The Joint Infrastructure Fund (JIF) and the Science Research Investment Fund (SRIF), run in partnership with the UK Government between 1998 and 2003, saw substantial sums invested in the UK research infrastructure. Recently, several facilities funded through these schemes have opened.

JIF and SRIF funding was restricted to the UK, but the Wellcome Trust has also funded facilities outside the UK to support research at its Major Overseas Programmes. This year saw the opening of new labs at Kilifi General Hospital, Kenya, housing research carried out at the KEMRI–Wellcome Trust Research Programme (see Know your enemy and Life-saving numbers).

In the UK, the excellent science base in Scotland has been reflected in a range of infrastructure awards. This year saw the opening of the Sir Graeme Davies Biomedical Research Building, to which the Trust contributed £8 million. The building will house the Glasgow Biomedical Research Centre. In Edinburgh, the Ashworth Building Extension, funded in part by a £4.7m grant from the Trust, was opened in November 2005.

London saw several new and refurbished facilities opened, including the University College London Centre for Auditory Research (£9m grant), the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics at Guy’s Hospital campus (£6.4m) and the Department of Optometry and Visual Science, City University (£1.5m).

Some 78 buildings in 29 institutions received JIF/SRIF funding from the Trust, whose total investment exceeded £500m. The University of Sheffield received several awards, including funding for the Wellcome Trust and the Wolfson Foundation Facility for Molecular Life Sciences (£16.3m from the Trust), which opened in November 2005.

The University of Cambridge was also successful with several applications, and opened its Henry Wellcome Building, housing the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies (and 18 000 skeletons), in 2006.

Following these substantial cash injections, the Trust does not routinely support new building projects. Clearly, though, facilities are important to the research enterprise and requests for such support will be considered under exceptional circumstances.

Image: New labs at Kilifi, Kenya; Michael Chew