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• Second, the operation was regarded – both internally and externally – as having expanded the areas of the research at the University in LegalTech and Cyber Threats, and in turn helped to develop and strengthen the reputation of the University in these areas . Although it was recognised that this is a ‘long term game’, and both a competitive and constantly shifting landscape, both the scale of resource and profile of the LILW was regarded as important. Particular areas identified where the operation was seen to have played an important role included online extremism and terrorism, and the intersections between technology, access to justice and crime.
• Third, the operation was recognised as providing significant career and personal development benefits for the individual academics/researchers supported . As expected, the specific nature of these benefits varied on an individual basis reflecting the experience and research interest of the individuals concerned. However, feedback included the benefits of the operation in terms of enhancing understanding of the use of specific technologies (e.g. coding), the development of skills and experience in applying for competitive funding, and the
Working with some of the big tech partners has been a great experience … their work is clearly really valuable and relevant to my area of research
Academic consultee
opportunity provided by the operation for researchers to work and establish relationships with a range of partners, both in other UK universities, international research organisations, and with industry partners. The profile and credibility of the Legal Lab was also identified by some academics, which was seen to have helped develop their own profile and reputations. In this context, the opportunity to work on ‘ impactful projects ’, including those which have the potential to realise direct and tangible societal benefits (for example around access to justice) was also seen as a key benefit of the operation for some of the academics/researchers consulted for the Final Evaluation. Although realised at an individual level, these benefits have the potential to play an important role in helping to retain academics in Swansea, and the Welsh research base more broadly, longer-term.
Legal Innovation Lab Wales
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