Cambridge University Endowment Fund 2025 Annual Review

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Portfolio Composition

Distribution Allocation

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78.0%

University

13.2%

Trusts

8.8%

Colleges

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27.6%

Teaching and research

15.6%

Professorships

14%

Departments

Lectureships

6.7%

Scholar/Studentships

3.8%

Charitable trading reserves

3.2%

Other

University 78.0%

Associated Trusts 13.2%

Colleges 8.8%

Teaching and research 27.6%

Professorships 15.6%

Departments 14.0%

Lectureships 7.0%

Scholar/Studentships 6.7%

Charitable trading reserves 3.8%

Other 3.3%

* Represents the 78.0% distributed to the University.

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Students at Sainsbury Laboratory

Impact Case Studies

Professor Alexander Bird

Rethinking Creativity

The Cambridge Professorship of Philosophy, established in 1896, was renamed the Bertrand Russell Professorship of Philosophy in 2010 following an endowed donation from Cambridge in America and Trinity College. Professor Alexander Bird was elected to the post in 2020 and currently serves as Chair of the Faculty.

Creativity drives progress in the arts and sciences, yet we rarely ask what it truly is. To understand it, we must explore its nature and its limits: where imagination becomes invention, how inspiration emerges and what it really means to create something beautiful, significant and enduring.

Professor Alexander Bird

Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy

Professor Alexander Bird specialises in the philosophy of science, medicine, metaphysics and epistemology. With Professor Alison Hills, he has published papers challenging the standard view that creativity is defined by producing work that is both novel and valuable. They argue that creativity’s defining feature is that its results arise from imagination.

Alexander and Alison are co-authoring a book that extends philosophical inquiry into creativity beyond the arts to include science and broader human endeavour. Their work examines creativity’s links to madness, its relationship to artificial intelligence, its moral and artistic value, and its place in generating and evaluating scientific theories.

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Professor Dame Diane Coyle

Fair Growth in the Digital Age

The Bennett Institute for Public Policy was launched in 2018 with endowed funding from the Peter Bennett Foundation, which also endowed the chair of Bennett Professor of Public Policy, held by Dame Diane Coyle. Diane’s research focuses on productivity, the digital economy and AI policy, and economic measurement. One of her many books, Beyond GDP, has been translated into over 10 languages.
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Following additional funding in August 2025, the Institute became the Bennett School of Public Policy, broadening its interdisciplinary research, teaching, and public engagement.

Our goal is to help students think critically and work collaboratively to make evidence-based decisions in a fast-changing digital world. The new Bennett School will prepare future leaders to shape policies that promote fair competition, ethical data use, and inclusive, sustainable growth.

Professor Dame Diane Coyle

Bennett Professor of Public Policy

At the Bennett school for Public Policy, Professor Dame Diane Coyle’s mission, “the right kind of growth, fairly shared,” guides her teaching, research, and advisory work. She challenges conventional measures of progress, advocating for economic models grounded in well-being, sustainability, and inclusion.

Her policy work includes advising government bodies and working with statisticians to develop new economic measurement frameworks to reflect sustainable progress.

In digital policy, she promotes governance that balances innovation with fairness, warning that unchecked network effects can create “winner-takes-most” markets. Starting in 2026, she will direct the Bennett School’s MPhil in Digital Policy, an interdisciplinary course tackling online safety, regulation, and technology-driven growth.

Professor Diane Coyle speaking in an indoor setting with a wooden panel background and text identifying her as Co-Director of Bennett Institute for Public Policy.

Dr Julie Pham

The Power of Curiosity

Dr Julie Pham was part of the inaugural cohort of Gates Cambridge Scholars, arriving in 2001 to study for a PhD in Historical Studies. The Gates Trust was founded with an endowment of $210mn from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000. Since then, over 2,000 scholars from 117 countries have benefitted from the scheme.

In 2001, the Gates Foundation felt like a start-up — we were building a new community and defining what it meant to be a Gates Scholar. Some of my best learning at Cambridge came from fellow Scholars.

Dr Julie Pham

Founder and CEO of Curiosity Based

Dr Julie Pham is the founder and CEO of Curiosity Based, a consultancy that helps organisations build trust and collaboration through curiosity. She sees curiosity as a skill to be developed: “Curiosity is hard because we all have expectations but exploring them helps us learn about ourselves and others.”

An academic turned entrepreneur, Pham developed her curiosity framework while leading teams in technology and media. Her bestselling book, 7 Forms of Respect: A Guide to Transforming Your Communication and Relationships at Work, encourages people to get curious about how they define respect.

Travelling from Seattle to Cambridge was her first international flight since arriving in the US from Vietnam as a baby.

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Professor Paul Fletcher

How Video Game Design Can Support Psychiatry

In 2003, the Woco Foundation of Canada donated £3.7 million to the University to support research in health neuroscience, honouring medical scientist Bernard Wolfe and his early scientific training in the UK. Professor Paul Fletcher was elected to the post of Bernard Wolfe Professorship of Health Neuroscience in 2008.

Video games can open doors to the reality of living with psychiatric disorders, helping people understand and manage mental health in a personal, empowering way.

Professor Paul Fletcher

Bernard Wolfe Professor of Health Neuroscience

Professor Paul Fletcher, a psychiatrist and cognitive neuroscientist, explores how belief and perception interact, and how this relationship can break down in psychosis. He argues that perception and belief are inseparable, as even healthy minds interpret the world through prior experience.

Collaborating with game developers Ninja Theory and people with lived experience of psychosis, Paul uses video game design for representation and treatment in psychiatry. The first game, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, won five BAFTAs and a Royal College of Psychiatrists award for its portrayal of mental illness. Its sequel, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, earned Best Technical Achievement at the 2025 BAFTA Games Awards. The team is now developing a series of interactive experiences to help people manage stress.

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Abdullah Hasan Safir

Designing Inclusive AI

Abdullah Hasan Safir is a Gates Cambridge Scholar (2024) studying a PhD in Interdisciplinary AI Design with the Cambridge Collective Intelligence and Design Group. The Gates Cambridge Scholarship programme was established in October 2000 by an historic donation of US$210m from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the University of Cambridge. Since then, the Trust has awarded over 2,000 scholarships to scholars from more than 100 countries.

Cambridge has helped me to dream big. I believe that technology can be used to solve real-world problems globally and should represent all voices.

Abdullah Hasan Safir

Abdullah Hasan Safir came to Cambridge in 2023 to study for an MPhil in AI Ethics, exploring how the field overlooks Global South perspectives. Now, thanks to a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, he is pursuing a PhD in Interdisciplinary AI Design with the Cambridge Collective Intelligence and Design Group. His research explores how indigenous knowledge in Bangladesh can guide the creation of more inclusive AI systems by influencing data practices and algorithm design to ensure that technology truly benefits local communities.

Safir authored a paper for the Association for Computing Machinery this year, based on a study which analysed nearly 6,000 AI ethics publications and revealed how Global South voices are often sidelined, perpetuating epistemic inequality in the field.

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Wolfson College

Wolfson College has been investing in the CUEF since 2010, with a total fund now worth £54.2m, representing 99.9% of its total investments.

Since placing our endowment with the Cambridge University Endowment Fund in 2010, Wolfson has seen steady, sustainable growth. The fund’s stability, reliable income, and professional management have given us the confidence to plan long term and reassure donors that their gifts are well managed. Together with strong fundraising, this growth has strengthened scholarships and enabled major investments, from modernising catering facilities to expanding student accommodation, without compromising future priorities. The CUEF’s performance and governance help us balance prudence with ambition, ensuring Wolfson continues to grow in vision and capability.

Joanna Cheffins

Bursar, Wolfson College

Endowment income plays a vital role in supporting Wolfson College’s mission and community. In 2024/25, the College funded 320 awards including scholarships, bursaries, hardship, travel,prizes, and sports awards, through the Cambridge University Endowment Fund (CUEF). This income also underpins essential projects such as building maintenance and the expansion of student accommodation.

Important Information

This Annual Review is issued by University of Cambridge Investment Management Limited (“UCIM”) as the investment manager to Cambridge University Endowment Fund for information purposes only.
All reasonable care has been taken in the preparation of this information. No responsibility can be accepted under any circumstances for errors of fact or omission. Some of the information in this document may contain projections or other forward-looking statements. Such statements are only predictions as of the date of this report which could change without notice and actual events or results may differ. Nothing herein should be construed as investment advice to buy or sell any securities.
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Past performance is not a guide to future results. The value of an investment and any income from it can go down as well as up and investors may not get back the original amount Invested. University of Cambridge Investment Management Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with reference number 515843

Annual Review 2025

Impact

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