What we do

Two ways we fund, one way we help

Bursaries for students at our Chapters, grants to any eligible think tank for a specific activity, and free advice for everyone — always through a registered students' union, always against published criteria.

What we do

What we offer, and who it is for

Training Access Bursaries for the members of our Chapters, Think Tank Grants for any eligible think tank, the Training Programme, and free advice — each grant assessed against published criteria, and each made only where we can show it enables something that would not otherwise happen.

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

Training Access Bursaries

Need-assessed grants so that students who could not otherwise afford the time can take part in the Training Programme. Only for members of our Chapters.

  • A Chapter is a think tank for which we have signed a Funding Agreement with its students' union. Bursaries are part of the Training Programme, and the Programme is delivered to Chapters.
  • Paid by the students' union from a ring-fenced account that holds Trust funds, with practical adjustments agreed union by union.
  • Awarded against published criteria of financial need — one criterion is enough, and there is a written-statement route.
  • Paid at two fixed rates, Standard and Priority, set each year. No discretionary or individually negotiated amounts.
  • Conditional only on enrolling in and attending the Training Programme and remaining a registered student. Never conditional on writing, finishing or publishing research.
  • Assessed by a two-person Trust panel, the Partnerships and Chapters Director, who checks, and a trustee, who decides, neither of whom may know the applicant. Evidence is held in a restricted folder for twelve months and never shown to donors.

Think Tank Grants

Grants to a think tank for a specific, costed educational activity for its student body that would not otherwise take place. Open to any eligible think tank, Chapter or not.

  • Fund research conferences, public speaker programmes, open-access publication, research materials and educational networking.
  • No Chapter agreement needed. A think tank that is a Chapter can hold a grant at the same time as its members receive bursaries.
  • Scored against six published criteria — including an additionality test: what would happen without the grant?
  • Paid into the think tank's own account held with its students' union, under a short grant letter signed by the think tank and the union, with reporting and audit rights.

The Training Programme

Structured, expert-led training in research skills that volunteer-run think tanks do not otherwise have.

  • Research design and methods; quantitative and qualitative analysis, including introductory econometrics; evidence appraisal and literature review.
  • Academic and policy writing, editing and peer review; research ethics and the principles of balanced, non-partisan analysis.
  • Designed and commissioned by the Trust and delivered free of charge to the members of our Chapters. Training Access Bursaries are part of the Programme.

Free advice, Chapter or not

Practical help for any student think tank, and for students who want to start one.

  • How to set up a think tank: constitution, union affiliation, committee roles, editorial standards and a publishing rhythm.
  • How to run one well: research methods, peer review, events, open-access publication and fundraising.
  • How to make a strong application for Chapter status or a grant. Advice never comes with funding attached, and an application from a think tank we have advised is assessed on exactly the same published criteria as any other.

Chapters and grants

Two routes to funding

A think tank does not have to become a Chapter to receive a grant. It does have to become one before its members can receive bursaries.

Route A · Bursaries

Become a Chapter

A Chapter is a student think tank for which the Trust has signed a Funding Agreement with the think tank's students' union. The agreement lets the union hold Trust funds in a ring-fenced account and pay Training Access Bursaries to the students we confirm as eligible, with practical adjustments agreed with each union. The Training Programme is delivered to Chapters, and the bursaries are part of it.

How to become a Chapter

Route B · Grants

Apply for a Think Tank Grant

Any eligible student think tank can apply for a grant for a specific educational activity for its student body: a conference, a speaker programme, open-access publication, research materials. No Chapter agreement is needed. The grant is paid into the think tank's own account held with its students' union, under a short grant letter the think tank and the union both sign. A Chapter can hold a grant while its members are on the bursary programme.

Apply for a grant

For everyone · Free

Ask us for advice

Whether or not you ever apply, we will help you set up a think tank, run it well, and, if you want to, prepare a strong Chapter or grant application. Advice carries no expectation of funding and is recorded so that every application is judged on the same criteria.

students@nationalstudentpolicytrust.org.uk

How bursaries are assessed

On need, at fixed rates, never at anyone's discretion

A student qualifies for a Training Access Bursary by meeting any one of the financial-need criteria in our Grant-Making Policy — from receiving a means-tested maintenance loan, to a home postcode in an area of low participation, to working eight or more hours a week in term time. If none fits, a short written statement of need is assessed against the same test.

Everyone eligible receives the same published rate; students in the greatest need receive the Priority Rate. Nothing is negotiated individually, and no trustee, donor or think tank committee can vary it. Where a donor restricts a gift to a particular think tank, the same criteria and rates apply there. Every payment runs from the Trust to the union's restricted account, and from there to students.

The test we apply

Would it happen without us?

A grant-making charity must do more than move money to things that would happen anyway. Before every grant, the trustees must be satisfied on the evidence that the training, the participation or the activity would not take place — or would take place at materially reduced scale or quality — without it. Applicants show us their existing resources and what other funding they have sought; we record the evidence for every decision.

  • Published criteria applied the same way to every applicant, with reasons recorded
  • Additionality a statement of existing resources with every grant application
  • No output strings no bursary or grant is ever conditional on what students publish

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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