What we do

Four programmes, one goal

We fund the people, the activities, the skills and the safety net behind independent student policy research — always through a registered students' union.

What we do

Two categories, four programmes

The Trust makes two categories of grant — educational bursaries and operational grants — supported by dedicated training and, for embedded partners, an Emergency Continuity Reserve.

Together they let a student think tank do rigorous work without compromising who it answers to.

Educational bursaries

Non-exchange educational grants that let students commit real time to serious research.

  • Paid to a students' union as a restricted fund, then disbursed to named student researchers, editors, data analysts and communications officers.
  • Tied to mandatory training — academic writing, research methodology and equivalent upskilling — which is what makes them educational rather than payment for work.
  • Contingent on the student completing agreed deliverables (such as co-authoring a published report) and their training.
  • They are not payment for the papers produced; those are published independently by the think tank.

Operational & development grants

Restricted grants for the activities that turn research into public understanding.

  • Fund research events and conferences, public speaker programmes, networking events, and publication and dissemination costs.
  • Held by the students' union as ring-fenced restricted funds for the stated purpose.
  • Governed by a formal agreement, with reporting requirements and the Trust's audit rights.

Training & professional development

Structured learning beyond the curriculum that raises the quality of the research.

  • Report-writing, research-methodology and data-analysis workshops.
  • Speaker programmes and networking that connect students with policy professionals, academics and practitioners.
  • Designed to enhance students' skills, knowledge and vocational readiness.

Emergency Continuity Reserve

A safeguard that keeps a think tank's independence from depending on us.

  • A ring-fenced restricted fund held by the students' union for an embedded partner think tank.
  • Sized to roughly two to three years of recent bursary and operational funding.
  • Releasable if the Trust can no longer meet its obligations, giving the think tank runway to find new funding or transition.

How bursaries are shared

Equal by default, never discretionary

General bursary funding is divided equally among all eligible researchers and role-holders at a supported think tank. No student receives more because of their seniority, their role, or the preference of any trustee or donor.

Where a donor sponsors a specific research stream, that targeted pool is shared equally among the students working within that stream. Any surplus can be returned to the general pool by agreement with the union. Every payment runs from the Trust to the union's restricted account, and from there to students.

The safety net

The Emergency Continuity Reserve

Funding a think tank for years creates an implicit dependency: later cohorts may never have worked without bursary support, and a sudden loss of funding could threaten the organisation — even though we never direct its work. The Reserve is how we actively mitigate that risk.

  • 2–3 years of runway at recent funding levels
  • Ring-fenced held by the union as a restricted fund
  • Protective released if the Trust can no longer fund the think tank

Run a student think tank, or want to fund one?

See who is eligible and how to apply, or explore how donors support this work.

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