In the UK, funding for biomedical and clinical research comes from:

• the public sector (government),
• charities,
• academies, colleges and learned societies
• the healthcare industry.

Public sector funding for research is disbursed through three main routes:

(1) HIGHER EDUCATION FUNDING COUNCILS (HEFCs)

which report to the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) fund the research infrastructure in universities and contribute to the costs of training researchers in the UK. This funding supports research carried out at universities’ discretion and contributes certain costs to Research Council-supported projects as part of the dual support system.
This funding is now devolved to:

• the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE);
• the Scottish Funding Council (SHEFC) under the Scottish Executive;
• the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) which reports to the National Assembly for Wales and
• the Northern Ireland Higher Education Council (NIHEC) and the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) in Northern Ireland.

These bodies do not generally accept applications from individual researchers.

(2) Research Councils

which fund research and research training using funding from the Office of Science and Innovation (OSI) in the Department of Trade & Industry. See RELATED pages for more information. 

(3) DEPARTMENTAL BUDGETS, the most relevant in this context being the Department of Health and the NHS.

NEWS

A decision was announced in the 2006 Budget to create a single research fund of at least £1 billion, jointly-held by the Secretaries of State for Health and Trade & Industry, which should effectively combine administration of research funded through the Medical Research Council and the NHS.