What we do
History & Policy:
- Demonstrates the relevance of history to contemporary policymaking
- Puts historians in touch with those discussing and deciding public policy today
- Increases the influence of historical research over current policy
- Advises historians wanting to engage more effectively with policymakers and media
On this website you can:
- Read History & Policy papers about current policy issues:
- Written by expert historians
- Over 70 currently available
- All free to view
- New papers published regularly
- Join the History & Policy network if you are a historian wanting to keep up-to-date on relevant policy developments and engage more effectively with policy and media audiences
- Subscribe to our email list to keep up to date on new papers and events
- Find out how to contribute a paper
- Access other useful resources, including our submissions to parliamentary select committee inquiries and policy-related research
- Find out about our events that bring together historians, politicians, civil servants and representatives of think-tanks, charities and industry
- Read the latest media coverage about History & Policy on our news page
- Contact us if you are trying to get in touch with a historian - we have a database of over 100 historians wanting to engage with policymakers and media
Support for what we do:
"Working in BBC News and Current Affairs, I know that historical perspective can greatly improve the quality of debate on contemporary issues and policy formation. But it can be hard for many people outside the academic community to reach the latest research in an accessible form. History & Policy is one of the very few initiatives I have come across that bridges that gap in an effective way."
Chris Bowlby, BBC Radio 4 Current Affairs
"Everyone in public life should be aware of the History & Policy project and its activities, and make use of this unique resource. History has a huge amount to teach us about how we got to where we are and how we might move forward. The historians involved in History & Policy have demonstrated this particularly effectively in relation to pensions reform."
Frank Field, MP
"The Parliament and Constitution Centre of the House of Commons Library has enjoyed working with History & Policy in locating speakers who can offer a historical perspective to contemporary events, and so inform the political process."
Oonagh Gay, Parliament and Constitution Centre
"I have found the History & Policy papers to be both enjoyable and very useful, especially those on local government reform and policing, which are areas I work in. I strongly believe that policymakers would perform better if their thinking was more informed by history and am keen that the IPPR does so in its own research."
Guy Lodge, Institute for Public Policy Research
"Awareness of what went before is of considerable worth, and there's a growing sense that policymakers and public managers make decisions in ignorance of previous experience with the same subject matter. History & Policy is a grouping of professional historians coordinated from the Centre for Contemporary British History in the University of London, determined to remind the present that the administrative and policy past matters."
David Walker, Guardian Public magazine