“Researchers and practitioners brought together, addressing real world problems"
30 Mar 2026
Watch the latest inspiring film from our Research impact, shaped together campaign and celebrate how collaboration and partnership accelerate our research to impact aligning with our Manchester 2035 strategy.
“It’s brought together researchers and practitioners,” explains Robert Stacey, Wildfire Team Leader for Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service.
“We are feeding directly into the team – passing on our experience, passing on our needs and requirements as well.”
Robert and Professor of Geography, Gareth Clay, along with their colleagues and partners, have been working together to develop a unified response to wildfires.
Wildfires in the UK are increasing in frequency and intensity, but practitioners have lacked reliable, UK-specific evidence to guide prevention and emergency decision-making. Existing tools were based on non-UK landscapes, leaving firefighters and land managers without models that reflected local fuels, weather patterns or landscapes.
As climate change continues to increase the risk of wildfires in the UK, geographers, ecologists, firefighters, land managers and modellers have joined forces to develop the UK’s first landscape-and fuel-specific models of fire behaviour. Built from shared learning and knowledge across many fields of research and practitioner expertise, this interdisciplinary approach is now guiding training, improving wildfire preparedness and shaping new prediction tools that could soon support a national fire danger rating system. Or as Gareth puts it so neatly: “Creating the space where other people can do brilliant work – that’s what has made the difference.”
Their story is just one of ten highlighted in Research impact, shaped together – a campaign that celebrates the people and practices behind our research, encouraging potential partners to connect and explore opportunities with us.
The campaign has five intersecting themes, and this is one of two stories from the interdisciplinary research theme: when disciplines work together, new solutions emerge that no single field could reach alone.
Research impact, shaped together supports three of the five leaps in our Manchester 2035 strategy, From Manchester for the world: Research excellence to impact, A powerhouse of innovation and The university to partner with. ‘Shaped together’ with academics and professional services colleagues from across the institution and their partners, the campaign itself exemplifies our One University approach.
It also supports our Research Culture and Environment Framework and is a collaboration between the Research Strategy and Communications and Marketing teams.
Get inspired and involved
You can discover more about this story and others that show how we collaborate with partners, communities and industry at: Research impact, shaped together
You can also find out how we support research impact here at Manchester.
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