We have published the Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements for 2014.
In addition to presenting our accounts for the year, the report details our main grant-making activities and reflects on the impact of grants made during previous years.
In 2014:
- We made the first grants under our two new programmes, Economic Advantage and Disadvantage, and Finances of Ageing.
- We consolidated strands of work from our Children and Families and Education programmes that relate to early years education and childcare (as a result, we have since published a report and launched a new grant-making programme in this area).
- Quantitative skills have continued to be a focus, particularly through Q-Step, a programme designed to promote a step-change in undergraduate social science training, and through our work in mathematics education. Most of the 15 Q-Step Centres have spent the first year of the programme recruiting new posts, designing and approving curricular changes, and recruiting students for their first intake year.
- We published a report bringing together a wide range of evidence, from the UK and internationally, on post-16 mathematics education policy and participation, Mathematics after 16: the state of play, challenges and ways ahead. The report highlighted our concern that reforms to GCSEs and A levels risk undermining the government’s goal of universal participation in post-16 mathematics education, particularly if new ‘Core Maths’ qualifications do not receive the necessary backing from government, universities and exam boards.
- We have made further progress in our plans to widen access to our Nuffield Research Placements by increasing the proportion of students from less well-off backgrounds who participate in summer research placements in science, technology, engineering and maths settings.
- We awarded a grant of £325,000 to fund the UK’s first dedicated Administrative Justice Institute (UKAJI), a collaborative project designed to kick start the expansion of empirical research in administrative justice issues. The grant was awarded to the University of Essex’s School of Law following a competition.
- We saw a very healthy return of 13.6% on our endowment.
Download the Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements 2014 (PDF)