You may hear about this in a PDR, when discussing your promotion application, or during a conversation about developing an impact case for the REF. Is there a “real world” (academia is very real, I assure you — it’s not Hogwarts with mortarboards over here) impact or influence to your research agenda?
Generally speaking, as history is in the past, it seems obvious that there isn’t. But that’s very reductive, and there are some good examples of business and management historians who are excellent at making the past relevant. Michael Weatherburn’s Project Hindsight is a great example of such an approach.
But what about your average Joe, who has not put any great effort into policy impact beyond perhaps the occasional The Conversation piece? Like me, for example? After the paywall (sorry guys), I’ll tell you where you can find out, like I did, that you may well have had some citations in big and small policy corners you never knew about.
