How are we governed?
Wellcome is an independent charitable foundation with an investment portfolio that currently stands at £37.6 billion.
Wellcome's vision and strategy
We want a healthier future for everyone.
That’s why we support science to solve urgent health challenges facing everyone.
Between 2022 and 2032, we plan to spend £16 billion on our mission:
Funding and enabling 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.
Advocating for 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.
Driving equitable health outcomes
A healthier future for everyone can only be achieved in a world where everyone’s experience of health matters. We are accountable to society for delivering our mission and have a role to play in making health outcomes more equitable within and between countries.
To drive equitable health outcomes we:
- advance inclusive practices in grant funding and directly commissioned research, to drive better science
- bring together researchers, affected communities and others across society to deliver appropriate and impactful solutions.
Our strategy
Our strategy focuses our work in two ways:
1. Enabling discovery
Discoveries made today will transform health in ways we can't yet imagine. We fund people who generate new knowledge, insights and understanding of life, health and wellbeing. We create opportunities for making discoveries that could fundamentally change the way health challenges are recognised, managed, prevented or solved in the future.
We support this work in a variety of ways:
- Discovery Research programme: Flexible funding for research in any discipline relating to health at any scale, from cells to societies.
- Wellcome Collection: Free museum and library, based in London, UK and online, that explores the past, present and future of health.
- Wellcome Leap: US based non-profit connecting scientists, technologists and innovators from around the world to pursue breakthroughs in human health.
- Wellcome Sanger Institute: World-leading centre for genomic research in the UK, advancing our understanding of biology and improving health.
2. Solving health challenges
We have identified three health challenges which must be addressed in order to achieve our vision of a healthier future for everyone. Through dedicated programmes we are committed to supporting research and working with communities and decision makers to drive equitable and accessible solutions.
- Climate and Health programme: Generating evidence and support for policy actions that protect health from climate change.
- Infectious Disease programme: Supporting innovative solutions to infectious diseases in the most affected communities.
- Mental Health programme: Driving new and better interventions for anxiety, depression and psychosis.
