Case Studies

These case studies provide examples of best practice by historians and policy makers and showcase a wide range of H&P activities and impacts. They illustrate the many different ways that historians have succeeded in influencing public policy and offer insights into why civil servants in government departments, members of parliament, public inquiries, journalists and TV producers, think-tanks, campaigning groups and other non-governmental organisations all welcome input from historians and want to learn from what happened in the past.

Researched and written by Dr Christopher Knowles, Visiting Research Fellow at King's College London, the case studies followed a review of H&P’s events for civil servants and other policy makers. More case studies will be published in the coming months.


Catherine Haddon

‘Resident historian’ at the Institute for Government

Richard Huzzey

Senior Lecturer in History at Durham University

Mike Childs

Head of science, policy and research for Friends of the Earth

Lucy Delap

Lecturer in Modern British History at the University of Cambridge and Deputy Director of History & Policy

David Reynolds

Professor of International History at The University of Cambridge and Fellow of the British Academy

The Trade Union Forum

Former trade union officials, Jim Moher, John Edmonds and Roger Jeary

Alastair Reid

Life Fellow and former Director of Studies in History at Girton College, Cambridge

Andrew Blick

Lecturer in Politics and Contemporary History at Kings College London

Duncan Needham

Director of the Centre for Financial History at Darwin College, Cambridge

Rachel King

Former Programme Manager for the Budget and Autumn Statement, HM Treasury

Helen McCarthy

Senior Lecturer, Queen Mary University of London

Abigail Woods

Professor, History of Human and Animal Health, Kings College, London

About Us


H&P is based at the Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, University of London.

We are the only project in the UK providing access to an international network of more than 500 historians with a broad range of expertise. H&P offers a range of resources for historians, policy makers and journalists.

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