2026 marks 90 years of Wellcome’s philanthropic investment in groundbreaking, lifesaving health research. As it looks to the future through its 2032 strategy, equity is firmly positioned as a guiding principle for how Wellcome invests, works with partners and pursues progress in health.
For Itad, this strongly resonates with what we have learned through our long-term partnership with Wellcome and our wider evaluation work. Putting equity at the centre of health and research investments is not simply an ethical commitment. It can improve the quality, relevance and impact of research by ensuring it is shaped by the people, systems, and contexts it is intended to serve.
Equity strengthens research and its impact
Health research should strive to improve outcomes for everyone. And equity is fundamental to research quality. Research and innovation are stronger when they reflect different perspectives and are shaped by the contexts in which they will ultimately be applied. This increases the likelihood that evidence is relevant, used and translates into meaningful improvements in people’s lives.
Our recent large-scale evaluation of the £1.5b Global Challenges Research Fund reinforced this. We found strong evidence that inclusive research, delivered through equitable partnerships, has the best chance of achieving real-world results. When research agendas are shaped with local partners and communities, they are more likely to respond to lived realities, build lasting research capacity and translate findings into action.
At a time when funding for global health research is increasingly uncertain, there may be a temptation to treat equity and inclusion as desirable but not essential. Our evidence and experience suggest the opposite. Embedding equity in global health research can improve quality, strengthen impact and help ensure scares resources are directed towards approaches that are relevant and capable of delivering lasting benefits.
Putting equity into practice
It’s heartening to see a major global player like Wellcome recognise this in their new strategy. Through our work together, we have seen how this commitment is being translated into both programming and ways of working.
Programmes such as DELTAS and SEADREAM are investing in more equitable research ecosystems, supporting partners to strengthen the conditions for high-quality health research over the long-term, at local, regional, and global levels.
We have also seen this commitment through our support to Wellcome’s Equitable Research Ecosystems team and Major International Partners to strengthen monitoring, evaluation and learning for community engagement in global health. This work is helping partners improve how they understand community engagement within their own research and programmes, while modelling inclusion and co-production in its own design and delivery.
Similarly, through our work with the Major International Partners to update their impact measurement frameworks, we have seen Wellcome create space for consultation, feedback and shared decision-making. Bringing partner perspectives into the development of these frameworks strengthens ownership and helps make them more relevant, practical and likely to be used. Just as importantly, the process demonstrates what more equitable partnerships between funders and research partners can look like in practice.
A signal to the wider global health community
Wellcome’s focus on equity sends an important signal to the wider global health research community. If the next generation of health research is to benefit those who are most underserved and stand to gain the most from scientific progress, equity needs to shape not only what is funded, but how research priorities are set, partnerships are build, communities are engaged and success is measured.
As Wellcome enters its next chapter, we look forward to continuing to support the evidence and learning needed to turn this ambition into practice. We also hope its commitment encourages other global health funders to see equity not as an additional consideration, but as fundamental to achieving better research, greater impact and stronger value from every investment.
