City St George’s, University of London has received a landmark £1.7 million philanthropic gift from Bryson Charitable Group to support the development of a new Centre for Poverty and Innovation over three years.
Poverty remains a persistent and entrenched challenge in the UK, with many individuals and families facing overlapping pressures linked to health, housing, employment and financial insecurity. As demands on public services and civil society grow, the need for robust evidence on what works, and what does not, has never been greater.
The Centre will be a City St George’s-led, academically independent initiative focused on deep and complex poverty. It will generate actionable, practice-relevant evidence and support leadership and learning across the systems responding to poverty.
A distinctive feature of the Centre is its cross-school foundation. It brings together expertise from the School of Policy and Global Affairs, Bayes Business School and the School of Health & Medical Sciences. The Centre will connect interdisciplinary research with real-world delivery and evaluation, strengthening effective practice and building leadership capability across organisations working on poverty prevention and alleviation.
Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein, President of City St George’s, said:
“Universities in the UK have a vital civic responsibility to address the most pressing challenges facing society, working in partnership with business, policymakers, public services and local communities.
“The Centre for Poverty and Innovation reflects City St George’s commitment to generating robust evidence, supporting leadership and informing policy and practice to improve responses to poverty at local, regional and national levels.
“We are grateful to the Bryson Charitable Group for their significant philanthropic support.”
The initiative is co-led by Dr Matt Barnes, from the Department of Sociology & Criminology at the School of Policy and Global Affairs, and Dr Haseeb Shabbir, from the Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Bayes Business School.
Both leads bring academic expertise to the initiative. Dr Barnes carried out research on the prohibitively high cost of school uniforms for young families for The Children’s Society, created a typology of poverty for the Scottish Government, and has worked on rethinking the so-called “troubled families” statistic. Dr Haseeb Shabbir is a specialist in leadership development and fundraising training for charities, with a focus on poverty, dignity and the ethics of charitable communications.
Academics from the School of Health & Medical Sciences are already collaborating on two of the Centre’s funded research projects. Dr Becca Lacey is using large survey datasets to identify the most disadvantaged households in the UK, and Dr Grace Lucas will be involved in leading a systematic review of poverty alleviation programmes – looking at integrated anti-poverty interventions aimed at those with the greatest needs.
The programme has been developed with colleagues across the University, including strategic steering from Professor Debra Salmon, with support from Chang Gao Lung (Philanthropy and Alumni & Supporter Relations).
Shane Logan, CEO of Bryson Charitable Group, said:
“At Bryson, we see first-hand how deep and complex poverty affects people’s lives, often through multiple, overlapping challenges.
“Supporting this Centre allows us to connect our sector to practice-led insight with academic rigour, helping to strengthen evidence and leadership across the systems responding to poverty.
“We are proud to support City St George’s in this important work.”
The Centre is currently in its set-up phase, with a formal launch planned later this year.