Research team

Jay Kennedy is the Director of Policy and Research at the Directory of Social Change (DSC), where he has worked since 2003 in a variety of roles involving research, policy and public affairs, and senior management. In 2024 DSC published Jay’s Speed Read on Campaigning, which is an accessible, introductory guide for charities wanting to influence the UK political system.

Jay is responsible for DSC’s Research Team, which researches information for DSC’s fundraising publications and its funding website www.fundsonline.org.uk, and conducts bespoke research for a range of grant-makers and other charity clients.

Stuart provides research to inform policy and practice in the charity sector. He is a member of DSC’s leadership team, and he manages the team behind DSC’s bespoke research, funding guides and Funds Online research.

Stuart specialises in Armed Forces charities, and he won the 2021 FiMT Research Award for his work in this field, which is cited at government level. He has co-authored ten reports on the subject, including the definitive 2020 report – Sector Insight: Armed Forces Charities.

Stuart holds a BA (Hons) in Psychology and Sociology, an MSc in Applied Psychology, and a PGCE in Psychology. He is a qualified teacher and taught for five years before moving into applied research.

Rhiannon leads DSC’s bespoke projects and commissioned research. Her work ranges from research on grant-making for Service children, and analysis of local authority grant-making to the VCSE sector, to exploring the scope and nature of funding and types of housing support for charity beneficiaries. Rhiannon’s latest research Sector Insight Armed Forces Charities 2024 is the definitive guide to the Armed Forces charities sector, and she is an expert in this field of research.

Rhiannon holds a BA (Hons) in English Literature and Communications, and an MA in Politics and Mass Media.

Ian has over ten-years of experience in undertaking charity sector research. He is an expert in grant-making trusts and foundations, having written numerous funding guides on the subject, including most recently, The Guide to Major Trusts, The Guide to UK Company Giving, and The Guide to Educational Grants.

Ian holds a BA (Hons) Politics and International Business from the University of Liverpool.

Senior Researcher, Jessica, has a great deal of experience researching grant-making charities and has co-authored a number of DSC’s guides on the subject, including three editions of bestseller, The Guide to New Trusts. Jessica is also the author of The Guide to Individuals In Need, and she has contributed to several other leading publications, including DSC’s The Guide to Major Trusts.

Before joining DSC in 2019, Jessica graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Psychology from Lancaster University. She has also volunteered for a number of charities, including Southport and Formby Special Athletes, where she was responsible for running sports coaching sessions for adults with learning difficulties.

Kalli joined DSC’s Research Team in May 2023.

She studied Languages and Politics at the University of Nottingham, before doing a Masters in Gender and International Development at the University of Warwick.

Kalli has co-authored many of DSC’s best-selling funding guides, including; The Guide to New Trusts (13th edition), The Directory of Grant-Making Trusts (28th edition), The Guide to Grants for Individuals in Need (19th edition) and The Guide to Major Trusts (18th edition).

Outside DSC, she enjoys gardening and is involved with community gardens. She also volunteers as a researcher for Women Beyond Walls, a platform that aims to influence policymaking and discourse surrounding the incarceration of women and girls.