The arts and humanities are crucial in not only for intellectual nourishment, education and for enriching the world but also for informing decision-makers about how history is important for navigating the challenges of the future. In a time when ‘post-truth’ and populist ideas seem to seep into politics, those in the arts and humanities can use their voice to get policymakers (and the public) to understand societal complexities and how such complexities interface with the human experience and vice versa.
Professor John Connolly is Professor of Public Policy and Head of Department of Social Sciences at Glasgow Caledonian University and Chief Editorial Adviser for Routledge Open Research. Before entering academia, he was an in-house Evaluation Specialist for the NHS in Scotland. He undertakes interdisciplinary evaluation research into public sector reform, policy analysis, multi-level governance, crisis management and health security governance. He currently a co-Investigator on the Advanced Metagenomics, Sensors and Photocatalysis for Antimicrobial Resistance Elimination study funded by the Natural Environment Research Council. His PhD won the Sir Walter Bagehot prize for its contribution to British public administration research.
