# City St George’s launches Centre for Poverty and Innovation following £1.7m major gift

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2026/03/11/city-st-georges-launches-centre-for-poverty-and-innovation-following-1-7m-major-gift/
- Published: 2026-03-11T08:25:13+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**City St George’s, University of London, has established a new Centre for Poverty
and Innovatio. It has been made possible by a £1.7 million philanthropic gift from
the Bryson Charitable Group. The three-year funding package will support the Centre
in conducting independent research into deep and complex poverty across the UK.**

Poverty remains a persistent challenge in the UK, with individuals and families 
facing intertwined issues related to health, housing, employment, and financial 
insecurity. Recognising the growing demands on public services and the charity sector,
the Centre aims to generate “robust, actionable evidence on effective interventions”.

The Centre’s core mission is to “support leadership and learning across the systems
that respond to poverty prevention and alleviation”.

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A distinctive element of the Centre is its cross-school foundation, drawing interdisciplinary
expertise from the School of Policy and Global Affairs, Bayes Business School, and
the School of Health & Medical Sciences. This structure will ensure research is 
connected directly with real-world delivery and evaluation. In this way it will 
work to strengthen effective practice and building leadership capability within 
organizations tackling poverty.

**Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein**, President of City St George’s, emphasised
the university’s civic responsibility, stating the Centre “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.”

## Two co-leaders

The initiative is co-led by **Dr. Matt Barnes**, a sociologist with expertise in
areas like the cost of school uniforms and poverty typologies, and **[Dr. Haseeb Shabbir](https://www.bayes.citystgeorges.ac.uk/faculties-and-research/experts/haseeb-shabbir)**
from the Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Bayes Business School, a specialist
in leadership development and fundraising training for charities, with a focus on
poverty, dignity and the ethics of charitable communications. This leadership highlights
the Centre’s commitment to bridging academic rigour with the practical needs of 
the third sector.

Shane Logan, CEO of Bryson Charitable Group, articulated the donor’s perspective:

> “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.”

## Setting up

The Centre is currently in its set-up phase, with a formal launch likely later this
year, promising to be a significant resource for the fundraising and charity community
dedicated to tackling entrenched disadvantage.

City St George’s, University of London came into being on 1 August 2024 and comprises
the activities previously undertaken by City University of London and St George’s,
University of London.

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