Nuffield Foundation Programme Grants
Overview
Their funding grants are awarded to research that examines the inequalities, disadvantages and vulnerabilities people face throughout their lives, and produces findings that can influence future policy.
As an independent Foundation, they offer the freedom to frame questions and enable new thinking to understand and find solutions to the challenges we face.
They encourage interdisciplinary approaches in and across their three broad research areas of Education, Justice and Welfare.
They look for comprehensive proposals that use rigorous methodology and can make a difference.
Learn more about how some of their projects have led to real-world change in both policymaking and wider society. Explore their impact section.
For tips on submitting a successful application, watch their webinar on how to get Nuffield Foundation research funding.
For researchers applying for their Research, development and analysis fund, please note that in March 2024, they paused funding for strategic grants of over £750,000 while they consulted with partners and stakeholders about their new strategy. The pause means that for 2024, the research projects they support will be for grant sizes of up to £750k.
As an inclusive funder, they welcome applications from diverse communities and under-represented groups.
Current funding opportunities
Research, Development and Analysis Fund
Outline Deadline: 6 October 2025 23:59
There are two deadlines a year for this fund:
- Spring: Grants of up to £750,000.
- Autumn: Grants of up to £750,000.
Please note, the majority of grants they award are less than £300,000. For funding applications that are larger in scale and address their core areas of interest, they will consider awards towards the higher end of the current funding scale, providing applications can demonstrate a strong case and value for money.
Their main focus is on Education, Welfare and Justice but many of their projects cut across and go beyond these broad domains. In particular, they are interested in funding research that takes account of the trends that are shaping today’s increasingly complex society, such as those set out in their 2017-2022 strategy:
- How do digital technologies and digital communications alleviate, exacerbate and shift vulnerability, and affect concepts of trust, evidence and authority?
- In what ways do factors such as socio-economic status, gender, ethnicity, community and geography affect the vulnerability of people to different types of risk, and how can this be mitigated?
- What interventions might promote opportunity and reduce adversity through different life stages, and promote social inclusion between and across generations?
- What are the social and economic implications of physical and mental disability and chronic illness?
- How can social policy institutions make better use of research, evidence and data in order to understand better the needs of those they serve, and improve services and outcomes?
- How might the data infrastructure be used or improved to better understand and explain outcomes for individuals and society?
Examples of specific topics that interest them at present include:
- Early childhood
- Skills and employment
- The cost of living
- Geographical inequalities
- Quality of life in later life
- The quality of and access to public services
- The long-term implications of COVID-19
What they expect from the research they fund
- Applications must be based around impartial, objective and rigorous research. Applicants should be open-minded to the outcomes of the research and committed to basing any conclusions or recommendations on what the evidence shows.
- The proposed methodological approach should be appropriate for the research question(s). They will fund research founded on quantitative evidence and analysis, well-designed and insightful qualitative research, or research using mixed methods.
- There should be potential for impact on policy and /or practice.
- Their primary focus is on the United Kingdom, but this may include comparative work between the four nations and internationally, where appropriate.
Further information
Racial Diversity UK Fund
Outline Deadline: 6 October 2025 23:59
A new programme
The Nuffield Foundation has a new programme to support research on racial diversity within the UK.
The UK’s racial composition has changed considerably since the arrival of the Empire Windrush in 1948, marking the beginning of the post-war settlement of citizens from Britain’s former colonies. The UK’s growing racial diversity and continuing racial disparities bring opportunities and challenges.
There is a substantial body of research evidencing racial inequalities in most areas of UK life; from health to housing, education to employment, crime and policing to criminal justice. There is less evidence for why some of the UK’s differential racial outcomes persist while other disparities have closed. Nor is there much evidence about what works to end racial disparities, nor of when, how or if policy and programme interventions are effective in achieving this, and little research has focused on the wider benefits and opportunities that racial diversity can bring.
Racial Diversity UK scope
This programme is funded by an endowment that supports work relating to the Commonwealth. This means our interest is in the future of UK society as shaped by its colonial past; specifically, by the migration of people from former British colonies to the UK, and the accompanying dynamics of racialisation, resources and power which have produced the UK’s distinct racial diversity and its patterns of racial discrimination and inequality. Within this context we take a broad view of racial diversity as covering all racial or ethnic groups living in the UK, including White populations.
What they will fund
Grants from £15,000 to £750,000 are available.
The Racial Diversity UK programme aims to be broad in its reach, interested in questions of socio-economic equality, senses of place, belonging and identity, barriers to and opportunities for inclusion, demographic trajectories, and the interrelationship between these themes. Research may also address how the UK compares internationally. Race and ethnicity should be the central focus from which any intersectionality with class, disability, gender, place and other dynamics would be explored.
They expect the research they fund to:
- Contribute to understanding, public debate, policy and/or practice on tackling racial inequalities, discrimination and disadvantage.
- Map pathways towards a UK that is comfortable with and reaping the benefits of its growing racial diversity.
Where proposals to Racial Diversity UK overlap with the Foundation’s continuing interests in education, justice or welfare, they encourage applicants to contact them early to discuss which of their funding streams your application fits best with. Broadly, they expect Racial Diversity UK to consider funding research where racial diversity, disparity or discrimination is the primary lens through which social well-being is explored, or where their role in shaping communities or places is foregrounded.
Methods
As for all their grant programmes, theywelcome applications proposing any methodological approach, including applied methods and participatory research.
Who should apply
They encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds, particularly from individuals and organisations from racially minoritised communities. They strongly encourage partnership applications which bring together researchers and racially minoritised communities to explore challenges and develop solutions.
Fund information
The Nuffield Foundation has launched this new programme to support research on racial diversity within the UK.
The UK’s racial composition has changed considerably since the arrival of the Empire Windrush in 1948, marking the beginning of the post-war settlement of citizens from Britain’s former colonies. The UK’s growing racial diversity and continuing racial disparities bring opportunities and challenges.
There is a substantial body of research evidencing racial inequalities in most areas of UK life; from health to housing, education to employment, crime and policing to criminal justice. There is less evidence for why some of the UK’s differential racial outcomes persist while other disparities have closed. Nor is there much evidence about what works to end racial disparities, nor of when, how or if policy and programme interventions are effective in achieving this, and little research has focused on the wider benefits and opportunities that racial diversity can bring.
Racial Diversity UK scope
This programme is funded by an endowment that supports work relating to the Commonwealth. This means our interest is in the future of UK society as shaped by its colonial past; specifically, by the migration of people from former British colonies to the UK, and the accompanying dynamics of racialisation, resources and power which have produced the UK’s distinct racial diversity and its patterns of racial discrimination and inequality. Within this context we take a broad view of racial diversity as covering all racial or ethnic groups living in the UK, including White populations.
What they will fund
Grants from £15,000 to £750,000 are available.
The Racial Diversity UK programme aims to be broad in its reach, interested in questions of socio-economic equality, senses of place, belonging and identity, barriers to and opportunities for inclusion, demographic trajectories, and the interrelationship between these themes. Research may also address how the UK compares internationally. Race and ethnicity should be the central focus from which any intersectionality with class, disability, gender, place and other dynamics would be explored.
They expect the research they fund to:
- Contribute to understanding, public debate, policy and/or practice on tackling racial inequalities, discrimination and disadvantage.
- Map pathways towards a UK that is comfortable with and reaping the benefits of its growing racial diversity.
Where proposals to Racial Diversity UK overlap with the Foundation’s continuing interests in education, justice or welfare, they encourage applicants to contact them early to discuss which of their funding streams your application fits best with. Broadly, they expect Racial Diversity UK to consider funding research where racial diversity, disparity or discrimination is the primary lens through which social well-being is explored, or where their role in shaping communities or places is foregrounded.
Who should apply
They encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds, particularly from individuals and organisations from racially minoritised communities. They strongly encourage partnership applications which bring together researchers and racially minoritised communities to explore challenges and develop solutions.