Volume 2: Science
Part 3: Research into TSEs - a narrative account
The Wellcome Trust

6.128 During the period covered by the Inquiry, one of the objectives of the Wellcome Trust, a registered charity, was to support research in the biomedical sciences, by funding all types of research from the basic sciences related to medicine, to the clinical aspects of medicine and veterinary medicine. ¹ The Trust provided grants for individual projects and programmes of research as well as for larger research groups and centres, equipment and infrastructure. Its policy was set by the Governors of the Trust within the remit set by its founder, Sir Henry Wellcome. Research budgets were allocated by the Governors and were distributed depending on the scientific importance of, and opportunity in, each area, as well as on the funds available from other sources. Grant applications were managed within topic areas and were assessed by independent peer review before being submitted to an advisory panel in the appropriate area. Final decisions on the funding of projects were reached by the Governors. ²