Module CLAS45730: Engaging Policymakers with Humanities Research

Department: Classics and Ancient History

CLAS45730: Engaging Policymakers with Humanities Research

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To understand the policymaking landscape in the UK (local councils, devolved administrations, national government, UK parliament and policy-adjacent organisations), or (where relevant) internationally.
• To identify how government and parliament operate, and how each interacts with members of the academic community.
• To investigate the areas of research interest for government departments.
• To examine the relationship between academic research, policy engagement and knowledge exchange, and to evaluate how Classics and other Humanities subjects fare in comparison to other disciplinary areas.
• To engage directly with non-academic stakeholders, learning how Humanities research can inform policy thinking in the UK and internationally.

Content

• The module will help students to explore the application of academic research for societal improvement.
• Diverse modes of policy engagement will be examined and evaluated in terms of their audience, reach and impact including written submissions of evidence to public consultations, select committee inquiries, expert witness oral testimonies and policy fellowships to name just four.
• Students will consider what makes a successful academic-policy partnership and will analyse the extent to which those Humanities academics working with policy partners are motivated to do so for personal, professional or public reasons.
• Students will engage directly with an area of policy interest and will investigate ways in which their own research, and that of others across the university, can inform policy thinking in real time. They will take ownership for this project and will liaise directly with relevant external organisations, extending their professional network.

Learning Outcomes

• An understanding of the policy engagement landscape of the UK or internationally
• A knowledge of the ways in which Humanities research (particularly in Classics, but also in History, Music, English or another discipline) has already informed and influenced public policy in the UK or internationally via disciplinary case studies.
• A critical knowledge of the tensions which exist between policy priorities, academic workload and the ‘benefits’ of policy engagement with research.

• The ability to find and access open government consultations, areas of research interest and parliamentary inquiries.
• The capacity to consider Humanities research from a policy perspective and place it in a wider context.
• The ability to engage critically with a wide range of policy and academic literature, adapting relevant approaches when writing for a policy audience.

• The ability to synthesise complex ideas, conduct detailed textual criticism (policy analysis) while adopting a broader analytical approach.
• The confidence to engage with stakeholders external to Durham a build a professional network.
• The ability to think creatively about ways to enthuse and engage policymakers with Humanities research.
• An awareness of the political influence on the way evidence is used by the policy community.
• The capacity to produce a clear, coherent and well-reasoned narrative, both orally and in written form.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Some sessions will be led by the course convenor, introducing the key topics by explaining how stakeholders interact across the policy space. Others will provide opportunities for students to develop a more nuanced understanding of the opportunities for Humanities research to feed into the existing evidence-supply mechanisms.
• The seminars are fortnightly and 2 hours long in order to allow and encourage significant preparation, and detailed discussion. Seminars will, where possible, include co-delivery with Durham’s Public Policy Hub and a range of policy professionals from the Civil Service and devolved administrations.
• Through reading and listening, presentation , and formative work, students will develop their own ideas and learn to present and evaluate their own and others' communication styles in constructive ways.
• Students will be assessed through a policy pitch (30%) and an output (70%; this could be a written policy briefing, a submission of evidence to an open consultation/inquiry/ARI or a blog for the Universities Policy Engagement Network). Both these forms of assessment will enable students to demonstrate critical and creative skills, knowledge of key topics and themes in how Humanities researchers can share their research effectively with policymakers.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

There will be a regular process of formative work and feedback, both at the level of skills development and at the level of project design.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University