Funders need to diversify and ensure they’re getting research resources to people most affected by the health impacts of climate change — something that Wellcome is currently trying to embed in its work, according to the British charity’s policy lead on health and climate.
“Institutions like Wellcome have funded health research for years, and they make lots of grand statements about who they're going to fund. But quite often they fund their friends at Oxford and Cambridge. And you know, we might even think about funding some Americans,” Alice Bell said during a Devex event on the sidelines of the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Egypt.
However, resources also need to reach communities most affected by climate change.
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“The health impacts of climate change need to be studied not just in Oxford, or Cambridge, or Paris, or Boston. They need to be researched in the places that [are] feeling climate change the worst,” she said.
Funders also need to think about how data from that research is shared and used, within and outside of the health sector. For instance, she said, the health research community needs to find ways to speak with meteorologists and vice versa.
“A lot of it is about just not being snobby about our research. My boss, Alan Dangour, our director of climate and health, would say, ‘I'm not here to fund people to be published in Nature and Science. You know, the glamor mags of science. I want to fund research that is gonna be used by policymakers … I want it to be used by people who are affected by the crisis to help them solve those problems,’” she said.
Climate and health is part of Wellcome’s new strategy, launched in 2020. The charity’s decision to focus on the impact of climate change on health, as well as infectious diseases and mental health, is based on several criteria, including the urgency and scale of the threat, and the opportunity for Wellcome to “lead the way and make a difference.”
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