Innovate Now with Wellcome: resourcing care for Black researchers
There’s a reason so many Black researchers describe research as something they have to endure rather than a space where they can thrive.
Across research environments, Black Heritage and Mixed Black Heritage researchers often face isolation, under-recognition, racism, and the constant pressure to prove they belong. That pressure doesn’t stay neatly contained within working hours. It affects confidence, wellbeing, safety, relationships, and the ability to imagine a future in research that doesn’t come at the cost of your health.
When we talk about careers, we have to talk about wellbeing, because people can’t build sustainable research lives in systems that make them unwell.
That’s the heart of Innovate Now with Wellcome.
Innovate Now with Wellcome is one of Do it Now Now’s grant programmes, created in collaboration with Wellcome. Its purpose is to fund Black-led initiatives that are supporting the health and wellbeing of Black researchers in the UK and, through that, helping people to stay in research, progress in research, and lead change in research without burning out or being pushed out.
Start here: watch the application information video
The clearest way to understand what the programme is for, who it’s aimed at, and how to apply is to watch the application information video.
If you’re part of a Black-led initiative supporting Black researchers’ wellbeing, or you’re connected to one, please begin with the video. And if someone comes to mind while you’re watching, share it with them.
Why this programme exists
A lot of the support that protects Black researchers’ wellbeing doesn’t come from institutions. It comes from Black-led initiatives, often small, often under-resourced, often run alongside day jobs and caring responsibilities, building the kinds of support systems that mainstream research culture still fails to provide.
That support can look like a peer community where people don’t have to explain themselves. It can look like mentoring that is culturally informed and grounded in lived experience. It can look like spaces where people can name harm, find solidarity, access practical guidance, and feel less alone. It can look like leadership that prioritises care, and programmes that help people navigate research without sacrificing their mental health.
This work is essential. It is also too often invisible, unfunded, and reliant on unpaid labour.
Innovate Now with Wellcome is designed to change that, by resourcing the people and initiatives doing the work of care.
What kinds of work might this include?
Innovate Now with Wellcome is here to support initiatives that are already creating conditions for Black researchers to be well, to feel safe, supported, connected, and able to continue in research in ways that are sustainable.
That might include:
building peer support and community spaces that strengthen belonging
mentoring and sponsorship approaches that reduce isolation and help people navigate research environments
programmes that centre mental health, wellbeing, and rest as necessary, not optional
networks or resources that support people through key transition points (starting research, moving institutions, returning after burnout, stepping into leadership)
community-led approaches that challenge harmful norms and strengthen collective resilience
In other words: this is about funding what helps people stay whole.
A note on “careers”
You’ll see the programme connects wellbeing to research careers, and that’s intentional.
For many Black researchers, the barriers to progression aren’t about ambition or talent. They’re about what it costs to keep going in environments that can be hostile, isolating, or extractive. When wellbeing is undermined, careers become harder to sustain. When wellbeing is supported, people are more able to build long-term research lives, access opportunities, contribute fully, and create change for those coming after them.
So yes, this programme supports research careers. But it does that by funding what so often gets left out of career conversations: care, safety, connection, and health.
If you’re doing this work, this is an invitation
If you’re part of a Black-led initiative supporting Black researchers’ wellbeing, we want you to feel encouraged to explore this programme. You don’t need to be “perfect” to be impactful. Many of the most important initiatives are built from community need, lived experience, and collective care, not from having everything neatly packaged.
Watch the video. See if it sounds like a fit. And if it does, take the next step.
And if you’re not the right person to apply, but you know an initiative that is, sharing the video could be a real act of support. Please head to the programme page for more information.
