The Nuffield Foundation has launched the first set of projects under its newly established Racial Diversity UK (RDUK) fund, pledging £1.47 million towards research designed to address racial inequalities and shape a more inclusive future across England, Scotland and Wales.
The four projects will explore how issues of race intersect with deindustrialisation, policy, national identity, and rapid demographic change, challenges that remain at the heart of the UK’s evolving social fabric. The RDUK fund, which draws on an endowment linked to the Commonwealth, aims to examine contemporary racial diversity in the context of the UK’s colonial legacy.
The initiative was shaped against the backdrop of recent reckonings, the Windrush scandal and the global resonance of the Black Lives Matter movement after the murder of George Floyd, which highlighted the persistence of racial injustices and the urgent need for evidence-driven solutions.
“Racial injustices continue to challenge UK society, but there is little evidence of what works to end racial disparities,” said Liz Gilfillan, Programme Head of RDUK at the Nuffield Foundation. “This fund is about building a significant body of important research that not only describes the issues but offers practical and achievable actions to build a racially just and inclusive society.”
Four projects, one mission
The newly funded projects cover a diverse range of themes, all sharing a common goal: producing research that drives tangible policy and community impact.
‘Decline to Renewal: Race, Deindustrialisation and Working Lives’, led by Professor Keon West in partnership with the Runnymede Trust, will investigate how industrial decline has affected communities of colour and explore ways to make renewal policies more inclusive. ‘Voices for Equity: Moving from Evidence to Action’, spearheaded by Sunder Katwala at British Future, will conduct a national consultation to identify priorities for racial justice and develop a shared agenda for change.
‘Racial Equality Since Devolution: Divergences, Outcomes and Frontiers’, led by Professor Nasar Meer at the University of Glasgow, will compare how race equality policies have unfolded across England, Scotland, and Wales, assessing their impacts and potential. Finally, ‘Better Mixing: Supporting Scotland’s Diverse Future’, under Dr Sarah Kyambi of Migration Policy Scotland, will examine rapid demographic shifts and design interventions to support diverse populations across Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Fife.
Together, these projects form a cohesive portfolio intended to inform, advance, and sometimes redirect debate while shaping policy and frontline practice.
Turning research into change
For the Nuffield Foundation, research alone is not enough, the aim is to ensure findings are picked up by policymakers and practitioners. Gilfillan explained that impact will be measured by how well the projects influence national and local debates and interventions.
“We want research to help policymakers at both the national and local levels,” she said. “That means engaging government in learning from differing devolved approaches, building evidence-based agendas for lasting change, and ensuring regeneration policies take into account the real impacts of deindustrialisation on communities of colour.”
RDUK’s success, she added, will not only be measured in reports or publications, but in the way it shapes real-world practices whether through curriculum shifts, fairer employment frameworks, or inclusive regeneration policies.
Gilfillan stressed that RDUK is determined to avoid tokenistic approaches. The programme is designed to generate evidence with real longevity; research that maps pathways towards a UK that is “comfortable with and reaping the benefits of its growing racial diversity.”
Policy in context
Professor Nasar Meer, whose project focuses on race equality since devolution, emphasised that policy must be seen in context. “Policies are developed and implemented within contested national stories about who belongs,” he explained. His team plans to analyse how governments in England, Scotland and Wales frame their race equality initiatives, how those are resisted, and how they translate into lived realities.
Community engagement, he added, is central to the methodology. The project will convene a standing “Community of Practice” — a structured forum bringing together anti-racism groups, local authorities and policymakers to co-produce priorities and test findings. “Community voice is baked into the method,” Meer said. “We want people to be able to speak candidly about what works and what doesn’t.”
Meer also highlighted the mixed picture of racial progress in the UK. “We can point to policy progress while outcome gaps persist or even worsen in places. So the question becomes: what’s the yardstick? In our project we take both approaches, looking at the architecture of policy and the outcomes people actually experience.”
The goal, he said, is not just to map policies, but to produce accessible, evidence-based briefs on education, housing, employment and justice that can focus governments’ attention on closing specific gaps.