Funding research
We fund research around the world, across a broad range of fields and disciplines, to understand life, health and wellbeing and to deliver equitable health solutions.
What we do
We're helping create a healthier future for everyone through research.
Our mission
We’re spending £16 billion in the decade to 2032 on research and advocacy supporting science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone.
Our approach
Explore grant funding
Advocating for policy change
We work with governments, communities and partners across the world to promote evidence-based policies and practices that improve health.
Engaging with people
We connect people with different experiences and expertise so that research can lead to a positive impact in communities affected by health challenges.
Wellcome's vision and strategy
Wellcome supports science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone.
Our priorities
People we fund generate new knowledge about life, health and wellbeing. Discoveries made today will transform health in ways we can't yet imagine. That's why our outlook is broad, from cells to societies, physical sciences to engaging with the public.
We're also bringing together expertise from across science, innovation and society to find equitable solutions in climate and health, infectious disease, and mental health.
To achieve all of this, our work focuses on five programmes.
Climate and Health
We support research and policy development that's putting health at the centre of climate change action.
Infectious Disease
We're enabling interventions that reduce the risk and impact of infectious disease.
Mental Health
We're driving a step change in early interventions for anxiety, depression and psychosis.
Discovery Research
We support researchers across their careers and create opportunities to generate new knowledge with the potential to improve life, health and wellbeing.
Wellcome Collection
We explore the past, present and future of health through our collections, exhibitions and events, in books and online at our free museum and library.
Major initiatives
Our contributions to these initiatives are designed to give researchers around the world the tools, technologies and thriving research environments to make ground-breaking discoveries that will advance health.
Wellcome Leap
We've provided $500 million to enable Wellcome Leap to build bold, unconventional programs that aim to achieve scientific and technological breakthroughs within five to ten years.
Wellcome Sanger Institute
We've invested over £3 billion in the last 30 years to help the Sanger Institute lead the way in genomic research.
Major partnerships and directed activity
We fund globally, investing in researchers, large programmes of research and co-funded initiatives in the UK and in low- and middle-income countries.
Our impact so far
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI): an essential partnership advancing vaccine development
We are a founding member of CEPI: an innovative global partnership accelerating the development of vaccines against emerging infectious diseases, such as Covid-19.
Human Genome Project: generating the first human genome sequence
We co-funded a landmark project advancing genomic techniques. Today the finished human genome sequence is an essential, accessible resource.
Lancet Countdown: tracking progress on health and climate change
We support the work of the Lancet Countdown. This report updates and holds world leaders accountable for their role in combating climate change.
Wellcome Annual Report 2023
Our annual report highlights the impact we're having on our mission of supporting science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone, as well as information about how we are funded and what we spent in the last financial year.