Funding
Our Strategic Fund has been one of the cornerstones of our 2017 – 2022 strategy.
In 2018, we scaled up our grants funding to encourage researchers to develop original and challenging ideas, to work collaboratively across disciplines, and to influence social policy in a period of rapid change and uncertainty for our society.
From 2022, we will continue to fund larger, strategic projects of over £750,000 in value by embedding them into our core Research, Development and Analysis Fund. We will have one round of applications for these projects each year, which will enable us to assess similarly-sized applications at a fixed point.
Strategic grants awarded | Lead researcher and institution | Amount awarded | Detail |
IFS Deaton Review of Inequalities | Led by Professor Sir Angus Deaton and the Institute of Fiscal Studies | £2.6 million | Examining how different kinds of inequality are related, which matter most, what is driving them, and the right mix of polices to tackle them. |
Economy 2030 Inquiry
Completed December 2023 |
Led by Torsten Bell at the Resolution Foundation and Professor Stephen Machin from the London School of Economics | £1.8 million | Exploring three major challenges facing the UK economy – Brexit, COVID-19 and the transition to a zero-carbon future. |
The Skills Imperative 2035 | Led by Jude Hillary at the National Foundation for Education Research | £2.5 million | Identifying the essential employment skills people will need for work by 2035. |
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The Future of Work and Well-being | Led by Professor Sir Christopher Pissarides at the Institute for the Future of Work | £1.8 million | Researching the implications of automation technologies and examining how they are transforming work, society and the economy in the UK. |
Data and voice to improve children’s lives | Led by Professor Leon Feinstein at the Rees Centre, University of Oxford | £2.8 million | Research to improve the lives of children and families by better understanding their needs and experiences. |
Connecting pensions, health and care | Led by Dr Olena Nizalova at the University of Kent | £928,968 | Research to explore a joined-up approach to old age support systems. |
Teaching improvement through data and evaluation (TIDE) | Led by Dr Calum Davey at the National Institute of Teaching | £2.4 million | Research to to improve outcomes for pupils by improving teacher development practices. |
In the run-up to the deadline for the first round of applications to our Strategic Fund, we made a series of seed corn grants for applicants to do some initial exploration of ideas. Given the likely difficulties faced by researchers in conducting such exploration during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to enable us to prioritise support for applicants and grant-holders in responding to the implications of the pandemic for their work, we have closed applications for seed corn funding until further notice.
Seed corn grants awarded | Researcher | Institution | Topic |
Citizenship in a networked age | Dr Dominic Burbidge | Canterbury Institute | Digital society |
The Center for a Better Web | Alex Krasodomski-Jones | Centre for the Analysis of Social Media, Demos | Digital society |
Referendums and political legitimacy: evidence from four European countries | Dr Sergiu Gherghina | University of Glasgow | Trust in democracy |
Fostering multi-disciplinary approaches to evidence use across public services | Cat Scutt | Chartered College of Teaching | Education workforceEconomy, public spending and services |
Improving the pathways for the uptake of robust evidence | Prof. Stephen Gorard | Durham University | Research ethics |
The impact of audit institutions on public sector performance | Dr Thomas Elston | University of Oxford | Economy, public spending and services |
Risk: Interconnecting risks of mental health problems in today’s young people | Dr Julian Edbooke-Childs | Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families | Secondary educationPublic health |
Universities and national security: Research and policy collaborations | Prof. Liam Francis Gearon | University of Oxford | Administrative justiceCommunities and social cohesion |
Technology facilitated domestic abuse: Towards multidisciplinary enquiry | Prof. Elizabeth Yardley | Birmingham City University | Digital societyDomestic abuse |
Investigating the impact of datafied child welfare services | Dr Joanna Redden | Cardiff University | Digital societyFamily justiceLooked after children and children in need |
What do we need to do outside school to improve outcomes and narrow the gap? | Jon Andrews | Education Policy Institute | Digital societyPrimary educationInequality and social mobility |
Access to advice: Size of the sector through secondary sources | Lindsey Poole | Advice Services Alliance | Access to justiceSocial welfare law |
A social and data science approach to enhancing societal security | Dr Susan Anson | Trilateral Research | Digital societyEquality and human rights |
Delegation and acceptance of decisions taken by algorithms or by humans | Dr Wolfgang Luhan | University of Portsmouth | Digital society |
Exploring well-being and engagement with the hidden children’s workforce | Dr Sarah Parry | Manchester Metropolitan University | Looked after children |
Equipping society to negotiate the basis for confidence in applications of data | Tracey Brown | Sense about Science | Digital society |
Trust and climate change: information for teaching in a digital age | Dr Steven Puttick | Department of Education | Curriculum and subject choiceTrust in democracy |
Social policy and race equality – a risk-based approach | Prof. Gargi Bhattacharyya | School of Social Sciences | Equality and human rightsEthnicity |
Transforming organisations from engines of inequality to incubators of inclusion | Prof. Kim Peters | University of Exeter | Inequality and social mobilityLabour market |
Digital administrative justice: co-designing an empirical research programme | Dr Joe Tomlinson | York Law School | Digital societyAdministrative justice |
Behind closed doors | Dr Su Mcanelly | Department of Nursing Midwifery and Health | Family justiceSpecial educational needs and disability |
Open
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Visit our Research, Development and Analysis Fund page to check your eligibility and learn more about funding opportunities.
“The Nuffield Foundation champions rigorous research that influences public policy and improves social well-being and individuals’ lives. We want to encourage really ambitious projects that require the perspectives of different academic disciplines to re-frame the social policy agenda in the next decade. As an independent funder, our strength lies in our ability to give talented thinkers the freedom to develop original research ideas.”Tim Gardam, Chief Executive of the Nuffield Foundation