Who funds UK research
Research is paid for by the government's research councils, the NHS's NIHR, European Commission programmes, and charities. Here's who funds what, and how much.
Most public research money flows through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the UK government's research funding body — its nine councils each fund a different field, from medicine to engineering to the arts. The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds health and care research through the NHS. Alongside these, charities such as the Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research UK fund research directly. UK organisations also participate in multinational Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects funded by the European Commission.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
UKRI is the UK's largest public funder of research. It brings together 9 research councils, each specialising in different fields. Funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Amounts are published for 126,469 of 173,320 funded awards.
European Commission (EC)
Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects are multinational consortium projects. Each project is counted once here because at least one participating organisation is UK-based; the funding figure includes only published contributions to those UK participants, never the foreign coordinator or full consortium budget.
A published UK contribution is available for 5,751 of 15,046 UK-involved projects.
National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)
NIHR is the UK's largest funder of health and care research, funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. It funds research that directly improves patient care.
Amounts are published for 11,263 of 12,480 funded awards.
The NIHR-supported-project count records centre-to-project support relationships, not additional funding awards.
Charitable Funders
UK research charities collectively invest billions in research — from large funders like the Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research UK to smaller disease-specific charities.
Amounts are published for 17,370 of 24,638 funded awards.