Who we work with
Working with key international and UK partners is instrumental to the UK’s approach to Global Health Research. Below we have listed our key partners but we also continue to develop links with other organisations through close collaboration and joint funding initiatives.
The MRC has formal agreements with several organisations:
The Department for International Development
The MRC and the Department for International Development (DfID) have worked closely together since 1992 under successive concordat agreements. The concordat agreement between DFID and MRC is the basis of a partnership that supports UK-led biomedical and public health research to tackle the priority health problems of poor people in developing countries. The 2008-2013 MRC/DFID Agreement pledged £45m to invest in areas of research where the two organisations have a shared interest.
A current joint funding initiative is the MRC/DfID African Research Leader scheme a prestigious award, for non-clinical and clinical researchers of exceptional ability. The aim of the scheme is to strengthen research leadership across sub-Saharan Africa by attracting and retaining talented individuals undertaking high quality programmes of research.
Global Alliance for Chronic Disease
The MRC is a founding partner of the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases, which was formed in 2009 to support priorities for a research effort to prevent and treat chronic non-communicable diseases in low/middle income settings. The founding members of the Global Alliance are:
- Australia's National Health Medical Research Council
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences
- Indian Council of Medical Research
- The U.K.'s Medical Research Council
The U.S.'s National Institutes of Health, specifically its National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the Fogarty International Center (FIC).
In 2012 MRC launched its first call under the GACD: Request for Applications (RFA): Hypertension Prevention and Control in low and middle income countries (LMICs)
In January 2013 the GACD published a statement announcing its intention to launch a second call for proposals in the area of Type 2 Diabetes.
Other organisations the MRC work with include:
- The Wellcome Trust
- DfID/MRC/Wellcome Trust Joint Global Health Trials
- The Indian Council for Medical Research
- ICMR-MRC Joint Initiative: Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases Research Funding
- European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP)