Lessons from the past

In the past decade, the government has repeatedly emphasised the importance of taking an "evidence-based" approach to policy-making. In 2006, the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee welcomed the government's progress in integrating scientific evidence into decision making. However, despite increasing use of evidence from the natural and social sciences, evidence from humanities disciplines such as history is not widely used. This POSTnote (Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology) considers how history could help to inform decisions on key scientific and technological policy issues. An increased use of learned societies and academies to help bridge the gap between historical research and policy is highlighted.

Read the POSTnote in full.