Discovery Research
Discovery Research supports researchers at every career stage, funding work from early discovery science through to practical applied research.
Our strategy
We want a healthier future for everyone.
That’s why we support science to solve urgent health challenges facing everyone.
Science helps us understand life and improve health. At its best, it makes extraordinary advances and turns them into everyday realities.
But not everyone benefits equally. Where you are born, and the circumstances you live in, too often determine your chances of good health.
We want to change that. Better health should be the expectation, not the exception.
Getting there means reshaping how science is done, funded and used.
"A healthier future for everyone is within our reach. Science creates possibilities; our choices, commitment and willingness to take risks can turn them into better health where it’s needed most."
The difference we make
Wellcome is an independent foundation. That means we can act for the long term and move quickly when it matters.
Between 2022 and 2032, we're investing more than £16 billion to:
- Advance knowledge about life and health.
- Apply that knowledge to urgent health challenges.
- Ensure its benefits are more widely shared.
This is how we help create the conditions for scientific progress to improve health for more people, in more places.
Where we focus
We invest in research across many fields, from life sciences and medicine to social science and the humanities. That’s because the biggest health challenges rarely fit within a single field.
We support researchers at every career stage, and fund work from early discovery science through to practical applied research.
Much of our funding helps researchers pursue important questions about life and health, with the freedom to follow where their work takes them.
Alongside this broad approach, we focus effort on specific areas where the need is urgent, and scientific progress can make a difference within a decade:
Infectious Disease
Infectious diseases cause millions of deaths around the world each year, disrupting daily life across society and disproportionately affecting the world’s poorest.
Mental Health
Mental health affects people everywhere yet effective support often comes too late, with long-term consequences for people, families and society.
Climate and Health
The health effects of climate change are already reshaping our lives, hitting hardest where resources are most stretched.
Where we work
We engage globally across organisations, partnerships, governments, and people around the world, to shape how science is used to improve health.
We focus our efforts where we can make the greatest difference:
- The UK, where we are based, with its globally connected research system.
- Low- and middle-income countries in Africa, South Asia and South-East Asia, where the health impacts of infectious disease, mental health and climate change are greatest, and where growing research capacity creates opportunities to build sustainable research systems and improve health outcomes over the long term.
How we work
Science delivers its full potential only when it informs decisions in healthcare and everyday life.
To make sure this happens, we work with governments and decision makers to enable evidence informed choices that support science and health. We connect science with people’s lives through public debate, stories and cultural experiences – building understanding and trust on all sides.
