An update on Wellcomes anti-racism program

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While the evaluation found some progress, such as improvements in the racial diversity of our workforce and some positive changes in behavior and practice, it came to a clear conclusion that we continue to fall short of our commitment to anti-racism, both as a funder and as an employer.

As director of Wellcome, I accept that. I apologize for the actions and inactions that caused this, and for the pain and disappointment it has caused.

The assessment includes some descriptions of unacceptable racist behavior, and reading these may be hurtful to those who have experienced them. This lived experience provides information that will advance and improve our anti-racism work.

I am grateful for the feedback our fellows, staff and advisors have given us through this assessment and in our broader anti-racism work, especially given the emotional burden this entails.

Today, I am announcing new actions to advance the fight against racism, which demonstrate our determination to do better.

As the charitable foundation that will spend at least $16 billion over the next decade on science to solve the pressing health issues facing everyone, we know Wellcome has great power. We have done too little to use this power to counter racial inequality in research.

Our next actions to address inequalities in our research funding will be to introduce two measures over the next year:

A set of affirmative action principles applied to funding decision-making processes. These will ensure that where applications are similar in merit, we prioritize those that add to the diversity of the pool of people we support. We believe that a consistent and transparent approach to this will be important both for fairness and equity, and for encouraging a more diverse group of people to apply for our funding. We will explore the best way to achieve this.

A dedicated funding stream available exclusively to Black scholars and people of color, targeting career stages where it will have the greatest benefits for diversity.

We will announce each of these measures in more detail over the coming months as we develop the mechanisms by which they will be implemented. If there are to be any changes to our application processes, we will notify grant applicants in advance.

We will also set clear expectations that the institutions we fund should take steps to increase the number of people of color entering and staying in research careers. We know that we are already working with many of you, and your institutions, on equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and anti-racism and we want these positive and constructive relationships to continue.

We are also announcing today that Wellcome will appoint a new member of the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), reporting to the Director, with responsibility for leading Wellcome’s equity, diversity and inclusion work, including our specific focus on combating racism. The role will help us fully embed inclusive practices throughout the organization and its work. This does not alter the responsibility of each member of the ELT to act more broadly on the fight against racism and EDI: on the contrary, one of the main objectives of the role is to support, challenge and hold them to account, as a peer with specialized expertise and experience. As our strategic ambitions have grown over the year, it has become clear to me that we will not be successful in achieving them without this added focus.

We have already made significant changes to the governance and accountability of anti-racism initiatives through an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee that reports directly to the Board of Directors. This will build on our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy, released in 2021, which sets out our goals to become a more inclusive employer and funder.

Other actions include a program to educate us about the nature and impact of racist micro-aggressions, and equip us to combat them, so that we can create the true zero-tolerance approach to racism that we have long professed but we have not fully implemented. The term microaggressions is misleading, as these acts are not minor and their impact is often devastating. I use the term here as it is used in the report.

Our work on anti-racism is central to who we are and how we fulfill our mission. We must reflect it in our behavior, in our processes and in all our work. We want everyone working at Wellcome and funded by Wellcome to be treated fairly so that they can grow, grow and thrive as we work together to achieve our mission.

If you need to talk to someone about this news, you can contact us here: [email protected] or through your usual contact.

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