Europe PMC (PubMed Central)
We are a funder of Europe PMC which provides an online database offering free access to published biomedical research.
Excellent research happens in environments where people from all backgrounds are treated with respect, supported and enabled to thrive.
It requires attention to ethical, social and cultural considerations, and engagement with the needs and perspectives of relevant communities.
We believe that creative and high-quality ideas must be open and accessible to everyone to drive innovation and achieve the most significant impact.
These values cut across everything we do and everyone we work with. They are at the heart of the positive and inclusive research culture we want to encourage with our funding so that:
By taking a holistic view of the environmental factors that impact research outcomes, Wellcome can achieve its ambition to be an inclusive funder of research to improve health for everyone.
Improving research environments is a priority that cuts across all of Wellcome’s funding teams, underpinning our work on discovery research, climate and health, infectious disease and mental health.
We also aim to contribute to the broader research ecosystem to ensure that Wellcome researchers have access to the resources, tools, and skills to pursue their work in ways that produce better evidence and meaningful impacts. This includes convening community events, doing policy work, investing in infrastructure, commissioning research and occasionally, offering funding for relevant activities.
Our activities aim to:
We are a funder of Europe PMC which provides an online database offering free access to published biomedical research.
We helped to establish the GHBN, which brings together bioethics scholars from across the world to collaborate on exciting ethics research and support early-career bioethicists.
The NCCPE promotes high-quality and equitable approaches to engagement across the knowledge sector. It is co-funded by Wellcome, Research England and UKRI.
We support the RoRI, which generates insights on how to improve funding and assess innovative models for research funding.
We launched this award to provide flexible funding for researchers of Black, Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage in the UK to undertake activities that will help them reach their next career stage.
Wellcome's Institutional Fund for Research Culture supports initiatives to improve research culture at institutions across the UK and Ireland.
We help fund this social mobility programme that supports people from low socio-economic backgrounds to progress to postgraduate research.
We commissioned a report to explore the impact of calls to rapidly and openly share Covid-19 research findings to inform public health response.
We commissioned this research to understand what constitutes a “positive and inclusive” research culture in Africa.
You can expect to find questions about research environment within the funding criteria for most of our awards. You should be able to demonstrate how your research is open, ethical and engaged, as well as describe how you will foster a positive and inclusive research culture.
Wellcome also has several research policies related to open and ethical research, and we recommend that researchers consult these when designing funding applications and delivering successful awards.
Wellcome does not have specific funding for research environment; however, it is a theme in all research grant funding and is often a criterion in other procurement processes.
Head of Research Environment
Open Research Lead
Wellcome
Bioethics Lead
Wellcome
Senior Manager, Research Culture and Communities
Wellcome
If you have general enquiries or ideas related to our Research Environment work, please contact us on