£200 million over 5 years
for research into anxiety and depression in young people
Our vision is a world in which no one is held back by mental health problems.
Mental health problems are holding back people of all ages, in all parts of the world. They are predicted to be the main cause of global mortality and morbidity by 2030.
Today, one in four people will experience a mental health problem in any given year. While some treatments work for some people, some of the time, we urgently need to find better approaches that can help more people globally.
Wellcome has a vital role to play. By bringing together expertise across science, innovation and society, we’re speeding up research to understand mental health better, and to develop treatments and approaches that are more effective and more personalised.
Miranda Wolpert, Director of Mental HealthThe world needs a more inclusive mental health science. Wellcome wants to widen science to include new voices and perspectives, and all forms of rigorous exploration of evidence, from the cellular to the social.
Over the next 30 years, we will help find the next generations of treatments and approaches to help prevent or treat mental ill health.
Right now, we are supporting the mental health science community to align around common goals, foster creative research, and involve people with lived experience every step of the way. And we are developing a portfolio of innovations and building scientific evidence around how they work.
Wellcome also funds discovery research into a broad range of disciplines, including mental health. Insights and tools from this research will contribute to solving this health challenge, as well as increasing broader understanding of life, health and wellbeing.
Read more about our current focus and what we want to achieve in the mental health space in the next 30 years.
for research into anxiety and depression in young people
with evidence about what mental health approaches work
of the routes to positive mental health
We’re doing this through research, policy, advocacy, public engagement and innovation.
We want the broadest range of people to contribute to and benefit from equitable solutions to mental health problems. That’s why we work with researchers, people with lived experience, policy makers, activists, community leaders and businesses in all parts of the world.
We’re currently working on:
Read more about our work.
Grant funding: If you’re looking for funding to support your research ideas, have a look at our discovery research funding schemes. These are open to applicants based in the UK, the Republic of Ireland and low- and middle-income countries, and coapplicants from the rest of the world if applying as part of a team.
One-off calls: We often have calls for specific projects as part of our mental health work, for applicants and teams in any country. There are no active calls at the moment, but previous and future calls will be published on our mental health: transforming research and treatments page.
[Summary] A commitment by Wellcome, UNICEF, the WHO, and the World Economic Forum to embed three principles across our mental health work: lived experience, local innovation, and larger than healthcare.
See everyone who's in our mental health team, or contact us at mentalhealth@wellcome.org.