Wellcome earmarks £1bn a year for core science and culture

The Wellcome Trust is to ring-fence nearly £1 billion in funding for science, innovation and culture each year for the next five years, in an effort to ensure it provides a sustainable level of support for its core initiatives.

This year, Wellcome will put £903 million into a primary fund that will be insulated from the market fluctuations that affect the trust’s investment portfolio.

The trust’s investments have enabled it to double its spending over the past decade, but this funding stream remains volatile, director Jeremy Farrar (above) said in an update on the charity’s website on 20 September.