My name is Alix Green and I’m Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Essex. I came into academe after a decade in policy and government relations work, finally as Head of Policy in the Vice-Chancellor’s office at the University of Hertfordshire.

I’m a historian of contemporary Britain, with particular interests in political culture, government and policymaking, and in the uses of the past in and for the present more broadly.

My book, History, Policy and Public Purpose: Historians and Historical Thinking in Government focused on history in policymaking but also sought to articulate how historians could recognise the legitimacy and importance of work done with ‘public purpose’.

My current work takes these ideas into the context of business archives. I’ve been working with the archivist of the John Lewis Partnership for a few years now, most recently on a co-designed project on pay. We’ve also engaged with a wider network of business archivists to develop guidance materials to help them create collaborative projects that mobilise collections for the benefit of the parent organisation (and so demonstrate the value of archives and historical evidence).

My interest in historical thinking means that I’m always looking for ways to develop students’ sense of the distinctive resources they have as historians and the ways in which they can contribute to contemporary life.

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