Irish Committee of Historical Sciences
Advocacy and Representation Policy, Dec. 2025
The Irish Committee of Historical Sciences is the national committee for history in Ireland. As such it is part of an international network of national representative bodies for history and a member of the Comité international des Sciences Historiques (CISH).
Article 2 of the ICHS’s constitution states:
The ICHS will act as the representative body for the historical discipline and for historians in Ireland, promoting historical scholarship and public engagement with History; advocating for the discipline as appropriate; providing a forum for historians to discuss matters of common concern; promoting and disseminating research, and encouraging students of History and early career historians.
To ensure that ICHS meets the requirement to ‘advocate for the discipline’ the following proposals shall be adopted:
- The scope of advocacy for the ICHS is principally determined by concerns relating to the practice of history (in research and the research infrastructure, publication, teaching, and historical representation in museums, galleries and the public sphere) on the island of Ireland.
- ICHS may also be involved in advocacy relating to the practice of history outside Ireland in collaboration with cognate bodies such as the Royal Historical Society, and international networks relating to history with which it is associated (such as the Comité International des Sciences Historiques (CISH) and the International Network of Historical Associations).
- Where appropriate, ICHS will liaise in matters of advocacy relating to broader humanities and social sciences matters in Ireland with the relevant representative bodies, including the Royal Irish Academy, the Irish Humanities Alliance and other subject area bodies, as appropriate.
- The ICHS will endeavour to formulate policies and express opinions about public policy issues that concern historical practice.
- The ICHS will endeavour to advocate for the maintenance of the centrality of history education in the education systems on the island of Ireland.
- Our advocacy will involve supporting the production of excellent and ethical historical research rather than on supporting specific historical interpretations of current or past events. To that end, we advocate for the maintenance or creation of researchers’ access to research materials and research funds; their safety to pursue work as historians; and their rights to publicise historical work as fairly as possible and to freely express their expert opinion.
- Matters relating to advocacy can be raised with the ICHS by any member representing any member association or institution, or by the head of any History unit in an Irish HEI. We will also consider proposals from other appropriate representative bodies.
- Such matters should be raised by email with the chair and secretary of ICHS in advance of a meeting, setting out clearly the issue in question, the proposed solution, amelioration or response, to whom or what the advocacy should be directed, and what constituency represented by ICHS is concerned with the matter.
- Matters raised in this way will be put on the agenda for the following meeting of ICHS, discussed by members (with an opportunity for non-attendees to comment in advance by email). If the proposed advocacy is agreed by majority vote, the chair and/or secretary will communicate the agreed text to the nominated recipient as soon as convenient.
- In the case of time-sensitive matters (in exceptional circumstances and if so requested by the nominator), the executive (chair, secretary, vice-chair and treasurer) will determine whether the request is non-controversial, and if so, the chair can take action in the interim and report on the matter to next full committee meeting. Matters deemed sensitive must be discussed and agreed by the full committee before proceeding.
- The chair (or their nominees) may also participate in international collaborative advocacy with the bodies set out above (para. 2), subject to retrospective approval being given at the next committee meeting.