How is biomedical research infrastructure funded in the UK?

The government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan (July 2025) sets out its ambition for the UK to become a global leader in the “clinical research infrastructure” that supports research on human health by 2035.

This short briefing examines the different types of infrastructure that support biomedical research across the UK and considers how they are funded.

What is research infrastructure?

Research infrastructure refers to the facilities, equipment and resources that researchers use to perform research, such as laboratories and precision instruments. One example of research infrastructure is the Diamond Light Source in Oxfordshire, the UK’s national synchrotron (a circular particle accelerator). The synchrotron is more than half a kilometre in circumference and is “designed to produce very intense beams of X-rays, infrared and ultraviolet light”. These beams are shone into 35 laboratories where scientists conduct experiments across the physical, life and environmental sciences.

The exact infrastructure required by researchers will vary according to the specific research field. Infrastructure that enables research in biology and medicine (‘biomedical research infrastructure’) includes large-scale physical assets and precision equipment, such as the advanced electron and optical microscopy at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. Other resources may be virtual and/or accessed remotely, like databases, data sets and digital images. For example, the UK Biobank in Stockport, Greater Manchester, holds healthcare data for research purposes on 500,000 participants, as well as blood, urine and saliva samples. Biomedical research infrastructure also includes the specialist skills and expertise of the research workforce that makes research and innovation possible.

Where is biomedical research infrastructure located?

Biomedical research infrastructure is located across all parts of the UK and is hosted by various organisations. These include:

• higher education institutions (HEIs, like universities)
• independent research institutions
• NHS bodies, like hospitals
• private sector companies and industries
• public sector research establishments (bodies that are primarily funded by a government department and serve that department’s needs)
• charities (though this is likely to be in partnership with another entity, like a research institution).

How is research infrastructure funded?

Research infrastructure will typically require upfront investment (capital) to establish the facility or resource, as well as ongoing funding to cover its operating costs.

Funding for both capital and operational costs can come from multiple sources including those in the:

• public sector (government, HEIs)
• third sector (charities, foundations and philanthropy)
• private sector (businesses)

In some cases, different types of funders may collaborate to support the establishment and operation of a research facility. The Francis Crick Institute, a biomedical research centre in London, was founded by a partnership between a UK Government funding agency, two charities and three universities.

Public sector funding

One of the main, public funders of research infrastructure is UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the UK’s national research and development (R&D) funding agency. UKRI is sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and comprises seven research councils, plus Research England and Innovate UK.

Research conducted by UKRI in 2018–19 found that the primary public source of funding for establishing research infrastructure in the UK (across all fields, not just biomedicine) was the UKRI research councils, which were relied upon in 56% of cases. UKRI also reported that public funds were vital for covering operational costs:

The average UK-based infrastructure meets 69% of operational costs from public funds, 9% from the European Union (EU) and 22% from other sources (e.g. businesses or charities).

Between 2022 and 2025, UKRI’s Infrastructure Fund is due to invest a total of £481 million in 25 major research infrastructure projects. UKRI also manages the UK’s subscriptions to access major international research infrastructure, like the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and the European XFEL (an X-ray free-electron laser).

In addition to UKRI, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) supports research infrastructure for health and social care, investing “more than £606 million of infrastructure funding” annually through awards lasting five or more years. Its funding comes mainly from the Department of Health and Social Care. NIHR infrastructure funding awards are typically made to NHS organisations, universities, charities and local authorities.

Government funding commitments

Short-term funding cycles can make it difficult to establish and maintain research infrastructure over the long-term. The UK Government announced in May 2025 that it would enable government departments and public bodies to commit funding for a 10-year period for certain R&D activities, including for developing and maintaining core national research infrastructure. The government explained it wanted to give “certainty to world-class research organisations that their work will continue over the long-term” which would “not be possible under shorter funding cycles”.

Several investments in biomedical research infrastructure were also set out in the government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan (July 2025) including:

• at least £30 million to fund research infrastructure that would support the development of human disease models that could replace animal testing
• over £350 million to enable ‘Our Future Health’ to become the “largest longitudinal health research cohort and clinical trials resource in the world”
• over £650 million to support Genomics England “host one of the largest genomic research databases globally with over 500,000 genomes”.

Third sector funding

There are numerous ways that charitable funding supports research infrastructure. Some medical research charities work directly with HEIs, independent research institutes and, in some instances, other charities to establish research centres that align with their goals. Alzheimer’s Research UK and the Alzheimer’s Society (PDF), for example, were founding funders of the UK Dementia Research Institute.

Major biomedical foundations, like Wellcome, have established their own research infrastructure, like the Wellcome Sanger Institute, which focuses on genomic science. Others, like the Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust, support capital investment in UK universities and NHS organisations where the investment will “translate into improvements in healthcare for patients”.

More information is available in the Association of Medical Research Charities report on Investing in research infrastructure (PDF).

Private sector funding

One of the aims of the Life Sciences Sector Plan is to mobilise more private investment into the field. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are some of the biggest private investors in the UK life sciences, including in research infrastructure. Moderna, for example, recently opened an Innovation and Technology Centre in Oxfordshire, where it will make vaccines as part of a £1 billion programme of investment in UK R&D.

Investment and de-investment by the pharmaceutical sector

In September 2025, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) reported that pharmaceutical R&D investment in the UK in 2023 was £8.7 billion. In the same month, several global pharmaceutical companies also announced that they were either withdrawing or pausing funding for building new research infrastructure in the UK.

The US pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. (known as MSD outside the US) said it would no longer be investing £1 billion in its UK Discovery Centre in London. Similarly, the UK pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca paused a £200 million investment to expand its existing research site on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. Earlier in 2025, AstraZeneca pulled out of plans to invest £450 million in expanding its vaccine manufacturing plant in Merseyside.

In addition, the US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly said it was “not yet in a position” to finalise its investment in a “Lilly Gateway Labs site” in the UK, as it was “awaiting more clarity around the UK life sciences environment”. Lilly Gateway Labs provide “facilities, amenities, resources and mentorship to pioneering biotechnology companies”.

De-investment in UK pharmaceutical research has been linked to several factors. These include:

• unfavourable UK drug pricing and the NHS spending less on medicines than other comparable countries
• a general restructuring of the global pharmaceutical sector
• pressure from the US Government on drugs companies to lower drugs prices in the USA (resulting in cost-cutting, and drug price increases, elsewhere)

The Science Minister, Lord Vallance, told MPs on the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee that NHS spending on pharmaceuticals had declined, and that this was a problem that needed to be reversed.