In September 2024, I became the first Thematic Research Lead for Arts and Humanities in UK Parliament. My home team (the Knowledge Exchange Unit) are based in the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST). You might be wondering what the connection between Arts and Humanities and Science and Technology is, and a number of people have asked whether Arts and Humanities research is seen as relevant by POST. The answer is a very clear “yes”!
As Lord Mair, one of POST’s Board members, said recently, our word “science” originally comes from a word simply meaning knowledge. I think that the ancient Greek and Roman philosophical ideas of “science” and “tekhnē” are really helpful for thinking about what research and evidence might be relevant to POST (and Parliament more widely[1]) today.
A Little Bit of Etymology…
“Science” seems to have been first used in English in the mid-14th century, where it meant “the state or fact of knowing” or “knowledge of something”.[2] The word came into English through Old French, which – in turn – had developed “science” from the Latin scientia, meaning “knowledge”.[3] In the 14th century, “science” wasn’t restricted to certain branches of learning or study, and meant both “book learning” and “a skill resulting from training”.[4]
What we might now think of as “the scientific method” – that is, knowledge gained through systematic observation, experiment and reasoning – was traditionally called “philosophy” (a term that has narrowed a lot over time!).[5] It wasn’t until 1725 that “science” rather than “philosophy” was used to refer to a body of regular or methodological observations or propositions concerning a particular subject.[6] “Science” was paired with “Art” from at least 1387, and used to mean something more systematic than an “art” from around 1678.[7] But it wasn’t until the mid-19th century that “science” came to mean “natural and physical science”.[8] So, for a good 500 years of Parliament’s existence, “science” referred to all knowledge – and it still can today.
Relatedly, “technology” was first used in the early 1600s, and then meant “a discourse or treatise on an art or the arts”.[9] It is a Latinised word stemming from the Greek words tekhnē (meaning art, skill, craft or method) and logia (which refers to speaking – that is, speaking about a certain topic).[10] It came to mean a discourse, treatise, doctrine or theory.[11] By the middle of the 19th century, it had come to mean a branch of knowledge dealing with mechanical arts and applied sciences.[12]
The distinction between “science” and “art” maps onto an earlier Greek distinction between epistemē and tekhnē.[13] (Epistemē is where we get “epistemology” from – the philosophical exploration of the limits, nature and origin of what we can know.) As classicists and philosophers reading this will know, the distinction between epistemē and tekhnē is never completely clear, but we might understand it as a difference between theoretical or book-based knowledge, and knowledge generated through, or impossible to really achieve without, practice.
So What?
It strikes me that this applies to the Arts (tekhnē) and Humanities (scientia/epistemē). Subjects like philosophy, law, history, literature, linguistics and classics are broadly “scientia”/science, while music, art, dance, creative writing, film, journalism, archaeology and design are – again very broadly! – more aligned with tekhnē/technology.And if you’ve agreed with me so far, then hopefully you’ll also agree that this means POST is for the Arts and Humanities just as much as it for any “hard”, “natural” or “social” science.
So, while POST doesn’t have a specific Arts and Humanities team, the work that those of us in these disciplines do is relevant for their briefing work on policy areas ranging across the environment and energy, digital technologies, health and social care, education, crime and justice, and beyond. For instance:
- Architects, political theorists, archaeologists and artists fed into POST’s Horizon Scan on National Governance Strategies and Initiatives for Net Zero (2025).
- Research from historians, media and communications scholars, human geographers and lawyers was used in the POSTnote on Trust, Public Engagement and UK Parliament (2025).
- Experts in philosophy, law, film, gender studies, communication, and media studies contributed to a recent POSTnote on Violence Against Women and Girls in Schools and Among Young People, which also drew on work by linguists.
I know my own background in political theory was useful when writing the POST Horizon Scans on Participation, Diversity and Inclusion in Cultural and Creative Industries, and Community Engagement with English Devolution.
If you have previously been put off, then, by the “Science and Technology” part of POST, and thought POST advisors wouldn’t want to hear from you – please don’t be deterred!
Even more importantly than the name, POST prides itself on producing impartial, concise briefings on topics or issues where the research evidence is emerging or particularly complex. I wholeheartedly believe that scholars in the Arts and Humanities are producing robust research which speaks to topics and issues where research evidence is emerging or particularly complex, from the ethics of using AI to the problems of mis- and dis-information, how to create liveable new towns and communities, and how to effectively combat climate change (to name just a few!). We offer unique perspectives which may be of use to policymakers and legislators, helping them really understand the problem at hand, and thus improving their scrutiny of government (and others’) action. And thus, our work belongs in POST!
Want to engage with the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology?
If this blog has inspired you to contribute to a forthcoming POSTnote, more information on how to do that can be found on the POST website. You can subscribe for alerts from POST and from the KEU. In general, contributing to a POSTnote involves filling in a short MS Form, or writing an email, about your work. All contributions are read and considered, and POST advisors may contact people for a further interview if helpful. This would be conducted over MS Teams and would usually last around 1 hour.
[1] UPEN’s great report on how Arts and Humanities research influences public policymaking has some really interesting case studies on other areas of Parliament – such as select committees and the petitions office – where Arts and Humanities research has made a different. Here I want to focus on POST, as that’s where I work.
[2] Oxford English Dictionary, “science (n.), sense 1.a,” December 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/2864962939.
[3] Oxford English Dictionary, “science (n.), Etymology,” December 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/6572966782.
[4] Oxford English Dictionary, “science (n.), sense 2,” December 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/2611373440.
[5] Oxford English Dictionary, “philosophy (n.), sense 5.a,” June 2025, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/2097172608.
[6] Oxford English Dictionary, “science (n.), sense 4.b,” December 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/6358451817.
[7] Oxford English Dictionary, “science (n.), sense 4.a,” December 2024 https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/3256627942.
[8] Oxford English Dictionary, “science (n.), sense 5.b,” December 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/3256627942.
[9] Oxford English Dictionary, “technology (n.), sense 1,” September 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/5157472789.
[10] Oxford English Dictionary, “technology (n.), Etymology,” September 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/9452883993.
[11] Oxford English Dictionary, “technology (n.), sense 1,” September 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/5157472789.
[12] Oxford English Dictionary, “technology (n.), sense 4.a,” September 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/2632226243.
[13] Parry, Richard, “Episteme and Techne“, The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (Winter 2024 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2024/entries/episteme-techne/>.
Related resources
Making an impact on the frontline: engaging with the Home Office’s research
Knowledge into action: achieving collaboration between communities, academia, and local government
Impact of Policy Schools as an Academic-Policy Engagement Mechanism: Lessons from a pilot year
