Added clout for policy

The British Academy have recently published a report highlighting that UK research in the humanities and social sciences is world class, but that these disciplines are not ‘punching their weight’ in contributing to public policy making as well as they could. This was an issue I blogged on back in August this year. The report goes on to make recommendations to policy makers, academics and various intermediaries on the role they can play in ensuring that the impact of such research is maximised.  It also encourages a greater focus on longer term research which it argues is essential in planning for future challenges.

These issues are ones that the Agency is addressing as part of its work on social science, and our new Social Science Research Unit and Social Science Research Committee are working to ensure that we have relevant contact with academic researchers, research councils and learned societies in the area of social science and food.

Recently, the International Sociological Association’s First Forum on Sociology, attended by Dr Jane Barrett our Head of Social Science Research, was an excellent example of academia communicating findings from sociological research. Of particular interest to the Agency were the themes on the sociology of risk and uncertainty, and of environment and society.