Illustration of a woman painting and holding a smartphone which shows a graph.
Credit:

Ellice Weaver / Wellcome

Wellcome Mental Health Data Prizes

We support teams to use existing data to uncover new insights and create digital tools for research into anxiety and depression in young people.

Wellcome Mental Health Data Prize: Africa, 2024 

Our newest data prize will fund teams across the African continent to analyse data and build digital tools to answer the question: “What can help us tackle anxiety, depression and psychosis in Africa?”

We are working with The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) to run this prize. They will deliver training, facilitate access to data sources from across the continent and support teams through the prize.

Applications for the Africa prize are now closed.  

Wellcome Mental Health Data Prize: UK and South Africa, 2022-2023  

The first Wellcome Data Prize was delivered in partnership with Social Finance and was open to teams in the UK and South Africa, £1.4 million was awarded across three phases, with the top prize of £500,000 shared between the three winning teams. The prize ended in June 2024.

We designed the prize to prioritise inclusivity, creativity and multidisciplinary working. Lived experience was embedded throughout – from design to delivery – and tools were co-created with lived experience experts to ensure they have a lasting impact.

Find out about the eligibility, evaluation criteria and design of the prize. We are using what we learned to inform the structure of the new Data Prize in Africa. 

"I have been a member of many funding panels and the Wellcome Mental Health Data Prize stood out in terms of the diversity of applicants. The prize really reached beyond the usual suspects with applicants from various geographies, career stages and institutions from both inside and outside the academic landscape, which will bring new perspectives to the research area."

Ann John, Chair of the Mental Health Data Prize Selection Panel

Projects funded during previous phases:

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