ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳

Professor Amritav Chakravarti

An ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳-led study of health warnings on tobacco products provided robust evidence of what works to deter smokers, shaping European Union (EU) legislation on smoking reduction. 

An estimated 700,000 premature deaths are caused each year in the European Union (EU) by smoking and the annual EU public healthcare expenditure on treating diseases caused by tobacco products is in the region of EUR25 billion. 

A research consortium led by ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ conducted a large-scale randomised controlled trial on tobacco product warnings. The study provided robust evidence on the efficacy of combined warnings using both text and images; it also demonstrated the ways in which emotions affect behavioural choices and intentions relating to tobacco use. 

The study informed a revised EU Tobacco Products Directive published in 2014 (2014/40/EU), which aimed to reduce tobacco consumption by 2% (equivalent to roughly 2.4 million smokers quitting) over the five years from its implementation in May 2016. Since that date, all tobacco products manufactured for sale throughout the EU have been required to carry specific combined warnings, the selection of which is based on the ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Consortium study.

Through its direct influence on the Directive, the research has had impacts on the producers and users of tobacco products, as well as wider effects on health services, healthcare spending, and citizens across the EU. 

Research underpinning these impacts was conducted in 2012 by Professor Amitav Chakravarti with ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ colleagues Professor George Gaskell (Department of Methodology) and Dr Caroline Rudisill (Department of Health Policy). The ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ researchers joined a multinational team including researchers from Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá; Università degli Studi di Milano; University of Leicester; Columbia University; Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona; Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona; and the Centre for North-South Economic Research, Cagliari, Italy. 

Read the full case study here.

Dr Edgar Whitley and Dr Roser Pujadas

In 2017, Dr Edgar Whitley led a programme of research at ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ for the Financial Services Consumer Panel (FSCP) of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This research found that customers of Open Banking-type services do not necessarily understand what is happening to their data but assume that there are regulations (and regulators) who ensure they are being treated fairly.

The research identified important gaps in the regulation of Open Banking by the FCA. Specifically, it demonstrated that not all parts of the Open Banking ecosystem met the requirements of the FCA Principles For Business, including the Principle of “Treating Customers Fairly”. 

Further to the research, the FCA has updated its regulations to ensure that the whole Open Banking ecosystem is covered. This and other research by Whitley has also strengthened key aspects of the customer experience for Open Banking more broadly. As a result, the more than three million customers currently using Open Banking in the UK now enjoy stronger protections and more effective, consent-based controls over the use of their financial data.

Read the full case study here.

Dr Edgar Whitley, Simon Davies and Gus Hosein

ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ research contributed significantly to the shaping of parliamentary debates on identity cards, as well as to public perceptions of ID card schemes in the UK and beyond, showing the proposals to be unsafe, ineffective and costly. Plans for national biometric identity cards were scrapped by the coalition government in May 2010.  

When the government introduced proposals for introducing biometric identity cards based around a central database, there was increasing concern about the lack of informed debate about the complex interplay between technological, organisational, business and societal implications. In response to that concern, in January 2005 academics based at ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ drew on their existing research expertise and initiated the ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Identity Project to examine in detail the potential impacts and benefits of the Identity Cards Bill. 

Key areas of impact:

• The ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Identity Project played a key role in shaping the parliamentary debates about The Identity Cards Bill, by highlighting that the scheme was technically unsafe, expensive, untested and lacked public trust.
• ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ research influenced public and media perceptions of the Identity Cards Scheme 
• Direct influence on Government policy as first Bill introduced by the Coalition government scrapped identity cards. 
• Ongoing impact through close work with the Cabinet Office on its Identity Assurance Programme. 

Former Home Secretary David Blunkett described the detailed, cross-disciplinary report from academics at ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ as having “changed the culture and atmosphere around, and attitudes towards, the scheme and its intention”. An alternative, privacy-friendly identity policy is being developed in its place with ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ researchers playing a significant role in its development. Lessons from the UK continue to influence government identity policy in other countries including India, the Caribbean and Latin America. 

Read the full case study here.