The Nuffield Foundation launches a major new Strategic Review, backed by a £150 million spending commitment, to fund research and innovation that addresses some of the UK’s most urgent social and economic challenges.
The Foundation will commit £30 million annually over the next five years to generate rigorous evidence on, and shape solutions to, intersecting problems impacting UK society which are holding back the country’s future prosperity and wellbeing.
The Foundation’s new strategic focus is a response to current global and domestic pressures reshaping UK policy and politics. Evolving areas of interest for the Foundation’s investments include the social foundations of future economic success; the effect of shifting demographics on communities, public services and finances; the societal and economic impact of the climate transition; the rapid acceleration of science and technological developments on society; and the challenge of nurturing trust in institutions in polarised times.
It will also place a new emphasis on funding innovative interventions and backing groundbreaking institutions that use evidence to improve lives. Alongside these key themes, the Foundation’s work continues to be anchored in its enduring commitment to enhancing opportunity, tackling disadvantage and inequality, creating a fairer and more inclusive society for all, and building on its established expertise in the areas of education, justice, and the economy, work and welfare.
This new phase in the Foundation’s 80-year history also includes the reopening of the Strategic Fund, with £15 million in funding reserved for supporting ambitious and transformational research proposals that target the most significant developments shaping the UK public policy agenda.
The Foundation’s new £150 million spending commitment will fund social and economic policy research grants, with ringfenced support for work on the future of racial diversity, and ill-health and disability research. It will also continue to back innovative practice, and the three expert research Centres it founded: the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, the Ada Lovelace Institute, and the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory.
The scale and breadth of social and economic challenges facing the UK demand a concerted response. The country is grappling with long-term economic stagnation, the rising costs of ageing, the imperative to decarbonise our economy and society, and technological advancements that are outpacing our systems of governance. At the same time, some of our public institutions are struggling to maintain public trust, and the threads that bind our communities are becoming increasingly frayed.Gavin Kelly, Chief Executive of the Nuffield Foundation
As one of the foremost funders of UK social policy research, it is incumbent upon us to harness our resources and deploy them towards generating viable solutions to the key social questions facing the country. Our new Strategic Review commits us to an ambitious agenda that seeks to use sound evidence to improve people’s lives and create a fairer future.
To achieve its aims, the Foundation will intensify its engagement with policymakers, public service leaders and the research community. From September, it will convene a rolling programme of stakeholder events and initiatives that serve to identify new talent, generate fresh perspectives, and shape the Foundation’s thinking on the future work it funds.
By championing evidence-based insights to shape policy and drive pioneering practice, the next phase of the Foundation’s work will equip decision-makers to tackle the defining social challenges of our time, for both current and upcoming generations.
