Who we are
History & Policy is a unique collaboration between the University of Cambridge, The Institute of Historical Research, and The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. It is managed by its four founding historians:
Virginia Berridge is Professor of History and Director of the Centre for History in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Virginia is an expert on the history of post-Second World War public health policy and in particular: smoking, illicit drugs and alcohol, the role of the media and the relationship between science and policy. Her most recent book is Marketing health. Smoking and the discourse of public health, 1945-c.2000 (Oxford University Press, 2007).
Virginia and her team have a long pedigree of delivering policy-relevant research. They have an ongoing programme of public engagement funded by the Wellcome Trust and hold regular events that bring together historians, scientists and health policymakers.
Virginia is regularly consulted by policymakers and has been involved in many initiatives on drugs and alcohol policy. The Department of Health recently appointed her to the Alcohol Education Research Council. To contact Virginia, email virginia.berridge@lshtm.ac.uk.
Alastair Reid is a Fellow and Director of Studies in History at Girton College, Cambridge. Alastair co-founded the History & Policy website in 2002. He now manages the site as well as editing new papers.
Alastair has an active interest in new media, collaboration between institutions and communicating history to wider audiences. He is an expert on the history of the Labour Party and trades unions and is author of United We Stand. A History of Britain's Trade Unions (Penguin, 2005). To contact Alastair, email ajr49@cam.ac.uk.
Simon Szreter is a Fellow of St John's College and Reader in History and Public Policy at the Faculty of History, University of Cambridge. Simon co-founded the History & Policy website in 2002.
He is an expert on demographic history with extensive experience of inter-disciplinary work. Through his current work on civil registration Simon is involved with several interdisciplinary initiatives as well as policy work with the World Health Organisation. He has recently co-authored a series of papers for The Lancet's Who Counts? series on civil registration. To contact Simon, email srss@cam.ac.uk.
Pat Thane is Professor of Contemporary British History at the Institute of Historical Research, where she manages the day-to-day work of the History & Policy pilot project.
She has extensive experience in both media and policy environments, most recently managing the Equalities in Great Britain, 1946-2006 project [pdf file, 840KB] for the Equalities Review. She regularly speaks and writes on issues relating to the history of the welfare state, gender, old age and pensions.
Her most recent books are The Long History of Old Age (Thames & Hudson, 2005) and Britain's Pensions Crisis: History and Policy (Oxford University Press, 2006), which she co-edited with History & Policy contributors Hugh Pemberton and Noel Whiteside. To contact Pat, email pat.thane@sas.ac.uk.
History & Policy also has an external relations team based at the Centre for Contemporary British History at the Institute of Historical Research:
Ruth Evans (External Relations Assistant) joined History & Policy in June 2007. She has a BA in History and English from the University of York. She manages History & Policy's network of historians, which now has over 100 members, and helps policymakers and journalists to contact historians.
To find out more about the History & Policy network contact Ruth, email ruth.evans@sas.ac.uk or phone +44 (0)20 7862 8781.
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Mel Porter (External Relations Manager) is currently on maternity leave.
Mel joined History & Policy in March 2006 to help bridge the gap between historians, policymakers and media. She is responsible for History & Policy's public profile.
Mel has a BA in Modern History from Worcester College, Oxford, and an MA in Journalism from the University of Westminster. Her background is in government communications, where she worked as a news analyst in the Cabinet Office and then as a press officer in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Mel wrote the chapter on 'Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation' and co-wrote the chapter on 'Gypsies and Travellers' in Equalities in Great Britain, 1946-2006 [pdf file, 840KB], edited by Pat Thane. To contact Mel, email mel.porter@sas.ac.uk or phone +44 (0)20 7862 8768.