Wellcome Collection launches The Hub

An allowance of £1 million is being offered to groups of three to five researchers and practitioners from the arts, humanities, sciences and social sciences, and other areas of academic or professional expertise, to develop or accelerate an exciting, innovative and ground-breaking project related to health. The residency will cover two academic years and will encourage outputs that generate new insights, new forms of engagement, new methodologies and new interventions.

Applications are welcome from people keen to create a thriving culture of exchange across specialisms, whether they are an interdisciplinary research group, a policy-minded think-tank or cutting-edge arts outfit. The resident group will have resources to bring in assistants, collaborators, advisors, artists-in-residence and visiting fellows to build an environment of open collaboration and creativity and to foster work that is original, impactful and publicly accessible.

The group will have a dedicated space at Wellcome Collection, newly created as part of a £17.5m development that is transforming the building with new galleries, doubled events space and an expansion of the Wellcome Library. Applicants will be expected to make full use of Wellcome Collection's resources and draw on the wide range of programmes and expertise afforded by the Wellcome Trust. In addition, The Hub is situated near the British Library, the British Museum, UCL, Birkbeck, LSHTM, the Institute of Education and the School of Advanced Study.

The Wellcome Trust is committed to the interdisciplinary study of medicine and believes its mission of achieving extraordinary improvements in health is best served by encouraging multiple perspectives on health, art and life. It is hoped that work undertaken in The Hub will carry the ethos of intellectual curiosity found in the critically acclaimed public programmes at Wellcome Collection and will encapsulate the ambition that the Trust seeks to inspire in all its projects.

Clare Matterson, Director of Medical Humanities and Engagement at the Wellcome Trust, says: "The Hub at Wellcome Collection will be a flagship interdisciplinary space that offers a unique opportunity for creative thinkers from the humanities, arts, sciences, social sciences and other arenas to explore the fertile intellectual territory at the intersection of their interests.

"We want to encourage meetings of the brightest minds across specialisms and will support the resident group with the rich variety of resources the Wellcome Trust is uniquely placed to offer."

Preliminary applications must be submitted by 3 May 2013 and final applications are due by 22 November 2013. The first group residency of The Hub will be announced after a selection process in March 2014.