The Wainwright Trust was set up in 1987 to commemorate the life and work of equal opportunities pioneer David Wainwright, whose untimely death that year left a major gap in the provision of the knowledge, expertise, drive and understanding necessary to bring about change in the area of equal opportunities at work. Originally concerned only with issues of race and gender, its remit was extended in 2002 to all issues of discrimination in the workplace.

The Trust began by awarding travel grants, one of which resulted in the Trust's first publication — a review of equal opportunities in the American police forces undertaken by Zsuzsanna Adler of the Police Staff College in Bramshill and published in 1990 with the title A Fairer Cop.

Subsequently, the Trust in collaboration with the Foundation for Management Education, the African and Caribbean Finance Forum and the Windsor Fellowship, commissioned research to examine the incidence, experience and management development needs of Afro-Caribbean people aspiring to management jobs. This work was published in early 1997 as The Cement Roof.

Research commissioned exclusively by the Trust has looked at the effects on equal opportunities policies and practices of the trend towards devolution and decentralisation in both the public and private sectors — published in May 1997 as Decentralisation and Devolution: the impact on equal opportunities at work. This research was undertaken by Dr Judith Foreman and Rachel Bedingfield, both then of the Bradford and Ilkley Community College, in the private sector and Mary Coussey, of the Judge Institute, Cambridge University, in the public sector.

The most recent report, Picking Up the Pieces, was based on a study, commissioned from Prof Jeanne Gregory of Middlesex University, into how employers do — and should — cope with the aftermath of tribunal cases, in particular following complaints of harassment.

Other initiatives have included the sponsorship of a Parents at Work publication, UK Employer Initiatives, on family friendly and equal opportunities policies; co-sponsorship of an Open University seminar to encourage ethnic minority business graduates to apply to become OU tutors; and, uniquely and importantly, with financial support from the Nuffield Foundation, creating and running a two-year training programme for those engaged in equal pay for work of equal value, culminating in the preparation and publication of the Equal Value Training Manual.

To celebrate the Trust's tenth anniversary in 1997 an annual lecture was inaugurated, the first given by Usha (now Baroness) Prashar on Equal Opportunities: from wings to centre stage, and the second by Baroness (Valerie) Amos on Equality at Work: an ethical investment? Since then the annual event has taken the form of a "brains trust" or panel question and answer session with an invited audience. This has been chaired in successive years by Janet Street-Porter, Baroness (Helena) Kennedy, Baroness (Usha) Prashar, Sue MacGregor, Moira Stewart, Jenni Murray and René Carayol.

In 2007, the twentieth anniversary of the Trust, a special event was held. This took the form of a play, commissioned from the Garnett Foundation, charting the successes and failures in improving equal opportunities in the workplace over the twenty years since the Trust was formed.

In 1999 the Trust launched its Breakthrough Award for the unsung heroes and heroines of equal opportunities in the workplace. An award is made roughly every two years as a result of a competitive process, but the Trust has also made special awards to people whom they regard as having made a very special contribution without widespread recognition.

More details of all the activities of the Trust can be found by clicking on the appropriate button on the left.