Health and Care Research Wales announces major £49m investment in research infrastructure
The BRAIN Unit, which will become the Advanced Neurotherapies Centre from April 2025, is pleased to confirm that it will receive £2,856,309 of sustainability funding in a major announcement by Health and Care Research Wales this week.
Health and Care Research Wales has announced Research Development Infrastructure funding for 17 research centres across Wales, including five new organisations.
The funding has been awarded across two categories – sustainability awards, for currently funded groups to maintain effective models of practice and support a trajectory towards self-sustainability, and catalytic awards, to boost capacity and capability in areas of health and care need and emerging Welsh research strength.
Professor Liam Gray, BRAIN Unit director, said: “We are delighted to build on the achievements of the last 10 years as the BRAIN Unit, consolidating and expanding our position as the lead UK centre for the delivery of advanced therapies directly to the human brain.
“From April, we will become the Advanced Neurotherapies Centre, continuing to develop and deliver ground-breaking treatments for the benefit of patients living with neurological and neurodegenerative disease. Thank you to Health and Care Research Wales for their ongoing support.”
The full list of centres that will receive funding are:
Sustainability funding
- National Centre for Mental Health (£2,999,894)
- Wales Cancer Research Centre (£4,866,172)
- Secure Anonymised Information Linkage Databank (SAIL) (£4,551,338)
- Wales Centre for Primary and Emergency Care Research (£2,996,483)
- Wales Cancer Biobank (£2,363,320)
- Health and Care Economics Cymru (£1,865,815)
- Children’s Social Care Research and Development Centre Partnership (CASCADE-Partnership) (£2,999,636)
- Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer) (£2,886,936)
- Wales Kidney Research Unit (£2,984,527)
- Centre for Trials Research (£4,742, 424)
- National Cardiovascular Research Network (£2,073,161)
Catalytic funding
- Wales Applied Virology Unit (£3,000,000)
- National Centre for Suicide and Self-harm Prevention (£2,085,939)
- Centre for Social Care and Artificial intelligence LEarning (£1,815,416)
- Women’s Health Research Wales (£3,013,936)
- Centre for Vision Services Research (£1,746,729)
Jeremy Miles, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, said: “Research has a critical role to play in helping us to achieve our aim of A Healthier Wales. This is an important investment in new and exciting areas of research, including women’s health; preventing suicide and self-harm and AI – I hope it provides real evidence over the next five years, which will help shape services and care for people across Wales.”
Michael Bowdery, Joint Interim Director at Health and Care Research Wales and Head of Programmes, Research and Development Division at Welsh Government, said: “This announcement represents a significant investment in our funded infrastructure in Wales over the next five years, and reflects our ambition to advance research capability aligned with unmet health and social need in key policy areas.
“Our approach to providing this funding is based on two criteria – firstly, where there is a clear and compelling research and evidence need in the area for Welsh Government, the NHS and social care system in Wales; and secondly, where there is demonstrably strong or emerging research capacity and capability in the area.
“These centres embody the principle of research having the power to make a difference to people’s health and wellbeing, and we are pleased to be able to support their activity in this field.”
For more information visit: www.healthandcareresearchwales.org