STRATEGIC PLAN

2005–2010
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
OUR MISSION IS TO FOSTER
AND PROMOTE RESEARCH
WITH THE AIM OF IMPROVING
HUMAN AND ANIMAL HEALTH

COVER
Scanning electron
micrograph of
Penicillium mould,
producing spores.
D Gregory and
D Marshall
CONTENTS

Foreword 2
From Sir Dominic Cadbury and Dr Mark Walport

Introduction 4
Mission and strategic aims 6
Our priorities 8
Where our emphasis will lie during 2005–2010

Aim 1 Advancing knowledge 10

Aim 2 Using knowledge 12
Aim 3 Engaging society 14
Celebrating success 16
How we performed against the priorities we set in 2000

Aim 4 Developing people 18

Aim 5 Facilitating research 20
Aim 6 Developing our organisation 22
Financial framework 24
Our spending strategy for 2005–2010

Monitoring progress 26
How we will assess progress towards our goals

Governors and senior staff 28

1
 FOREWORD

Since the Wellcome Trust’s formation in 1936 we have continuously supported excellent
research, with the aim of improving human and animal health. We recognised then,
as we do now, the need to provide long-term support, since most biomedical research
is incremental, building on past achievements.
During the period of our first five-year Plan, Planning for the Future, published in 2000,
we achieved a great deal. Through our support for the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute,
we made a key contribution to the completion of the Human Genome Project. We worked
in partnership with the UK Government to help revitalise university infrastructure and
enhance clinical research. Our long-term support for our major overseas programmes
has helped to improve understanding of diseases that have a devastating impact in
developing countries. We also restructured our scientific programmes, refocused and
enhanced our technology transfer activities, and took forward a broad range of
imaginative activities to engage the public in biomedical science. Highlights of some
of the exciting outcomes that came to fruition during the period of our last Plan are
featured on the following pages.
Our aims and objectives for 2005–2010 will ensure that we continue to make a difference
in the areas we support. In particular, we will retain the flexibility to respond rapidly to
the best ideas from our communities, and provide the most appropriate form of support
to take these ideas forward. We will build on the success of our international funding,
continue to engage public audiences, and develop new initiatives to facilitate and
accelerate the take-up of research outcomes by clinicians, industry and policy makers.
The success of this Plan will depend critically on the wide range of people and organisations
with whom we work. The most important are the researchers and institutions who carry
out the research that we support. Additionally, our staff, and the experts from around
the world who review applications and serve on our advisory committees, will play a
crucial role in taking forward this Plan.
Many of the challenges we are seeking to address will not be realised by one organisation
working alone. In implementing this Plan, we will actively seek to work in partnership
with other organisations where added benefit can be gained, building on the wide
range of innovative funding partnerships we have brokered over recent years.
This Plan will be used as a basis upon which we will identify and develop strategic
priorities, informed by ideas from our communities. We will also use this Plan to set in
place improved systems to assess our progress, so that we can ensure that we really are
making a difference.

Sir Dominic Cadbury Mark Walport

CHAIRMAN DIRECTOR

2 STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 FOREWORD

FOREWORD STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 3
 INTRODUCTION The Wellcome Trust is the most RIGHT
The Wellcome
Trust Sanger Institute

diverse biomedical research charity at Hinxton.

FAR RIGHT
The Wellcome Trust’s

in the world, supporting a spectrum founder, Sir Henry

Wellcome.
BELOW

of activity from basic science to A three-day-old

human embryo.
Y Nikas
history of medicine

Our independence and size enable us to act

responsively and flexibly, seizing new opportunities
and acting as a catalyst for innovation. We are able
to take a long-term view and to take funding risks,
acting for the public good.
We are a major funder of research in the UK, with
a strong international presence as well. For many of
our activities we work with a wide range of partners.
We fund excellence and encourage innovation
by endeavouring to support the best researchers,
the best teams and the best ideas.
We support the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute –
a world-leading centre exploring the role of genomes
in health and disease.
In November 2000 we published our first five-year
Plan, Planning for the Future. In the last five years,
we have spent £2.4 billion in delivering our mission.
At any one time, we support over 3000 researchers
in more than 40 countries.
Over the past five years, about 90 per cent of our
funding has been in the UK. Most of the remaining
10 per cent supports research and capacity building
in developing and restructuring countries.
Our Strategic Plan for 2005–2010, Making a
Difference, provides the context and direction
for the Wellcome Trust during this period.
We will update the Plan, periodically,
at www.wellcome.ac.uk.

4 STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 INTRODUCTION

WELLCOME TRUST SANGER INSTITUTE WELLCOME TRUST
Forming part of the Wellcome To accommodate the expanded The Wellcome Trust was created
Trust Genome Campus at research programme at the Sanger on the death of Sir Henry
Hinxton in Cambridgeshire, Institute, the £95 million South Wellcome in 1936. In 1880, Henry
UK, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Field Project was completed in Wellcome and his partner Silas
Institute is one of the world’s 2005 – providing new laboratories, Mainville Burroughs established
foremost centres for genomics a data centre, research support a pharmaceutical company,
and bioinformatics research. facilities and offices. Burroughs Wellcome & Co.
Established in 1993, the Sanger In 1895, Silas Burroughs died,
In addition to the Sanger Institute,
Institute played a leading role leaving the company in the
the Genome Campus houses the
in the international Human hands of his partner. The firm
European Bioinformatics Institute
Genome Project – delivering flourished under Henry Wellcome’s
(EBI). The Wellcome Trust has
one-third of the human genome leadership. In his will, Wellcome
committed to work with the UK
sequence (the largest single vested the entire share capital of
Research Councils to create space
contribution). It has also the drug company, The Wellcome
for an expansion to this vital
sequenced the genomes of many Foundation Limited, in a charitable
research institute.
medically important pathogenic trust – the Wellcome Trust.
organisms – including the agents The Genome Campus is also
In the 1980s and 1990s, we
that cause malaria, tuberculosis home to the Wellcome Trust
diversified our asset base, selling
and typhoid fever. Conference Centre – a high-
shares in the Wellcome drug
quality venue for major
During the period of the Wellcome company and investing the
international scientific meetings
Trust’s last Plan, we funded a proceeds. The diversified portfolio
and conferences. Through its
£300 million five-year programme of investment assets is around
Advanced Courses programme,
of research at the Institute. Under £11 billion (as of June 2005).
the Wellcome Trust has utilised
the leadership of Allan Bradley,
the unique facilities available
the current Director, the focus
on the Genome Campus to
of the Institute has shifted from
provide hands-on training in
sequencing genomes to using
the latest research techniques
sequence data to answer important
for hundreds of scientists from
biological questions on the role
around the world.
of genes in health and disease.

INTRODUCTION STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 5

 MISSION AND STRATEGIC AIMS Our mission is to foster RIGHT
Electron micrograph
of a blood vessel

and promote research that has grown into

a melanoma.
K Hodivala-Dilke

with the aim of improving and M Stone

human and animal health

Over the next five years, our aims will be:

1 Advancing knowledge: To support research

to increase understanding of health and disease,
4 Developing people: To foster a research community
and individual researchers who can contribute
and its societal context to the advancement and use of knowledge

2 Using knowledge: To support the development

and use of knowledge to create health benefit
5 Facilitating research: To promote the best
conditions for research and the use of knowledge

3 Engaging society: To engage with society

to foster an informed climate within which
6 Developing our organisation: To use our resources
efficiently and effectively.
biomedical research can flourish.

The UK will remain the principal base for our research

activity. Assuming that the current investment climate
remains unchanged, we aim to commit £1.5 billion in
the UK over the next five years. We will also continue
to fund internationally, and expect that this element
of our funding will increase.

6 STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 MISSION AND STRATEGIC AIMS

Our strategic aims.

Developing
people

Facilitating
research
Developing
our organisation

MISSION AND STRATEGIC AIMS STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 7

 OUR PRIORITIES This Plan sets the direction we aim RIGHT
Colony of
Gloeotrichia, a

to follow and outlines how we will cyanobacterium.

M I Walker
LEFT (FROM TOP)

identify and develop priorities across Osteoporotic bone.

D Gregory and D Marshall
A premature baby.
our activities Child from Kilifi,
where part of our
Kenyan research
programme is based.
C Penn
A scene from Love
Science, a play by
Villiers High School,
London.

Over the next five years, we will build

on our first Plan by:
• ensuring that the single biggest element
of our total funding is used to support basic,
curiosity-driven, investigator-led research
and career initiatives – recognising that this
underpins future discovery and application
• using around 10 per cent of our spend each
year to enable us to respond flexibly to new,
unanticipated opportunities
• increasing support for clinical research and
training to ensure that the research we support
benefits human health
• increasing support for the use of knowledge
that arises from biomedical research for
health benefit
• expanding activities to engage with the public
about biomedical science and the issues
it raises for society.

8 STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 OUR PRIORITIES

FUNDING AND GOVERNANCE
In 2004, our funding activities are focused effectively and are Our funding streams.
were restructured around six using the most appropriate means
thematic streams (five biomedical of funding. We will ensure that
science streams and one in the opportunities for cross-stream
medical humanities). Each of working are maximised.
these streams has a Strategy
To help us capture the outputs
Committee made up of leaders in
and outcomes from the work we
their fields who advise on the best
support, we will set in place a
ways to develop that area of
more systematic approach for
research and training. In addition,
monitoring progress in achieving
Strategy Committees advise on
the aims and objectives set out in
two cross-cutting activities:
this Plan.
technology transfer and public
engagement. The Board of Governors, working
with the Executive Board and the
Each stream has at least one rest of our staff, has responsibility
funding committee associated for balancing priorities across and
with it. Funding committees are between streams and ensuring that
responsible for awarding grants funding is allocated in a way that
within each stream. advances our mission and strategy
We will use the advice of our most effectively. We aim to be open
Strategy Committees to help us to and transparent in our work. Strategy Committee
develop the portfolio of our
Funding Committee(s)
activities in each of our funding
streams, ensuring that the streams

OUR PRIORITIES STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 9

 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Advancing knowledge:
To support research to increase
understanding of health and
disease, and its societal context
Through support of a broad portfolio of biomedical research, we aim to
make a significant difference by advancing understanding of the processes
that underpin health and disease. Our continuing support for excellent
basic research has provided a platform from which to develop clinical
research as a key priority. We also support research that addresses the
wider societal and historical context of the biomedical sciences, to help
us to understand the present and learn from the past.

1 Objective 1.1 Over the next five years, we intend to:

To provide funding support across the • increase support for clinical and public health
continuum of biomedical research: research, both overseas and in the UK
• basic – to encourage an experimental and • facilitate the support of interdisciplinary research
exploratory approach to increase understanding to help accelerate advances in biomedical
of the biological basis of health and disease science, particularly at the interfaces between
in humans and animals biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics and
• clinical – to increase our support for clinical engineering
research designed to answer questions about • increase the amount of research we fund that
health and disease will ultimately lead to health benefits for those
• population health – to support research to improve in the developing world
understanding of the determinants of disease and • identify key scientific priorities, through
quality of life in populations, and generate a sound a range of mechanisms, including discussions
evidence base to inform decisions in public health with our five science Strategy Committees
and healthcare delivery
• continue our support for medical humanities
• medical humanities – to improve our understanding and consider whether there are new areas in
of the historical, ethical, social and cultural context which to focus support, through discussions
in which biomedical research and its application with the Medical Humanities Strategy
take place. Committee.

We provide a range of grant mechanisms to support

basic and clinical research proposals that address
important questions of relevance to our mission.
We also support major research activity within the
fields of the history of medicine and biomedical ethics.
Through our support of the Wellcome Trust Sanger
Institute, and our funding of functional genomics
research, we are making a major contribution to
advancing understanding of the role of genomes
in health and disease.

10 STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

ABOVE
The head of a
tapeworm showing HIGHLIGHTS 2000–2005
the vicious ring of
hooks with which
the parasite anchors
itself to the intestine
of its host.
M I Walker

New discoveries
• Research at the University of Manchester showing that the strength of tendons
is linked to previously unidentified extensions of the cell surface membrane –
designated ‘fibropositors’ – which cause collagen fibres to be deposited in a
parallel arrangement.
• Pioneering use of a revolutionary new tool, RNA interference (RNAi), to study the
function of genes, by scientists working on the nematode worm Caenorhabditis
elegans at the University of Cambridge.
• Discovery by a group at the University of Oxford that that the DNA of active
genes in budding yeast is not linear, but looped, with control proteins shared
between the start and end points of the gene.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 11

 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Using knowledge:
To support the development and use
of knowledge to create health benefit
We are committed to the principle of putting research into practice.
We aim to encourage the application of research knowledge for health benefit.
Over the next five years, in order to ensure that the enormous potential
provided by rapid advances in biomedical research is realised, we aim to
increase our annual spend in this area.

2 Objective 2.1 Objective 2.2

To increase the opportunities for the development To work with relevant partners to ensure that the
of products, devices and enabling technologies outcomes of research are considered in changes
for health benefit to clinical practice, healthcare and public policy

We provide Translation Awards to researchers from We work with governments in the UK and developing
across a broad spectrum of science and technology countries to facilitate the use of research outputs to
to enable them to advance promising innovations inform health policy and implementation. In partnership
to a stage at which they become attractive to the with the UK NHS and the Scottish Executive, we have
commercial sector for further development. We also also funded five Clinical Research Facilities. These major
work with inventors, and their institutions or early-stage sites for patient-oriented research aim to ensure that
companies, to maximise the opportunities for public advances in biomedical research feed into improvements
health benefit arising from the application of intellectual in healthcare and good clinical practice.
property derived from biomedical research. We provide
support for the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the Over the next five years, we intend to:
translation of its research for health benefit, and the use • work in partnership with key organisations to
of its intellectual property rights for the public benefit. capitalise on the initial successes of the Clinical
Research Facilities, ensuring that this area of
Over the next five years, we intend to: work has the greatest impact on good clinical
• seed the broadening of drug discovery research practice and healthcare
with new major awards for projects that • increase the potential for the outcomes of
complement industry and have the potential research to inform policy development and
for clinical application healthcare practice. Ways in which we might
• support translational research in neglected achieve this include:
diseases in order to create new opportunities for • developing more effective means to engage policy
product development by public–private partnerships makers and other user groups with scientific
in global health or other interested parties advances and related ethical issues
• work with the independent advisers of our • supporting researchers to promote the clinical,
Technology Transfer Strategy Panel and Challenge healthcare and public policy take-up of their
Committee to identify further priorities and own research
strategies for optimising the impact of translational
research funding. • reviewing and strengthening our work to
translate the latest outcomes from research into
training materials for healthcare professionals in
developing countries.

12 STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

ABOVE
A scanning electron
microscope image HIGHLIGHTS 2000–2005
of the sensory hair
bundle of an inner
hair cell from a
guinea-pig’s hearing
organ in the inner ear.
Dr David Furness

Antimalarials
• Pioneering trials of artemisinin combination
therapies for the treatment of malaria. These
studies have dramatically cut the death rate from
malaria in Southeast Asia, helped to prevent the
emergence and spread of resistance, and have
provided the biological, economic and clinical
basis for changes in global antimalarial treatment
recommendations.
• Creation and early testing in Kenya of a low-cost
and effective antimalarial treatment, ‘Lapdap’.
This new drug is now being trialled as a combination
with an artemisinin derivative (artesunate) to enhance
and safeguard its efficacy.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 13

 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Engaging society:
To engage with society to foster
an informed climate within which
biomedical research can flourish
We seek to engage society with the science we fund and its potential
achievements, applications and impacts on people’s lives. In our last Plan,
public engagement was identified as a priority, and over the last five years
we have substantially increased our funding, making us a leading player
in the UK. We will further increase our support for public engagement
during the lifetime of this Plan. Our approach to engaging the public with
biomedical sciences draws on our unique resources, history and expertise
to place biomedical science within a societal, historical and cultural context.

3 Objective 3.1 Over the next five years, we intend to:

To fund public engagement activities • complete the refurbishment of the Wellcome
and research to: Building in London, which includes the Wellcome
• promote interest, learning and excitement Library, to become an innovative venue to
about biomedical science and its past, provide the public, scientists, historians,
present and future impacts on society the arts community, health professionals and
• stimulate an informed debate to raise awareness opinion formers with a forum for exploration
and understanding of biomedical science, its and exchange about health, wellbeing and
achievements, applications and implications biomedical science

• inform our own – and wider national – • increase the numbers of biomedical scientists
debates, research plans and policies, and medical humanities researchers engaging
in relation to public interests and concerns, effectively with the public
to balance the needs of the research endeavour • develop further our work with young people
with those of society. to stimulate interest in biomedical science,
to sustain the number and increase the quality
We provide a range of grant-funding mechanisms of young people entering biomedical-related
(from small, responsive to larger, strategic awards) careers, and to enhance scientific literacy
to inform, inspire or involve people of all ages and • work with an increased number and range
from all walks of life. We seek to respond to new of organisations that have different public
and innovative ways to involve public audiences audiences (such as the media, think-tanks,
with biomedical science and its ethical and social cultural institutions) to bring biomedical
implications, and work with other organisations science into their remits
to achieve this.
• target specific adult audiences by producing
relevant information and events about the
latest directions in biomedical science and
explore new ways of working with media
outlets to bring biomedical science directions
to mass public audiences
• listen to issues raised by the public and track
attitudes and knowledge about specific
biomedical research issues to help develop
our thinking and use it to influence public
funding and policy making
• use our Strategy Committees to advise
us on priorities and new areas of activity.

14 STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

ABOVE
Scene from Yerma’s
Eggs, a Wellcome- HIGHLIGHTS 2000–2005
funded play that
explored infertility and
assisted reproduction
technologies. Avian flu
• Demonstration that the clinical
syndrome associated with avian
influenza is broader than previously
thought, suggesting that the
number of cases of the disease
in South-east Asia has been
underestimated.

Mark Henley/Panos

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 15

 CELEBRATING SUCCESS In our first five-year Plan,
we highlighted four areas of growth:
• clinical, patient-oriented research
• public engagement
• translation of basic research findings into commercial
applications that lead to health benefits
• international research.
We have made significant progress on all these fronts.

Clinical, patient-oriented research Public engagement

• Building on the success of the five UK Clinical Research • Committing £25 million to a £51 million initiative with the
Facilities we set up in partnership with the Department Department for Education and Skills, to establish a national
of Health and the Scottish Executive. We are establishing network of Science Learning Centres. These will help
a new initiative to assist in translating basic scientific teachers to gain support and expertise in delivering science
knowledge into clinical practice. education, and to inspire young people about science.
• Introducing a new £3 million per year programme for public
engagement, Engaging Science, which supports both large
national activities as well as small events across the UK.
These will build bridges between science and the public.
• Funding 20 projects in partnership to update science
exhibitions and museums for families and children, including
new developments at the Centre for Life in Newcastle,
@Bristol, ThinkTank in Birmingham, and the Hunterian
Museum, London. We also funded the redisplay of the
Foundling Museum, which tells the story of the Foundling
Hospital – London’s first home for abandoned children,
which also housed the first public art gallery in London.

16 STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 CELEBRATING SUCCESS

 FROM LEFT TO RIGHT
The Wellcome
Trust Edinburgh
Clinical Research
Facility building
at the Western
General Hospital.
University of Edinburgh
Scene from a play
funded through the
Engaging Science
scheme.
Helen Lee and her
team have developed
a rapid test to detect
Chlamydia.
Alexis Nzila,
a researcher who
works at the Nairobi
site of our research
programme in Kenya.
C Penn

Translation International
• Supporting development of a new rapid test for the detection • Establishing a £25 million research programme, Animal
of Chlamydia infection, one of the most common sexually Health in the Developing World, aimed at studying livestock
transmitted diseases in developed and developing countries. diseases in the developing world and their impact on
• Funding development and launch of the ‘MySkin’ bandage human health and wellbeing.
for difficult wound healing, such as treatment of burns • Providing £65 million for research and training into
and non-healing ulcers (e.g. diabetic foot ulcers). Health Consequences of Population Change, which
• Funding the largest ever study of steroid use in treatment is examining the health impact of shifts in population
of tuberculous meningitis, which led to a significant reduction structure and dynamics.
in mortality. The research results have fed into changes in • Launching, in partnership with the governments of
the Vietnamese national guidelines for treatment. Australia and New Zealand, the South and South-east
Asia and the Pacific health programme: a £12 million
scheme focusing on major health issues of various
countries in this region, promoting collaborative
research and training.

CELEBRATING SUCCESS STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 17

 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Developing people: RIGHT
Young researchers
at the University

To foster a research community of Exeter.

and individual researchers who can

contribute to the advancement and
use of knowledge
The advancement and use of knowledge is driven forward by talented researchers
and their teams. For us to deliver our mission, the development and maintenance
of a vibrant research community is critical – wherever we fund.

4 Objective 4.1 Objective 4.2

To provide training and career support schemes To stimulate research capacity building to
to attract and retain the highest quality individuals address priority areas of science, or career
in biomedical research gaps, by developing tailored training and
career initiatives
We provide a range of prestigious fellowship awards
for basic and clinical scientists, and provide training We have developed initiatives to build capacity
and career support schemes for historians of medicine. through training in strategically important areas,
We have also developed dedicated initiatives to build including population health, animal health in the
capacity and enhance career prospects in research developing world, integrative physiology and
areas we identify as strategic priorities. bioinformatics. The provision of high-class
postgraduate training is also a key priority, which
Over the next five years, we intend to: we support through a portfolio of four-year PhD
• review our portfolio of career support to programmes, each focused around a scientific
ensure our schemes are focused most effectively, theme. We also have a major long-term commitment
maintain their prestigious reputation and to supporting training and capacity building in
provide long-term support arrangements developing and restructuring countries.
for fellowship awards
• foster interdisciplinary training through our Over the next five years, we intend to:
career schemes • work in partnership with the UK Clinical
Research Collaboration to help create both
• encourage specific training and continued
a new dedicated clinical academic training
professional development of researchers
programme and new research and training
funded on Wellcome Trust grants.
initiatives in public health sciences
• expand our four-year PhD programmes
in key strategic areas
• provide capacity building for research in
sub-Saharan Africa (in partnership with the UK
Department for International Development)
• review how we can best expand our overseas
programmes to support training and capacity
building over the long term.

18 STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

Objective 4.3
To work with others on key issues related HIGHLIGHTS 2000–2005
to research careers

We actively work with other funding bodies to Cognitive behavioural therapy

address career issues facing basic and clinical • Development of an effective and specific
researchers. psychotherapy for bulimia nervosa, the first
psychological treatment recommended for
Over the next five years, we intend to: use in the NHS by the National Institute for
• work innovatively with funding partners to Clinical Excellence.
enhance the attractiveness and security • Development of a new and effective
of a career in biomedical research psychological treatment for post-traumatic
• improve recognition of the need to sustain stress disorder.
the careers of researchers who form part
of a successful research team.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 19

 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Facilitating research:
To promote the best conditions for
research and the use of knowledge
To be successful in delivering our mission, we work to ensure that we provide
our funded researchers with the surroundings, resources and tools they need
to take forward their work.

5 Objective 5.1 Over the next five years, we intend to:

To support the development of research • deliver on our commitment to provide
resources additional space for the European Bioinformatics
Institute at the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus,
We make a major contribution to the development in partnership with the UK Research Councils
of key research resources for the biomedical research • work to increase the availability of mouse
community. In 2000–2005, we provided £24 million research resources through partnership with the
for the development of biomedical resources, National Institutes of Health in the USA, and
collections and databases through the Functional through the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Genomics Development Initiative, and established the
UK Biobank in partnership with the Medical Research • work with our partners in the UK Biobank to
Council, the Department of Health and the Scottish complete the recruitment of 500 000 participants
Executive. We have provided over £20 million funding • continue to develop data release policies to
for the Ensembl genome annotation database – a joint facilitate the dissemination of data and
project between the European Bioinformatics Institute biological resources to the research community
(EBI) and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute – and • continue to develop the Wellcome Library as
have supported the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents a major international resource for research on
and Children (ALSPAC) in partnership with the Medical the history of medicine
Research Council. We also maintain the Wellcome
Library for the history and understanding of medicine. • deliver on our commitment to support open
access publishing, including the development
of a UK site for PubMed Central.

HIGHLIGHTS 2000–2005
Genomes
• ‘Gold standard’ human genome sequence
published by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
and the other members of the international
Human Genome Project consortium.
• Sequencing of more than 50 pathogen genomes
completed, including the tuberculosis (TB)
bacterium, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
aureus (MRSA) and the most deadly malaria
parasite (Plasmodium falciparum).

20 STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

Objective 5.2 Objective 5.3 ABOVE
Professor Mike
To support the development of state-of-the-art To work with science and innovation policy Ferguson of the
laboratories, facilities and buildings makers and others in order to provide a Wellcome-funded
Post-genomics and
sustainable environment for biomedical research Molecular Interactions
In 2000–2005, we made a significant investment Centre at the
University of Dundee.
in research infrastructure in the UK. We also support The Wellcome Trust contributes to policy
the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus – a world- developments, both in the UK and internationally.
leading centre for genomics and bioinformatics We do this where it helps us to deliver our mission
research and training, and an internationally regarded and where we can provide the best available
scientific conference venue. evidence and information to ensure that there is
a good balance between the needs of research
Over the next five years, we intend to: and those of society.
• build on the success of the five UK Clinical
Research Facilities, which were set up to allow We also work with other funders in the UK to
teams of doctors, nurses and biomedical ensure that arrangements between the charitable
researchers to study the causes of diseases sector and the Government remain favourable for
and try out new treatments and procedures; the environments in which we fund, and participate
we will establish, in conjunction with the UK in the UK Research Base Funders’ Forum and
Clinical Research Collaboration, a major new other policy fora in order to coordinate activities
initiative to further expand clinical research and explore opportunities for partnership.
infrastructure in the UK
• provide access to state-of-the-art synchrotron Over the next five years, we intend to:
beam-lines at the new Diamond Light Source, • continue to work with others in the UK to ensure
which will begin operations in 2007. that the needs of researchers working in the
biomedical sciences are considered adequately
in the development of regulation and policy
• build on our existing major overseas
programmes, by strengthening our long-term
strategy for international funding activities.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 21

 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Developing our organisation: RIGHT
Meeting in the atrium
of our headquarters

To use our resources efficiently building on Euston

Road, London.

and effectively
To achieve our aims we are committed to improving our organisation and operations.
We will strive to become more flexible, responsive, outward-looking and open in our
ways of working, building on our progress in these areas in recent years. We will do
this while maintaining the intellectual rigour and integrity that are essential to the
identification and support of excellent research.

6 Objective 6.1 Objective 6.2

To adopt investment and finance strategies To ensure that the Wellcome Trust’s staff and
to maximise the funding available to support processes best support the delivery of all our
our mission, maintaining a balance between aims and activities
the long-term and short-term, and providing
flexibility to respond to new opportunities We are continually striving to develop our staff
and processes to ensure that we work efficiently
Over the next five years, we will continue to: in delivering our aims, and achieve excellence
• develop and implement an investment in serving the communities we support.
strategy designed to realise the Wellcome
Trust’s financial and investment objectives Over the next five years, we will continue to:
• plan financially to provide stability and • develop our human resources strategy to
enable us to be flexible in supporting new support effective recruitment, retention,
opportunities training and career development of our staff

• collaborate with our partner institutions • apply firm control to our internal operating
and researchers to ensure good management support costs
of, and to obtain maximum benefit from, • develop and implement an upgraded grants
the funding awards we make. administration system and other management
information systems
• develop our website to enable more
transactions with our communities and
partners to be undertaken electronically
• improve our operational planning, risk
management and financial planning processes
• develop a systematic approach to understanding,
assessing and evaluating the outputs and
outcomes of all the activities we support.

22 STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

Objective 6.3
To increase awareness of the work supported HIGHLIGHTS 2000–2005
by the Wellcome Trust

In order to enhance our ability to deliver our mission, Cancer gene mutations
we seek to promote the importance and outcomes • Discovery that malignant
of the work we do to key audiences within the melanomas are often associated
communities in which we operate. with a mutation of the BRAF gene –
which could form a promising target
Over the next five years, we will continue to: for the development of new drugs.
• promote our position as an independent, major, • Understanding that the ERBB2
global charity that funds research for health gene is mutated in a proportion of
lung cancers. As a drug is already
• work to ensure that information we provide
available that targets the ERBB2
about biomedical science and its achievements
gene product, this discovery opens
and applications is reliable and evidence-based up the possibility of targeted drug
• develop our use of web technologies as a therapy for lung cancers associated
provider of information about the Wellcome with ERBB2 mutations.
Trust and the activities it supports
• develop our communications strategy so that
we continue to enhance our reputation as a
trusted and reliable organisation, both in the
information that we provide to others and in
the ways in which we work
• target key publications for specific audiences
to reflect our achievements and strategy.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 23

 FINANCIAL FRAMEWORK We plan to sustain funding for a broad
range of activities to deliver our mission,
responding rapidly to new opportunities

In 2000–2005, we provided: We need to make sure that our spending makes

• grants totalling over £1.4 billion to support the maximum impact it can in the areas in which
biomedical research at UK universities we choose to fund. While needing to ensure that
• support to train around 700 individuals (through our long-term financial position is secure and that
PhD and Masters programmes), and support the spending levels will be sustainable over time,
to help advance the research careers of around our strong financial foundation also gives us the
1000 outstanding scientists through our prestigious capability to support new, emerging or high-risk
Fellowship programmes opportunities in a flexible way whenever they arise.

• grant funding of over £110 million to research Going forward, we set an annual expenditure target
centres overseas, which helped to address of 4 per cent of the value of our investment portfolio,
disease problems affecting developing countries using a three-year weighted average. We adopt this
averaging approach to smooth the effect of short-
• support for the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute,
term volatility in investment values on expenditure
which led the UK contribution to the Human
levels and on our scientific communities. However, in
Genome Project – ensuring sequence data were
any one year we may flex this target in order to ensure
made freely available to scientists throughout the
we are funding the best science over the long term.
world to maximise the public benefit of this
fundamental information Our assets are invested across a range of asset types
• major funding (over £420 million), in partnership with the objective of producing a 6 per cent average
with the UK Government, for the Joint annual return, above inflation, over the long term.
Infrastructure Fund and the Science Research Based on recent values of the investment portfolio,
Investment Fund, to help provide new research we expect to spend, on average, around £450 million
facilities in UK universities each year during the next five years. This will be
• a major contribution (£54 million) to the total reviewed annually and adjusted to reflect actual
construction costs (£383 million) of a new investment performance.
synchrotron – Diamond – for the UK research
community, also in partnership with the UK
Government.

24 STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 FINANCIAL FRAMEWORK

ABOVE
Conservation work
on the Francis Crick HIGHLIGHTS 2000–2005
archive, which is
housed in the
Wellcome Library.
Living and dying
• Support for the acclaimed Living
and Dying exhibition in the Wellcome
Trust Gallery at the British Museum,
which won a prestigious Museums
and Heritage Show 2004 Award
for Excellence for best permanent
exhibition. Living and Dying draws
together objects from all over the
globe, shedding light on how different
cultures perceive and protect their
health and wellbeing.

FINANCIAL FRAMEWORK STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 25

 MONITORING PROGRESS To help us identify progress in
delivering this Plan, we are working
to develop our systems for capturing
the outputs and outcomes of the
activities we support

Progress in delivering the new five-year Plan will As a key priority over the next five years, we will work
be assessed, in part, against our intentions outlined to develop our systems for capturing and assessing
throughout this document. But more than this, we want the outputs and outcomes of the activities we support.
to know how we are making a difference. Success As a first step, we have identified some key indicators
for the Wellcome Trust, in the broadest sense and of progress that reflect, at the highest level, what we
over the long term, is that the work we support has are striving to achieve through taking forward the
led to new discoveries and, ultimately, contributed aims and objectives detailed in this Plan (see right).
to improvements in human and animal health.
The assessment processes under development
However, the research process is incremental, and will enable us to report against these indicators,
the road to discovery and application can be long to monitor our progress, and will help inform future
and complex. Like other organisations committed strategic thinking. Furthermore, in the fourth year
to supporting research, we recognise that the impacts of this Plan, we will commission an overall review
of our funding are likely to be seen some time after of our organisation and achievements in delivering
our spending – and the direct link to human and on this Plan.
animal health outcomes may be difficult to track.
Nevertheless, incremental findings of research underpin
further research and provide the foundations for
future improvements in human and animal health.

26 STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 MONITORING PROGRESS

Key indicators of progress ABOVE
The Shoklo Malaria
By working with our communities, Research Unit, part
of our research
we expect to: programme in South-
• achieve significant advances in the generation east Asia, is in the
Mae La refugee camp
of new knowledge on the Thai–Myanmar
border.
• develop a cadre of high-quality researchers M Chew

• contribute to discoveries with tangible

impacts on health
• contribute to the development of enabling
technologies, products and devices
• make key contributions to the creation,
development and maintenance of major
research resources
• enhance capacity development in priority areas
• have a discernable impact on wider policy
development and practice
• increase awareness and enhance the level of
informed debate in biomedical science issues
• nurture an organisational culture, supported
by our staff and processes, that maximises
our ability to deliver our mission
• deliver an investment strategy that meets
our long-term return objective.

MONITORING PROGRESS STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 27

 GOVERNORS AND SENIOR STAFF The Wellcome Trust’s Board
of Governors and Executive Board
(as at September 2005)

BOARD OF GOVERNORS EXECUTIVE BOARD

Sir Dominic Cadbury Dr Mark Walport

Chairman Director of the Wellcome Trust
Professor Martin Bobrow Dr Ted Bianco
Deputy Chairman Director of Technology Transfer
Professor Adrian Bird John Cooper
Director of Resources
Dame Patricia Hodgson
Dr David Lynn
Professor Ronald Plasterk
Head of Strategic Planning and Policy
Alastair Ross Goobey
Clare Matterson
Professor Peter Smith Director of Medicine, Society and History
Professor Dame Jean Thomas David Phillipps
Director of Finance
Edward Walker-Arnott
Dr Sohaila Rastan
Director of Science Funding
John Stewart
Head of Legal and Company Secretary

28 STRATEGIC PLAN 2005–2010 GOVERNORS AND SENIOR STAFF

The Wellcome Trust is an independent
research-funding charity, established under
the will of Sir Henry Wellcome in 1936.
It is funded from a private endowment,
which is managed with long-term stability
and growth in mind.
Its mission is to foster and promote
research with the aim of improving human
and animal health.
Wellcome Trust
Gibbs Building
215 Euston Road
London NW1 2BE, UK
T +44 (0)20 7611 8888
F +44 (0)20 7611 8545
E [email protected]
www.wellcome.ac.uk

ISBN 1 84129 057 2

Images
All images, unless otherwise stated,
are from the Wellcome Library. Material
can be viewed at the Wellcome Library
or copies obtained through the Medical
Photographic Library
(http://medphoto.wellcome.ac.uk).
Additional photography by David Sayer.
First published by the Wellcome Trust, 2005.
© The Trustee of the Wellcome Trust.
The Wellcome Trust is a registered charity,
no. 210183. Its sole Trustee is The Wellcome
Trust Limited, a company registered in
England, no. 2711000, whose registered
office is 215 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE.

DP-3419.p/6k/08–2005/BR
www.wellcome.ac.uk