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.

The Nesta in Scotland team exists to deliver against Nesta’s strategic aims in Scotland.

Nesta’s strategy to 2030 sets out three innovation missions to guide and inform our work across the nations of the UK over the next ten years:

  • A fairer start: We want every child to have an equal start in life. Our mission is to narrow the outcome gap between children growing up in most and least deprived communities in Scotland.
  • A healthy life: We want good health for all, particularly those most affected by existing inequalities. Our mission is to increase the average number of healthy years lived in Scotland, while narrowing health inequalities
  • A sustainable future: We want a future that works better for people and the planet. Our mission is to accelerate the decarbonisation of household activities in Scotland and improve levels of productivity.

As a devolved nation, there are unique opportunities in Scotland to experiment and test new ideas for social good, finding places where devolution allows us to go further and faster in achieving our aims.

We also support colleagues from different teams on UK-wide Nesta programmes and partnerships.

Explore some of our recent work such as the Virtual Healthy Neighbourhood Challenge with Nesta’s arts practice and Dundee’s InGAME, our research into future job trends or our analysis of the cost of heat pumps for heating Scotland’s homes.

Contact us

If you would like to find out more about any of the points above or are interested in working with us, please get in touch by emailing us.

Stay up to date with Nesta in Scotland

Keep informed about our news, events, research & funding opportunities in Scotland

Team

Angela Mitchell

Angela Mitchell

Angela Mitchell

Head of Nesta Scotland

Angela is Head of Nesta Scotland.

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Frances Bain

Frances Bain

Frances Bain

Mission Manager (Scotland), healthy life mission

Frances is Nesta’s mission manager for Scotland working on the healthy life mission and based with the Scotland team in Edinburgh.

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Grant Collinson

Grant Collinson

Grant Collinson

Communications and Engagement Manager, Nesta Scotland

Grant leads on the development and coordination of our communications activities in Scotland.

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Linda Macdonald

Linda Macdonald

Linda Macdonald

Mission Manager - fairer start mission, Nesta Scotland

Linda is a mission manager for Scotland, working on the fairer start mission in Edinburgh.

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Robin Parker

Robin Parker

Robin Parker

Mission Manager (Scotland), sustainable future mission

Robin manages Nesta's work in Scotland on the Sustainable Future Mission, focused on making it easier for households to end their contribution to climate change.

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Ashley Mclean

Ashley Mclean

Ashley Mclean

Policy Advisor, Nesta Scotland

Ashley works as a policy advisor across the missions and the UK 2040 Options team in Nesta in Scotland, ensuring we engage with the Scottish government to meet our goals.

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