AMRC is, above all, an association of and for our members. Our origins go back to a meeting of medical research charities’ chief executives in 1972, which became an informal network, coming together over the next 15 years to talk strategy, collaborations and support.
Formalisation and independence
Our formal establishment in 1987, along with the setting up of a permanent secretariat, opened membership to all charities funding medical research in the UK who fulfil the conditions of membership set down by our members.
Our founders took the decision that AMRC should be funded by its members through annual subscriptions. Over 90 per cent of AMRC’s funding comes from our members and it is an important foundation of our independence and credibility for those with whom we work.
Our trustees come from our member charities, representing funders with large and small budgets working across the medical research field.
Credibility through quality
An early aim of AMRC was to assure government and external bodies that charity-funded medical research is of an equal standard to that funded by other agencies.
This is why a key requirement for AMRC membership since our foundation has been that all charities must use a robust peer review process for allocating their funding.
In 1989 we produced our first guidelines to members on the use and practice of peer review and we continue to improve and strengthen these today.
We also provide a range of workshops, bringing members together to learn from their peers and share best practice.
Every five years, we audit our members’ peer review practices.
In 2005, 88 per cent of our members fully met our five principles of peer review: accountability, balance, independent decision-making, rotation and impartiality. In those instances where we felt that charities could strengthen and improve their approach, we have provided intensive feedback, advice and support.
AMRC membership is recognised as the mark of quality for charities that fund medical research as all or part of their mission. HEFCE, NIHR and many grant-making trusts use AMRC membership as an indicator of quality.
Strength in diversity
The first Handbook – a guide to the funding available from the 26 members, was produced in 1979 – a service that has developed into our online member profiles.
Our members fund research from basic to applied, in universities, institutes and hospitals and covering conditions from asthma to varicella zoster.
One of the strengths we draw from this diversity is our grants database. Since 1996 we have maintained a database of all the grants awarded by our members, their value and to whom they have been awarded.
We use these data to understand the impact of charitable funding on the UK science base and identify key trends. This information supports our members and policy-makers develop an environment where medical research can flourish.
University funding
AMRC charities spend more than 80% of their research funding in UK universities in the form of research grants, support for staff and infrastructure. Charities fund approximately 15 per cent of all university research.
The full benefits of charity funding can only be realised through close partnerships with universities, government and other parties.
Charities fund the direct costs of conducting research in partnership with government, which funds the general running costs of universities and hospitals.
After much pressure by AMRC members, in 2004 the government recognised the important role played by research charities by establishing the Charity Research Support Fund (CRSF) in England.
More recently, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have introduced similar funding streams.
AMRC continues to work with government to ensure charities can continue to invest their funds in world class research in UK universities.
Public and patient involvement and engagement
AMRC and its members have played a long-standing and high-profile role in engaging the public about the value and importance of research and on specific issues such as animal research, stem cell research and human admixed embryos.
We have also worked with our members to identify and promote viable mechanism for public and patient involvement in research funding. In 2009 we published, Natural Ground, the first report to look-in depth at some of the models of PPI being adopted by our member charities.
Strategic endeavour
Whatever their size, AMRC members are serious about their mission: to fund research of the highest quality into the causes of disease and to develop treatments.
Since 2005 it has been a membership requirement that all charities have a publicly available research strategy. The strategy is there to inform researchers, external bodies, the public and the charity’s own staff about future priorities and objectives for research funding.
Partnership and collaboration
AMRC established the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Medical Research in 2005 to provide a forum for parliamentarians with an interest in medical research to come together with the medical research sector.
The group is supported by the Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council and the Academy of Medical Sciences and meets regularly to discuss medical research issues.
Our members work hard to ensure their charitable funds are used most effectively. For many this means developing joint funding schemes with research councils or other charities, co-funding new research buildings or providing core funding for research groups. AMRC is mapping these collaborations, to shed light on the current complexities of research funding.
The future
AMRC continues to evolve in response to our members’ changing needs, developing and supporting networks of best practice and providing a voice for funders, large and small.
March 2010