The Nuffield Foundation has set aside an additional £20 million to fund R&D projects up until 2022, increasing its funding pot to £70m.
Priority will be given to research that spans the three areas, such as the impact of digital technologies on people’s lives, social inclusion, social geography, chronic illness, and the effect of physical and mental disability.
The report sets out four strategic goals. The first is to use research to identify pressing questions in education, welfare and social justice. The second is to fund research on the impact of digital technologies on society so that policies can be based on empirical findings.
Third, it plans to expand its student programmes, particularly for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Among them are Nuffield Research Placements that enable students to develop science and social science skills. And finally, it will act as a convening space to increase the reach of its research portfolio.
In 2018, the foundation plans to open applications to its Strategic Fund, which provides more than £500,000 for major, long-term projects.
Tim Gardam, chief executive of the Nuffield Foundation, said: “At a time when public trust in evidence is increasingly called into question, we have a responsibility to demonstrate how the research we fund is relevant to people’s daily experiences.”
According to its strategy report, published on 29 June, the foundation will focus on research in three areas: education, welfare and social justice.