To create a healthier future for everyone, we’re engaging with communities, policy makers and the public.
Everyone’s experience of health matters. We engage with people across the world to better understand and share different experiences of health, science and social change. We do this by:
We also encourage researchers applying for funding to include in their proposals a plan for engaging with stakeholders such as the public, policy makers or relevant communities. Read our guide to engaged research approaches.
Since 2007, visitors to our free museum and library have been exploring the past, present and future of health. Through collections, exhibitions and events, in books and online, we seek opportunities for everyone to contribute different forms of knowledge and understanding towards a world in which everyone’s experience of health matters.
We support projects to explore how people think and feel about health and science, including how trustworthy science is, to inform our work.
Wellcome Global Monitor is the world’s largest study into how people think and feel about science and health challenges. We survey adults across 140 countries every two to three years and publish the findings to provide diverse data on the experiences of the public and what influences their perceptions of science, healthcare systems and government.
We work with the cultural and creative sectors to put urgent health challenges high on the public agenda.
Canopy is an art and science festival and network aiming to bring health to the heart of climate action. It launched in 2024 alongside the first ever health theme at Climate Week NYC. The aim was to embrace culture as a means to change attitudes and policies on climate and health, share knowledge and create conversations and connections.
We work to ensure that a broad a range of people are leading, participating in and benefiting from science. The perspectives of the communities most affected by health challenges inform what we do and how we do it. When research is led from and done within affected communities it is directly informed by people’s needs and the outputs are more trusted and accessible. This gives research insights a head start towards being implemented and benefiting those whose health has most to gain.
We work with partners across the world, including researchers, community organisers and creative and cultural organisations.
For example, we are currently working with entertainment partners OKRE and Climate Spring to expand people’s understanding of climate and health.
I Hope This Helps is a crowd-sourced documentary, co-produced by Wellcome as part of the international Mindscapes programme. By collecting footage from people around the world, the project aims to create an honest, intimate and real-life story of mental health, creating change through sharing stories and inspiring new research into solutions that can make a difference.
We've partnered with the Natural History Museum in London on their new gallery – Fixing Our Broken Planet. This free exhibit brings together voices from scientists, leading environmentalists and young changemakers to inspire action. It explores how climate change impacts human health and shares science-backed solutions that will help us create a world where everyone can flourish.
Now in its second season, this Wellcome podcast, hosted by botanist-turned-Hollywood actor Alisha Wainwright, explores the groundbreaking research and innovations transforming our health. The aim is to spotlight the role science can play in finding practical solutions to the greatest global health challenges of our time.
We’ve been testing ways to enhance the public’s understanding of the health impacts of extreme heat in the UK. The ultimate goal is to show decision makers that climate and health matters to wider groups of key voters – beyond climate activists – in order to increase decision makers’ motivation to create change.
With the Wellcome Photography Prize we celebrate and share compelling imagery that captures stories of health, science and human experience. The competition brings together different perspectives on health from around the world.
This project looks beyond the usual ways of approaching community engagement. It explores participation in health research, how relationships could be more reciprocal, how the benefits can be shared more equitably and how diverse communities can participate as experts in the production and exchange of knowledge.
We mainly work through strategic partnerships and projects. If you're interested in working with us – especially on creative and cultural initiatives relating to mental health, climate and health, or trust in science – please get in touch by emailing engagement@wellcome.org.
There are currently no funding schemes for engagement activities, although we sometimes invite specific organisations to apply for discretionary awards.
As well as engaging with our exhibitions and events, there are many ways to get involved with Wellcome Collection, including opportunities for young people, researchers, creative minds and Indigenous communities.
At Wellcome, we invite organisations to apply for contract opportunities that support our mission to fund discovery research and find solutions to three worldwide health challenges: mental health, infectious disease and climate.
Associate Director, Engagement
Wellcome
Head of Creative & Cultural Advocacy
Head of Public Initiatives
Melanie Keen
Director of Wellcome Collection
Anna Cornelius
Head of Communications & Marketing, Wellcome Collection
Daniel Martin
Associate Director, Collections and Digital, Wellcome Collection
Rachael Minott
Head of Wellcome Collection, Access, Diversity and Inclusion
Sam Owen
Associate Director, Strategy and Governance, Wellcome Collection
Sumitra Upham
Associate Director, Curatorial and Public Practice, Wellcome Collection
