I like to joke that I got lucky during my PhD when the study of foreign fighters suddenly became something a lot of people were interested in because [redacted due to 20-year rule]. Then, by the end of my PhD, I got even luckier because by that stage anti-fascism was suddenly a pressing societal concern again because [redacted due to 20-year rule]. In that sense, I've never doubted the value of my research in ways that might be atypical for less contemporary subjects. While I study what is in some ways an obscure facet of this history, I'm quite confident to make the case for its relevance.

I also personally justify my choice of career because of the teaching element that comes with working at universities. Virtually none of the students I've taught will become professional historians. But the skills they learn are important ones - in my view, history graduates are uniquely well equipped to analyse a wide variety of sources and communicate the findings effectively, skills which are important both professionally and as an engaged member of society. I don't kid myself that historical knowledge makes you immune from bad decisions, but I think that helping foster smart, engaged history graduates is a net good that comes out of my work.

More broadly though, I originally come from country (Australia) where the study of history - any history - has an implicit political purpose in the present. Learning about the past in a structured, accurate and critical way in a country that still rests on some very comfortable myths and stories about its origins is an act with inherent meaning. You cannot systematically learn about the past in Australia and be content with the present, not without wllfully blinding yourself to the inarguable fact that it is a country built on the deliberate dispossession and oftentimes extermination of its indigenous inhabitants. Learning about this history - or even accepting that critical analysis of the past more generally is desirable - is an implicit challenge to contemporary silences. I don't think Australia is alone in this regard - many societies' self-images are built on comforting fairytales that allow us to feel pride in an imagined identity. Historians of all stripes play a role in challenging people to face the past, take it seriously and accept that reality is complex and messy.

Beyond that though, historians have the luxury of choosing from the entire human past in terms of what they study. Many historians specialise in (and offer unique insights into) genocide, violence, conflict, peace, humanitarianism, diplomacy and just about any other area where human agency can potentially make a difference. If you want to be a historian who does things, you can be.

This is a great question. I answered some like it at an undergraduate major fair earlier to day.

What are historians doing to fight climate change?

They are exploring the history of the anthropocene (the geological epoch defined by human changes in climate). I have a colleague who is very active in this field. It is an interdisciplinary agenda that requires knowledge of and engagement with more 'hard science' research. But historians can help contextualize the data that ecologists find in things like glacial ice or lake sediments. Historians especially those trained in STEM alongside humanities are vitally important for combating climate change by researching the history of climate change and educating the average person.

How do historians feed the hungry?

So, historical training is awesome here. What causes food insecurity? How have societies, modern and ancient, managed food insecurities? These are questions that historians are trained to research and answer. If fighting food insecurity or developing policies that promote greater access to healthy affordable food is important to you, a history degree is a great way to prepare. History teaches skills of research, analysis, communication. Fighting hunger whether as a social worker, public policy analyst, NGO administrator, requires the skills afforded by historical training. Obviously training in a related social science, like sociology, political science, economics, can enhance the preparation of someone interested in this area.

How do historians combat violence?

Education is the clearest way. What are the root causes of violence? In many cases, historical study/analysis can help unpack and deconstruct the causes of violence so that mediation/negotiation can take place? As with feeding the hungry, preparation in anthropology, sociology, psychology, can help create an even greater 'tool kit' for someone interested in those problems.

Most history majors in my classes are not planning on being teachers, most want to do amazing things in the world like the things you mention. At its core History is a humanistic endeavor that attempts to understand change over time and pays close attention to things like contingency and causality. The History major is not just learning about the past, it is about learning to make arguments about the human condition using historical documents. The amazing thing is that the skills that requires are highly transferable. History majors can go on into pretty much any career (even STEM fields) because the core skills they learn (critical reading, analysis, argumentation, communication) are applicable in almost any context.

I don't think you can find a history professor that does not think that what they do makes the world a better place. I study the history of race, racism, and the African Diaspora in Latin America. What I find helps to better explain how racism came to be, how Africans and their descendants forged lives and societies in the Americas, I can help to uncover a history 'lost' to colonialism, slavery, and white supremacy. What I write will hopefully help educate my fellow historians who will use that to educate the millions of others who take their classes. I teach students who go on to work in civil rights, public policy, law, government, documentary film, museum studies, and education. What I do has a great knock-on effect because students that are educated about the history that I study can use that knowledge and the historical skills they have learned to change the world.

I am a sociologist, but I hope that won't be held against me if I chime in here. There is something selfish in going into academic work. Its a cushy job that pays well and there are an awful lot of people doing more important work everyday to keep humanity alive -- picking up garbage, nursing the elderly, harvesting crops. But someone has to also do the work of governing and creating an economy and providing health care and education and general social services. And in order to do that work well, those folks need policies. What does a good government look like? How should we run the economy? What is the best way to reduce poverty? We could just try a bunch of random stuff and hope for the best. Or we could do the academic work of looking at what has been done before -- what worked and what didn't? What could be changed and tweaked and fixed? What might be a whole other way of looking at the problem?

To do good we need to know how to do good. And social science, including history provides us with the tools and ideas we need to create plans for the future. Leonardo DaVinci wrote, "Without theory...nothing can be done well." History is humanity's record of all the things we have tried to do and done, for good or bad. Sometimes if you want to fix a problem in the present you need to understated where it came from, how it developed. So like I said, I am a sociologist and my focus is on social inequality and how to create social change. If you want to end child hunger in America, step one is to understand why there are hungry children in America, how the history of capitalism and social welfare programs and agricultural policies have gotten us to where we are now. Now you know what the battlefield looks like, and where to go from here. I have a running joke with my students they say, "I didn't sign up for a history class!" But if you don't know where you've been, how are you supposed to know where to go?