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University of York launches major fund to tackle the region's biggest challenges

University of York launches major fund to tackle the region's biggest challenges

Posted on 27 February 2026

From tackling poverty to improving children’s mental health, new grants will support researchers to work with partners across the region to find practical solutions to challenges facing communities in York and North Yorkshire.

Image credit: University of York

The "New Horizons: Driving Social Change for People and Places to Prosper" Fund, will enable practical research that leads to real-world improvements, creating a fairer and more prosperous region for everyone who lives here.

The five-year initiative will be run by the University's School for Business and Society in partnership with Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF).

Local families

The fund will invite researchers, working alongside community partners, to submit ideas that address issues currently impacting local families and neighbourhoods. The first round of funding will focus on key areas of:

Health inequalities, particularly children and young people's mental health.
Housing and the built environment, including net-zero transitions and major developments such as York Central. We are particularly interested in what these mean for individuals and communities in York, and how they might support social justice within the city.
Poverty and the cost of living crisis, including economic justice and community wealth building/distribution within the city and wider region.
Intergenerational systems of support, place-based storytelling and community action.
Devolution and regional forms of inclusive economic, social and political participation - in particular, how we ensure that communities are the beneficiaries of changes in local governance.

Genuine social change

The Fund will specifically back projects that stimulate fresh and innovative ideas for tackling complex local problems in order to drive genuine social change. Crucially, the projects must be developed in partnership with local people, local government, policy makers, and or community groups.

A total of £1M will be awarded to projects across the five years. Funding will be available at three levels to support different types of work, from small, focused community projects to major regional initiatives:

Up to £3,000 for small-scale community-based work.
Up to £30,000 for mid-size collaborative research.
Up to £150,000 for major, long-term regional projects.

Tangible

Professor John Hudson, Dean of the School for Business and Society, said: "At the School for Business and Society we believe that research should be a catalyst for social change.

“The New Horizons Fund will help us deepen our partnerships across the region by investing in co-produced research that addresses complex challenges such housing inequality or the cost of living crisis, translating our academic research into a tangible 'public good' for York and the wider region."

Place-based

Dr Aniela Wenham, Co-Head of Social Policy at the University of York added: “Working in partnership with key stakeholders, the New Horizons Fund connects research with the priorities of local communities, generating place-based knowledge and insight that delivers lasting social impact across York and North Yorkshire”.

Victoria Hughes, Programme Lead in the Emerging Futures team at JRF, said: “At JRF, research has always been central to how we understand and tackle the root causes of poverty and inequality, from the pioneering Rowntree surveys of poverty in York in the early twentieth century to our work today.

“Building on this legacy of evidence that has helped shift national debates and policy, the New Horizons Fund is an important opportunity to support practical research in York and North Yorkshire that can spark ideas and drive real change. We are particularly supportive of the fund’s focus on research developed in genuine partnership with communities, creating knowledge rooted in lived experience and focused on shaping fairer, more prosperous futures together.”