About Nesta

Nesta is an innovation foundation. For us, innovation means turning bold ideas into reality and changing lives for the better. We use our expertise, skills and funding in areas where there are big challenges facing society.

As a devolved nation, there is a unique opportunity in Wales to develop, test and scale new ideas for social good, finding places where devolution allows us to go further and faster in achieving our aims.

Nesta Cymru exists to significantly improve the lives of tens of thousands of people in Wales by tackling some of our most significant societal challenges.

We partner with government, public sector organisations, industry and academia to design, test and scale new ideas in our mission areas:

A fairer start

Reducing the attainment gap between those children growing up in disadvantaged backgrounds compared with the average – we are currently looking at issues including parental involvement and how we can use local authority data to understand interventions that are working in different parts of Wales.

A healthy life

Tackling obesity – including increasing the healthiness of school meals, creating healthier food environments and mapping data gaps that could help tackle obesity more effectively.

A sustainable future

Decarbonising of homes – this includes increasing the uptake of green home upgrades such as heat pumps through trialling new financial approaches for homeowners and developing support interventions to help social housing tenants transition to low carbon heating.

What we've done

Explore some of our recent work including research into the uptake of free school meals in Wales, testing options for retrofit loans and mapping data gaps.

We have also been working on partnership projects such as Health, Arts, Research, People (HARP), Innovative Future Services (Infuse), our innovation map for Wales (Arloesiadur) and supporting organisations in Wales to develop digital projects through the Digital R&D Fund for Arts.

Work with us

If you want to connect with us or talk about ideas linked to our missions in Wales, get in touch by emailing [email protected]

Team

Rob Ashelford

Rob Ashelford

Rob Ashelford

Pennaeth Nesta Cymru / Head of Nesta Cymru

Rob is Head of Nesta Cymru - responsible for the delivery of Nesta's strategy in Wales.

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Elin Price

Elin Price

Elin Price

Campaigns lead

Elin joined Nesta in January 2022 as communications and engagement manager in Nesta Cymru and since became campaigns lead for Nesta's sustainable future team.

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Andy Regan

Andy Regan

Andy Regan

Senior Mission Manager, sustainable future mission

Andy works within the Nesta Cymru team as mission manager for a sustainable future.

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Jonathan Bone

Jonathan Bone

Jonathan Bone

Mission Manager, healthy life mission

Jonathan works within Nesta Cymru (Wales), focusing on working across public, private and non-profit sectors to deliver innovative solutions that tackle obesity and loneliness in Wales.

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Sara Elias

Sara Elias

Sara Elias

Policy Advisor, Nesta Cymru

Sara supports the UK 2040: Options work, helping to bring experts together to address the defining issues facing the UK and Wales.

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Tom Spare

Tom Spare

Tom Spare

Communication and Engagement Coordinator, Nesta Cymru

Tom is the communication and engagement coordinator for Nesta Cymru.

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