The impact of the UK’s social sciences

The impact of the UK’s social sciences Policy briefing, January 2024 Overview Research in the SHAPE disciplines (Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy) has led to significant innovation and impact across society, according to a new report commissioned by the British Academy and the Academy of Social Sciences. [...] The breadth and depth of the UK’s social science research base remains world-leading in terms of both the scale of innovation it is driving across a range of different domains, and the real-world impact this has on daily lives. [...] To fully harness this, the Academy of Social Sciences recommends that the UK Government identifies and funds more fully the strategic role of the social sciences as part of a diverse research pipeline. [...] • We recommend the Department for Education in England, and its devolved counterparts, retain an identifiable social science strand in any forthcoming school curriculum reviews, as an essential part of sustaining and growing the pipeline of scholars over the coming years and of embedding an understanding of our contemporary human world in the next generations. [...] It has had a direct impact on the UK Government’s approach to its independent membership of the WTO, with the research being utilised by the UK and Scottish governments and parliamentary committees, and featuring in the UK Government’s training programme for over 500 trade negotiators.