UCD collaborates on British Academy funded project on evoking prehistory to support fairness in climate action

8 May 2025

_{Insert, from top: Professor Graeme Warren, UCD School of Archaeology, Dr Alice Rudge, University of London, and Dr Ben Elliott, University of the Highlands and Islands}

University College Dublin is to collaborate on a (opens in a new window)newly British Academy funded research project exploring how the ancient past is evoked to support fairness in environmental policies.

Awarded €316,027 (£268,937) by the British Academy under its (opens in a new window)International Knowledge Frontiers programme, the two-year project Prehistoric Policies will be led by the Orkney-based UHI Archaeology Institute, with (opens in a new window)Dr Ben Elliott working in collaboration with (opens in a new window)Dr Alice Rudge of SOAS, University of London, and (opens in a new window)Professor Graeme Warren, UCD School of Archaeology.

It will address how policy makers in Britain and Ireland have evoked ideas about shared aspects of human behaviour from the deep past when discussing 'Just Transition' environment policies - those that seek to ensure the transition to a climate-neutral economy is fair and equitable across society.

“Our concern is not that contemporary policy includes references to prehistory, that would be a good thing!" said Professor Warren.

"But many of the claims made rely on older interpretations, or syntheses in popular science accounts. They do not always reflect the current state of empirical knowledge about the deep time past.

"Critically for the work we will do in Prehistoric Policies, such accounts often do not reflect recent work on the way in which figures of the ancestral human and deep past have always had significant political implications in the present.”

Focused on three main areas, Prehistoric Policies will:

• Look at the evidence used to support how ideas about the prehistoric past influence Just Transition policies, and plot this impact.
• Critically analyse the role of popular science within this process.​
• Provide guidance for policymakers wanting to access expert scholarship.​

Welcoming the funding, Dr Rudge described the project as “an amazing opportunity to explore in more depth how ideas about the deep past are shaping our environmental futures.”

Dr Elliott added: “Prehistoric Policies is a fantastic opportunity for us to examine the power of prehistory, and the role that it is playing in shaping Just Transition policy.

“I can’t wait to work with this exciting team of researchers, who bring together expert knowledge on human societies in both the past and present, around an interest in the way our shared human heritage is understood within wider society.”

“I’m delighted to be part of this team with two outstanding colleagues and excited to be exploring how ideas about the prehistoric past are shaping our present and future,” said Professor Warren.

By: David Kearns, Digital Journalist / Media Officer, UCD University Relations

To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie