endeavorist:
In the wake of stagnant funding, merging research councils, and reigning in of various funding consortiums, “Wellcome” news was recently announced for the UK’s research funding woes, with Wellcome Trust - the second highest spending foundation in the world - committed to providing £5 billion over the next five years strictly to scientific research.
The October 21, 2015 announcement expanded upon Wellcome Trust’s dedication to “a new strategic framework focused on advancing the best ideas in science and research, seizing opportunities as they arise and taking advantage of our independence to drive reform.” To put this in further perspective, Wellcome Trust has invested £6 billion over the last ten years and £11 billion since it began in 1936.
“The Wellcome Trust has a long-standing record in science and research of which we are very proud. We are able to build on that legacy with an increased commitment to supporting people and teams with great ideas in basic science and applied research, social science and the humanities, which will remain at the core of our work. But we can now also bring additional focus to some of the biggest health challenges of our time. We responded swiftly to Ebola but there are other serious issues where we believe that we can help bring about change for the better.”
– Dr. Jeremy Farrar, Director of the Wellcome Trust
This ‘strategic framework’ consists of three approaches to science, research, and public engagement:
Advancing Ideas. Wellcome will continue to respond to great ideas and inspired thinking that address the fundamental health challenges of our time.
Seizing opportunities. Bringing ideas together to make a big difference, providing intensive support that creates real change; identify times when concerted intervention can accelerate progress towards better health.
Driving reform. Changing ways of working so more ideas can flourish, leading by example and campaigning for wider reform. Through open access to research results, public engagement, and research careers, they’ve earned the credibility to challenge ways of working, and to propose better alternatives.
In the official press release, Wellcome Trust states their priorities will evolve with new challenges, learning on insights from their rich history of achievement and global network of experts from various disciplines. Their initial priorities include:
Drug-resistant infection. Growing resistance to antibiotics and other drugs threatens many of the benefits of modern medicine. Wellcome will explore how best to use and protect the treatments we have, and to encourage the development of new ones.
Vaccination. Too many lives are still lost to diseases that could be prevented by vaccines, mostly in low and middle-income countries. Wellcome will investigate how best to stimulate research, technology development and policy to address this critical unmet need.
Our Planet, Our Health. Human health is intimately linked to the environment in which we live. Wellcome will build understanding of how global food systems and urbanisation connect to health, improving the evidence base for public policy.
Science education. An appreciation of science, for the future scientist or the informed citizen, begins with learning in school and beyond. Wellcome will help give young people an engaging, relevant and inspiring science education.
View the detailed overview of Wellcome Trust’s Strategic Framework.
As noted by James Wilsdon, professor of science and democracy in the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of Sussex, ample evidence shows, public investment in research crowds in, rather than squeezes out, investment from the private sector and from charities like the Wellcome Trust. Healthy levels of public funding create positive multiplier effects, as others pile in with extra resources.
But the reverse can also apply. If public investment winds down, or remains flat for years on end, our universities will struggle to maintain a foothold at the frontiers of international research, and linked investments by businesses and charities will head elsewhere. It would be a tragedy if political short-sightedness means that the potential of Wellcome’s £5 billion boost can’t be fully realized by British science.
Wilsdon’s editorial feature ‘Wellcome’s £5 billion boost to British science’ inspired this post.