Historic England Research Agenda

Photograph of the restoration work being undertaken on the inside of the  18th-century Grade I Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings.
Research reveals the significance of historic sites, and guides decision-making. The 18th-century Grade I Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings is the world’s first cast iron framed building (Copyright Historic England)

This document accompanies, and should be read alongside, the Historic England Research Strategy and Historic England Corporate Plan, published separately. 

The Research Strategy defines nine broad themes that describe our research interests. This Research Agenda sets out a series of more specific   Research Topics organised under those nine high-level Research Themes.

Each Research Topic sets out the importance of the topic, identifies the variety of ways in which research in this topic could have practical impact in supporting the work of Historic England, and gives a list of research questions to guide those looking to do research that will help us achieve our mission. 

The Research Agenda will be kept under review by Historic England.

Please see our website for updates. 

This document has been prepared by Edmund Lee, Dan Miles and Barney Sloane, who gratefully acknowledge the substantial contribution from subject matter experts across Historic England.