The 2024–25 Heywood Fellowship sets out to examine how governments come to a national view of what really matters over longer time horizons, the ways governments can best confront and tackle future problems, and how the state can best enable the pursuit and delivery of long-term outcomes for citizens.

Drawing on Eisenhower’s 1953 “Project Solarium” this paper explores how the UK can better define long-term national priorities, strengthen strategic capability, and improve state mechanisms for confronting future challenges. It argues that short political cycles and adversarial politics hinder honest debate and decision-making, eroding public trust.  The paper highlights the value of structured processes that clarify trade-offs, integrate competing views, and produce coherent, durable strategy. As modern challenges – social, economic, and geopolitical – demand similarly bold choices, the project aims to adapt Solarium’s rigorous, practice-based approach to help the UK design and deliver effective, long-term national strategy.