Governance

The Wellcome Trust is an independent, global charitable foundation (registered charity number 210183). Like all registered charities in England and Wales, Wellcome is regulated by the Charity Commission.

Governance framework 

The Wellcome Trust was created in 1936 by the will of Sir Henry Wellcome. It is now governed by our Constitution, an updated version of Sir Henry Wellcome's will.

The Trust is a charity registered in England and Wales (registration number 210183). The sole trustee of the Wellcome Trust is The Wellcome Trust Limited, a company limited by guarantee registered in England (company number 2711000).

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Board of Governors 

Our Board of Governors guides and oversees Wellcome in achieving its mission to improve health for everyone by helping great ideas to thrive. The board is responsible for all Wellcome’s activities but focuses on our mission, professionalism and people.

The governors ensure that we:

  • fulfil our mission by adopting the right long-term strategy and priorities
  • uphold high standards in the way we run Wellcome, and the way we conduct ourselves
  • are true to our principles in all that we do
  • have a high-quality culture of which we can be proud and that reflects our principles
  • have the right people in place to deliver our mission, both within Wellcome and externally in the activities we support.

The Board assesses regularly and robustly whether we have been successful, according to our success framework.

Accountability

We are accountable to society for delivering our mission, while using our independence for public benefit.

Committees of the Board

The Board of Governors is supported by its principal committees, all of which have at least one member who is a governor. The membership and terms of reference of these committees are:

Executive Leadership Team 

Our leadership team is made up of senior managers from Wellcome's different divisions. It is chaired by our Interim Chief Executive Officer, Paul Schreier. It reports directly to the Board of Governors.

Executive team members are responsible for Wellcome's day-to-day management and provide advice to both the governors and the Director on strategic, planning, operational and policy matters.

Policies that guide our actions 

Wellcome's operations are guided by policies that ensure how we act is legal, ethical, responsible and transparent.

How we make funding decisions 

Individual members of our Board of Governors may, in various circumstances, sit on committees as members or observers.

We rely on external experts to help us make decisions across Wellcome's funding remit. External experts act as members of our advisory committees and provide us with written peer reviews.

Advisory committees

View a list of the advisory committees that shortlist and interview people who have applied for funding.

Expert reviewers

We recognise the effort that the research community dedicates to providing reviews. We are very grateful to all the reviewers who provided their invaluable expertise, which is important for our decision making. In recognition of these people, we have listed below the names of all those who provided expert and committee reviews in 2022.

Financial information 

Read our latest annual reports, financial statements and bondholder update.

Wellcome's pay gap data 

We've published details about our gender and ethnicity pay gap.

Related reports and documents