The Department has worked closely with government departments, policy-makers, global analysis and advisory bodies, and charitable and campaigning organisations to inform and influence the way policymakers approach particular issues and challenges, and to contribute to debates and evidence-based policy making.

Dr Daniel Branch's research on the place of political violence and other authoritarian traits within the post-colonial politics of Kenya, and the growth and consolidation of corruption within politics has contributed directly to contemporary policy debates in Keny. His research project engaged with policy-makers and journalists interested in the deep-rooted historical causes of violence. Dr Branch has contributed articles to a number of leading online forums discussing foreign policy and global affairs: 'Why kenya Invaded Somalia', Foreign Affairs, 15 November 2011; 'Kenya and Somalia: Landscape of Tension', Opendemocracy, 24 October 2011; 'The Half-Made Place: The ICC and Elections, 2012', African Arguments, 31 August 2011.
 
Dr Christoph Mick has established connections with the privately organised, multi-national organisation Ukrainian Jewish Encounter Inititative. Launched in 2008, as a collaborative project engaging Ukrainians of Jewish, Christian and other heritages, in the Ukraine and Israel as well as in the diasporas, its work engages scholars, civil leaders, artists, governments, and the broader public to reconcile Ukrainian and Jewish narratives of their mutual relationship in the last few centuries. Dr Mick was invited to participate in two meetings held at Ditchley Park, Oxford in December 2009 and Potsdam in June 2011 as part of the 'Shared Historical Narrative Series'.

Dr Penny Roberts has worked with Rescue!History, a campaigning organisation concerned with the challenge of climate change. Members of the organisation are drawn from the humanities and social sciences. Dr Robert's work with Rescue!History led to her co-edited book History at the End of the World? History, Climate Change and the Possibility of Closure (Humanities-Ebooks, 2010). The book proposes that the human past could be our most powerful resource in the struggle for survival.