Wellcome Trust - Public Engagement Fund

What the Public Engagement Fund offered

This programme gave project grants of about EUR 29,000 to EUR 3.5 million (£25,000 to £3 million) for up to three years. Most grants were smaller, roughly EUR 29,000 to EUR 117,000 (£25,000 to £100,000). Larger sums went to only a few projects each year. The money paid for staff and salaries, fees for artists or consultants, materials, equipment, production, marketing, travel and evaluation. It came from the Wellcome Trust, a large UK health-research charity, and funded creative ways to involve the public in health research.

Who could apply

• Who: Individuals and organisations, both commercial and not-for-profit.
• Field: Your project had to focus on health. Your organisation's main work could be in the arts, culture, media, heritage, education, community work or other areas.
• Team: Your team needed at least one specialist, for example a health or science researcher or a health professional.
• Where: The project had to take place in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, or a low- or middle-income country in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, or East Asia and the Pacific.
• Aim: The project had to help people take part in health research, make research more people-centred, or build public understanding of science and health.

How it worked

Applications went through the Wellcome Trust Grant Tracker. The final round closed on 9 July 2019, with decisions by early October 2019. This programme is now closed and no longer accepts applications. A narrower successor scheme was open only to existing Wellcome grant-holders and has since closed as well.