Barbara Bombi, Professor of Medieval History, has been appointed to the Council of the Royal Historical Society, and will serve for four years beginning in February 2020.
The Society was founded in 1868 and its mission is to represent the interest of history and historians in relation to a whole range of policy areas, notably research, education, publications, open access and EDI. Barbara will be joining the Research Policy Committee, alongside fellow Kent historian Professor Kenneth Fincham, who is also one of the Society’s vice-presidents.
The Research Policy Committee, chaired by Professor Jonathan Morris (University of Hertfordshire) brings together councillors and officers of the RHS, along with co-opted members from key organisations such as The National Archives. This committee works to develop guidelines to help historians navigate the requirements of GDPR, respond to the REF agenda, support open access research, and ensure the interests of Early Career Researchers and historians working outside permanent academic posts.
There is also an annual joint meeting of the Research Policy Committee and the Education Policy Committee, which provides an opportunity to discuss overlapping or related policy matters. These include: public history; school curricula and the ‘pipeline’ into historical study; and postgraduate training.
In addition to monitoring and advocacy roles, the Committees aim to provide the membership with information and guidance about policy changes that are likely to affect them.