 (set by HEFCE’s 2015 business plan), and have established new standards for improving transparency and accountability, providing clear guidelines to ensure that due regard is given to equality considerations throughout the recruitment process. At the launch of the Diversity Principles Framework in October 2018, Advance-HE noted that “this framework has been produced based on the recommendations stated in the published study conducted by Professor Simonetta Manfredi in 2017 addressing the role of executive search firms in promoting diversity in Higher Education” (E6). Evidence shows that the frameworks are encouraging ESFs that work with HEIs to take active steps to promote diversity. The feedback provided by the Director of SearchHigher, which specialises in HE, on the Diversity Principles Framework highlighted how this is also helping to promote other equalities in addition to gender: “What has been very useful has been the clear responsibilities and actions required by both the higher education provider and the executive search firm. Taking this approach as a partnership with defined roles has really helped to improve accountability and promote gender diversity and we have sought to apply this same methodology in relation to race, sexuality, ability and other protected characteristics” (E8).

HESA data for 2018/19 show that women’s representation on universities’ governing bodies has increased significantly to 41.9% from 32% in 2013. Although it is not possible to show direct causation between this research and these improvements, it is highly likely that the research has contributed to this progress.

Women in horse racing: The research on women’s under-representation in senior roles in British horse racing (R5, R6) was defined by the Racing Foundation as a “catalyst for change” (E10) and resulted in the establishment of a national steering group to promote gender and other diversities by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), as recommended by the research. The research was instrumental to the establishment of the first Diversity in Racing Steering Group, as stated in a press release by the BHA (E11) and reinforced in its first action plan (E12). This also led to the appointment of a Head of Inclusion and Diversity and drove a cultural shift by taking action to achieve a better gender balance in British Racing’s governance to promote greater inclusion (E12, p.4). Nick Rust, BHA CEO, commented: “this survey serves as a stark reminder that …there is much more that British Racing needs to do” ( E9). They also stated that the research instigated wider consultation across the industry to decide what additional action needs to be taken, “including the recommendations contained in this report”. The developments instigated by the research findings have far-reaching implications as British horse racing employs 85,000 people and it is estimated that 40% of its spectators are women. Moreover, beyond the UK context, the research findings were shared with the Asian racing community by a representative of Women in Racing at the 2018 Asian Racing Conference in Seoul, South Korea (E13).

The impact of Himaz’s research is described in relation to two main groups of beneficiaries:

Himaz’s research on education provided evidence that underpinned the decision of the World Bank to commit USD100 million towards the GEM project, as well as supporting aspects of the GEM project design. The World Bank Sri Lanka Team Leader for education has said ‘The merging of my expertise at the Bank … together with [Himaz’s] expertise in conducting rigorous econometric analysis based on large household datasets helped co-create research that has made an important contribution to the development of further World Bank investment in education through the GEM project in Sri Lanka…and the design of this investment’ [E1]. The project enhances quality and strengthens stewardship of the general education system through the implementation of various components. Backed by the finding that the poor benefit more from schooling, one key component of the GEM project involves promoting social equity and inclusion through offering extra investments to the poorest schools in the country particularly in Mathematics and English language [E2]. Another component is the implementation of community-based school management initiatives. These efforts now use Himaz’s findings to increase community awareness of the importance of gender-sensitivity in the delivery of education.

The impact of the decision to invest in the education of the poorest is far reaching. The benefits of the Sri Lankan Ministry of Education’s implementation of the decision between 2018 and 2024 will reach around 5,000,000 school students per year coming from 10,000 schools across the country from primary grades 1-5 and secondary grades 6-13. Beneficiaries also include school staff and, over the medium term, technical and vocational training institutions and higher education institutions who will receive better prepared entrants. The higher accumulation of human capital will eventually contribute to poverty reduction and shared prosperity [E2, page 13].

The scale of global undernutrition continues to be immense with over 150 million children stunted according to UNICEF’s 2018 Global Nutrition Report. This is a key concern in meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 3 of good health and wellbeing and Sustainable Development Goal 5 of gender equality. Conventional approaches to deal with this issue have focused mainly on the first 1,000 days of life and nutritional interventions during this period. However, Himaz’s research on growth faltering in adolescence has contributed to the ground-breaking finding emerging from Young Lives that there is scope to intervene to support growth catch-up beyond the first 1,000 days of life as corroborated in an email sent by the Director of Young Lives in 2018 stating, ‘your work on growth faltering during adolescence, and specially the evidence around girls and the negative consequences for other aspects of young people’s development formed an important part of our evidence on post infancy growth dynamism… I have also cited findings from your paper as one of the reasons why attention to gender in adolescence is one of the key priorities for agencies who are focused on achieving SDG 5 targets’ [E3]. Thus, the findings of R3 were used in Young Lives’ presentation on ‘Adolescence as a window of opportunity to catch up on growth’ at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) conference in Rome on ‘Leaving no one behind: Making the case for adolescent girls’ in October 2018 and Young Lives publications, like ‘Tracing the consequences of child poverty’ (2019) [E4]. This in turn has influenced international agencies’ discourse on adolescent nutrition. For example, Himaz’s research was used in the summative report written by Young Lives ‘Early is best but it's not always too late: Evidence from the Young Lives study in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam’ (2018) [E5], which was in turn used by the UNICEF in their 2018 Global Nutrition Report [E6] to support one of three priority issues in ‘critical need of attention’:

‘More data has revealed the importance of investing in adolescent nutrition, particularly for girls and young women. The amount of attention being paid to adolescents as a nutritionally vulnerable group with unique nutritional needs in the life cycle is growing, but they are still frequently overlooked.’

UNICEF and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) have further acknowledged the significance of Himaz’s work by making R3 directly available to policy-makers as a recognised resource paper on adolescence [E7, E8].

Empirical and conceptual research conducted by ICCaMS has shaped coach accreditation and ethical standards, as well as coach training and education, contributing to the development of coaching as a robust discipline and improving coaching practice worldwide. The impact of our research is described in relation to three main groups of beneficiaries:

Bachkirova and Lawton-Smith’s research ( 3) on capabilities has been instrumental in the introduction of improved accreditation approaches and guidelines at the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) and the International Authority for Professional Coaching and Mentoring (IAPCM) ( E1, E2). The EMCC, a major professional coaching association with 6,000+ members across 61 countries, used this research directly to revise their ‘accreditation frameworks … for validation of training programmes and the assessment of coaches’ ( E1). More specifically, as a result of said research, the Council changed its approach to coach assessment and accreditation for members, from an established competences-based framework to one focusing on capabilities ( E1). This is significant, as accreditation is one of the few quality assurance mechanisms available to coaching as an unregulated profession. The Chief Operating Officer of the IAPCM (900+ organisational and individual members across 24 countries) also attests to changes in their assessment and accreditation processes for their global membership, as a result of Bachkirova and Lawson-Smith’s research, confirming that they have devised ‘an excellent method of truly exploring the holistic element of coaching’ ( E2, E3).

Iordanou’s conceptual work on coaching ethics ( 2) resulted in a re-evaluation of the EMCC’s code of ethics and shaped its new best practice guidelines. More specifically, Iordanou’s contribution to an EMCC green paper on ethical standards for coaching as an unregulated profession led directly to the EMCC remodelling its focus on ethical standards ( E4). Furthermore, Iordanou consulted on and co-drafted the ‘FCC Guidance Document’ (2017), a policy document on the principles of efficacious, evidence-based coaching that aligns with ethical practice ( E5) produced by the Future of Coaching Collaboration (FCC), a multi-stakeholder group that includes representatives from corporations (e.g. GlaxoSmithKline, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the John Lewis Partnership etc.), leading coaching professional bodies (e.g. Association for Coaching and EMCC), academic institutions and research institutes. Bachkirova and Iordanou also contributed further guidance on ethical standards as expert panellists to the FCC.

ICCaMS’ research outputs ( 3 and 1iv) have changed coaching practice in the NHS ( E10), parts of the Civil Service ( E6), and Bournemouth University’s Learning and Development Department ( E7). These organisations have adopted new models on capabilities developed by ICCaMS to inform the assessment and accreditation of coaches. For example, Civil Service Learning (CLS) highlighted that ‘ Oxford Brookes University have provided invaluable support to the coaching offer we in CSL provide for around 450,000 Civil Servants’, and this includes ‘ developing an approach to validation for around 200 internal coaches and running validation sessions to ensure a consistent standard of internal coaching’ ( E6). Moreover, our research has changed the way practice is evaluated in the medical sphere. As Dr Margaret Carey, Co-founder of ‘A Whole New Doctor’ – a leadership development and coaching program for medical students at Georgetown University School of Medicine – has confirmed: ‘Your article has helped recognise coaching and mentoring as complex adaptive systems, which resonates with the medical profession’ and it is now used as ‘our instruction manual’ ( E9). These are important impacts in a developing a discipline caught between the tensions of an unregulated but rapidly expanding field of learning and development.

The Centre’s scholarly commitment to informing non-academic audiences about coaching as a quality learning and development intervention is testament in its wider outreach activities. In 2015, ICCaMS was commissioned to provide the regular research-led column “Research matters” in Coaching at Work, the largest practitioner coaching magazine (2,000+ subscribers, primarily in the US and the UK, but also in other European countries, and a global LinkedIn group with almost 42,000 members). As part of this endeavour, ICCaMs members publish outlines of evidence-based research outputs, written in an accessible style for non-specialist audiences. The editor of Coaching at Work has testified that ‘ from feedback to Coaching at Work, we know that the Research Matters column produced by ICCaMS has engaged and challenged the coaching community with its latest academic research and thought-provoking pieces’ ( E8). This column typically draws on the open access, peer-reviewed periodical the International Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring, which, founded by ICCaMS in 2003, publishes extended, rigorous conceptual and research-based papers.

ICCaMS research on coaches’ educational and professional development has had documented impact on educators and training providers, informing, modifying, and improving their programmes ( E9, E10, E11), with ICCaMS’ work adopted as a ‘model of practice’ ( E11). A priority of ICCaMS has been in creating a solid knowledge base for the professional education and development of coaching practitioners. References 1i, 1ii and 1iii challenge the oversimplified models of coach training and education, shifting thinking and practice. For example, Sydney Business School have used 1i as the underlying framework for their Master of Business Coaching programme. As one Associate Lecturer from Sydney Business School has testified ‘ *[Your] model [proposed in 1.i] has enabled us to make tangible a key tenet of [our] programme, which is that the way we choose to coach is deeply personal, based upon our preferred theoretical models and personal values*’ ( E11).

ICCaMS research has resulted in the production of extensive professional guidance, which is being implemented by leaders in the field of coach training. The Complete Handbook of Coaching (2010, 2014, 2018), edited by members of the ICCaMS team, is adopted as the main coaching textbook by leading university-based training programmes (including Cambridge, Warwick, and Henley Business School) and it has been purchased by over 350 libraries worldwide. This text sits alongside three handbooks published by ICCaMS staff, recognised as the ultimate guidebooks shaping the knowledge base of coaching. Moreover, Iordanou’s volume on ethical coaching practice ( 2) achieved recognition as the Henley Business School’s Coaching Book of the Year (2017). These publications have engaged the coaching profession and led to recognition that the sustainable development of coaches depends on engagement with rigorous research and theories ( E12, see also E7).

In sum, ICCaMS has contributed to the development of coaching as a robust discipline, producing both empirical and conceptual research that has been shaping coach training and education, assessment, and ethical practice.

The D/L method created by Duckworth and Lewis has endured for over 20 years as the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) official method of recalculating the target score for a team batting second in interrupted limited overs cricket matches. Its use by Cricket’s international governing body and by those at the very top of the game through to local junior leagues demonstrates its global reach, relevance and significance.

Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world, with over 1 billion fans and more than 300 million participants ¹. With the introduction of T20 cricket in 2003, the popularity of the game has reached a new level with a number of high-profile T20 leagues established around the world. Despite its global popularity, it is a rare sport in that play is regularly abandoned due to rain which, prior to the introduction of the D/L method, would mean that matches ended with no result or an unfair result. The D/L method (now updated to the Stern Edition - D/L/S) establishes that, in the event a match cannot reach its own natural conclusion, there is a fair means by which a winner is decided and, since 1999, it is the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) official method of recalculating the target score for a team batting second in interrupted limited overs cricket matches.

The ICC adopted the D/L method in 1999 to replace previous approaches to setting targets. The traditional method used proportions of overs to revise targets (Average Run Rate) e.g. in a fifty over match the team batting second because of rain only had thirty overs to chase the required score, they would have a revised score to beat of 60% of the original. This method was generally more favourable to teams batting second though and made it a lot easier to chase scores down. The Australians adopted a method (Most Productive Overs) which saw economical bowling overs from the first innings removed to increase the difficulty of chasing. This though ended in farce, as South Africa playing England in the 1992 World Cup went from needing 22 runs in 13 balls to requiring 22 runs from one ball because of a short downpour ^2,3. Subsequently the ICC adopted the upgraded D/L Professional Edition (based on the 2004 paper by Duckworth and Lewis, Reference 1). Retrospective application of the D/L Professional Edition to this match shows that South Africa would have needed four runs to win from that final ball – an achievable and fair target ⁴. In June 2012, the ICC went on to confirm its continuing commitment to the method, following a challenge from a new approach (the VJD method). The ICC said in a statement “The committee unanimously agreed that there was no evidence of any significant flaws in the D/L method nor did the committee believe that any improvements could be offered by the VJD method. Therefore, the committee decided to continue with D/L,” ⁴.

Following the retirement of Duckworth and Lewis in 2015, Professor Steven E Stern (QUT, Australia) became custodian of the formula in 2014 extending the methodology to address extreme scoring rates observed in modern forms of the game (Twenty20):

Stern, SE. (2016). The Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method: extending the Duckworth-Lewis methodology to deal with modern scoring rates. Journal of the Operational Research Society. Vol 67 No 12. pp 1469-1480. DOI: abs/10.1057/jors.2016.30

We do not claim this research as our own but cite it to demonstrate that through continued academic rigour and, indeed its impact within the academy, its relevance and importance is continuing. From October 2014, the Professional Edition of the Duckworth/Lewis method was updated to the Stern Edition of the Duckworth/Lewis method (D/L/S) and was adopted by the ICC ⁵. The ICC firmly set out in their rules and regulations that “the Stern Edition of the Duckworth-Lewis Methodology shall be used in all matches… using the latest version of the ‘ICC Duckworth-Lewis-Stern Calculator’ as distributed by the ICC…” ⁶.

In 2018, the ICC introduced an updated version of the D/L/S System ⁷ following a detailed ball-by-ball analysis of scoring patterns, including Powerplays, in all limited overs internationals played during the previous four years. This means that the current analysis is based on information from 700 One Day Internationals and 428 Twenty-20 Internationals, which comprise over 240,000 outcomes of individual deliveries. The study confirmed that, for both One Day International and Twenty20, while overall scoring rates are obviously different, wicket-adjusted resource utilisation rates are essentially identical, and further confirmed that D/L/S was compatible with all forms of the game.

The D/L/S method enables a multi-billion-dollar international sport to determine fair results for interrupted limited overs matches. Within the game, the most lucrative and widely viewed series is the Indian Premier League (IPL) (T20), valued at $5.3 billion in 2017 ⁸ and considered to be the third most expensive sport property in the world after the English Premier League and National Basketball Association, representing 0.6% of India’s Gross Domestic Product. During the first week of the IPL in the 2018 season, the first week pulled in 371 million viewers and attracted crowds in the various stadia of ca. 322,000. The IPL operates under the regulations of the ICC and deploys the D/L/S method as and when it is required. During the first week of the 2018 season, D/L/S was used on three occasions⁹ to determine fair results to the satisfaction of the teams, sponsors, broadcasters and fans, which otherwise would have been in doubt due to the weather.

Whilst long established as the method for setting target in interrupted limited overs cricket matches, D/L/S continues to occasionally sparks controversy. For example, Kolkata Knight Riders’ 9 wicket loss to Kings XI Punjab led their Captain Dinesh Karthik to question its continued use in the IPL. Karthik said “it was interesting that when play was stopped, they needed around eight runs an over but when it resumed it became run-a-ball….Ideally, in a 20-over game if we got two quick wickets, the run rate could have gone up. But then it became six-an-over. I didn’t understand that but I am sure Duckworth-Lewis has been something people are trying to figure out…” ¹¹.

Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis’s original research, which led to the D/L method and the D/L Professional Edition, continues to demonstrate impact not only within but clearly beyond the academy through the continuing advancement and application of the D/L/S method in modern forms of the game of cricket globally.

Sadly, Tony Lewis passed away aged 78 in March 2020. Geoff Allardice, General Manager of the ICC, paid tribute to him by saying “Tony’s contribution to cricket is huge. The present-day system of resetting targets in international cricket is based on the one developed by him and Frank more than two decades ago. His contribution to the game of cricket will be remembered for years to come and we send our condolences to his family and friends”. Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor, reflected “Few mathematicians' names are attached to work that enters the minds of so many people outside academia. Cricket's loyal global fanbase means Lewis's name will ring through the ages.” Andrew Millar, UK Editor of ESPN CricInfo wrote “The impact that the two men had on the sport is best illustrated by the problems that rain delays had caused until they came forward with their algorithmic solution in the mid-1990s. Their calculations may have baffled generations of cricket lovers over the past two decades, but they have been universally recognised as the best solution yet devised to the sport's most intractable problem” ¹⁰.