£38m fund for biomedical research

Through the £38 million Institutional Strategic Support Fund (ISSF), universities are being given the flexibility to invest between £600,000 and £3 million each to develop early careers, collaborative activities and interdisciplinary initiatives.

“The scheme is distinctive because it allows universities themselves to identify where money can be most usefully spent

Wellcome Trust director Jeremy Farrar

Each university has agreed to match the funding they receive with an equivalent investment.

Supporting biomedical research and its associated activities over the next two years, this is the second time the Wellcome Trust has run the ISSF scheme, adding five new universities to its roster this year.

“Having spent the last year listening to universities across the UK, I know that the Institutional Strategic Support Fund is one of our most valued schemes,” said Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust.

“The scheme is distinctive because it allows universities themselves to identify where money can be most usefully spent in pursuit of their and our strategic objectives, ranging from supporting the early careers of researchers to focusing on resources needed to develop really excellent public engagement or investment in cutting-edge research,” Farrar said.

The 25 universities that have been awarded ISSF grants are as follows:

• University of Aberdeen
• Birkbeck, University of London
• University of Birmingham
• University of Bristol
• University of Cambridge
• Cardiff University
• University of Dundee
• University of Edinburgh
• University of Exeter
• University of Glasgow
• Imperial College London
• King’s College London
• University of Leeds
• University of Liverpool
• Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
• London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
• University of Manchester
• Newcastle University
• University of Oxford
• Queen Mary University of London
• University of St Andrews
• University of Sussex
• University College London
• University of Warwick
• University of York