Europe PMC (PubMed Central)
We are a funder of Europe PMC which provides an online database offering free access to published biomedical research.
Improving research environments
Creating a healthier future for everyone depends on thriving research environments that enable open, engaged, equitable, ethical and efficient 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:
- the research that we support is strengthened by being ethical, open and engaged
- the people we fund thrive in equitable, diverse and supportive research cultures
- Wellcome is known as an innovative, efficient and inclusive partner and organisation
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.
Hannah Hope
Open Research Lead
Wellcome
Our approach
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:
- ensure that research is guided by and responsive to the needs and views of people involved in, or impacted by the work
- navigate the complexities of innovation and encourage ethical, transformative research
- openly share ideas, data and findings to speed up progress, enable reproducible research, and reduce duplication
- shape research culture and communities so that researchers from all backgrounds can thrive as they pursue bold ideas
- generate evidence and metascience on funding practices
Our work in action
Learn more about Europe PMC
Global Health Bioethics Network (GHBN)
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.
National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE)
The NCCPE promotes high-quality and equitable approaches to engagement across the knowledge sector. It is co-funded by Wellcome, Research England and UKRI.
Research on Research Institute (RoRI)
We support the RoRI, which generates insights on how to improve funding and assess innovative models for research funding.
Accelerator Awards
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.
Institutional Fund for Research Culture (IFRC)
Wellcome's Institutional Fund for Research Culture supports initiatives to improve research culture at institutions across the UK and Ireland.
In2Research
We help fund this social mobility programme that supports people from low socio-economic backgrounds to progress to postgraduate research.
Investigating the effects of open sharing commitments
We commissioned a report to explore the impact of calls to rapidly and openly share Covid-19 research findings to inform public health response.
Research culture across Africa
We commissioned this research to understand what constitutes a “positive and inclusive” research culture in Africa.
How this applies to your research
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.
Looking for research funding?
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.
Our team
Dan O’Connor
Head of Research Environment
Hannah Hope
Open Research Lead
Wellcome
Carleigh Krubiner
Bioethics Lead
Wellcome
Shomari Lewis-Wilson
Senior Manager, Research Culture and Communities
Wellcome
If you have general enquiries or ideas related to our Research Environment work, please contact us on
