We want to understand the impact of our research and how it helps achieve the Medical Research Council’s (MRC) mission to improve human health. Performance monitoring and evaluation is how we understand this impact, as it seeks to reveal the quality of the research we fund, and the processes needed to expand its impact.
How MRC evaluates research
We continually improve the monitoring of input and output of our research portfolio and the methodology and techniques for assessing research impact. Additionally, we collaborate with other research funding agencies to evolve stronger principles and policies to ensure robust evaluation. These include openness and use of the FAIR principles (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable research).
MRC economic impact analysis 2024
We have produced or externally commissioned several publications covering economic impacts that have arisen from MRC-funded research:
- Summary highlights of MRC economic impact publications
- Development and growth of spin-outs from MRC research: externally commissioned analysis of spin-outs created to develop intellectual property arising from MRC-funded research
- Economic impact of MRC-funded research: a collection of examples of the many pathways of MRC associated economic impact
- Analysis of MRC-funded non-academic impacts submitted to REF2021: examples of impact of MRC research provided by our researchers in REF 2021 impact narratives
- Impacts arising from MRC supported institutes and major investments: examples of impact reported by MRC-funded institutes and major investments
Economic impact case study database
The MRC Economic Impact Case Studies database is a searchable database of MRC-linked economic impact narratives. The narratives in this database can be searched by key word or filtered by five categories:
Value of discovery
Examples of economic impact arising from deepening our understanding of biological or disease mechanisms, or both. Although it can take many years, the maturation of these discovery science breakthroughs can, and have, resulted in the broadest impacts on health and business profits.
Optimising healthcare
Examples of decreasing healthcare costs through improving diagnostics, honing existing treatments and informing health policy. While not all examples will include details quantitative figures of cost savings, they provide examples of policy and healthcare impact and how they benefit the healthcare system through cost reductions.
Industry collaboration
Examples of innovation that arises through productive and profitable collaborations with industry partners. These examples of collaboration can include de-risking early-stage discovery science with co-investment from the private sector.
Entrepreneurship and job-creation
Examples of spin-outs evolving into UK companies and creating jobs. Case studies could also cover examples where spin-outs scale into large globally competitive science and technology companies that drive growth in the economy and high-skilled employment opportunities.
Improving wellbeing
Examples of health interventions or policy impacts that result in the increased longevity and economic productivity of the population. While not all examples will include details quantitative figures of economic benefit due to increased productivity, they provide examples health and wellbeing improvement and how they benefit the population.
Data sources
We have a number of available databases recording research activity at an individual, national and global level that offer opportunities for analysis of the research landscape by outcome, by field, and by location. Data from these resources combined with other information form the basis for our evaluation reports.
Researchfish
Since 2009 researchers receiving funding from any MRC initiative are required to annually report all research outcomes and outputs to Researchfish.
UK Health Research Classification System (HRCS)
HRCS is used to classify biomedical research awards by area of health or disease and the type of research being carried out. The most recent UK Health Research Analysis report in 2022 is the largest ever analysis of the UK health research funding landscape. It covers 173 organisations, over 23,500 awards and an estimated £5.0 billion spend in 2022.
UK and global research funding databases
Gateway to Research is a database of UK publicly funded research projects.
World RePORT is a database of research projects funded by 12 international funders around the globe.
The REF2021 database includes the results from the 2021 Research Excellence Framework where 157 UK higher education institutions (HEIs) made submissions in 34 subject-based units of assessment.
Outputs, outcomes and impact of MRC research
Download the reports and quantitative analysis
Download MRC impact reports up to 2017
Previous MRC monitoring and evaluation reports
See all MRC evaluation reports
10 year MRC translation research evaluation report
The 10 year MRC translation research evaluation report looks at MRC’s support for translational research and the progress made since MRC increased its commitment to translation in the academic year 2008 to 2009.
MRC COVID-19 response
2020 presented a global health threat in the high transmission and mortality impact of the SAR-CoV-2 virus. MRC provided leadership and support to rally the UK biomedical community’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The actions, outputs and impacts of MRC’s response are documented in three reports:
- MRC COVID-19 response: interim report (March 2021)
- MRC community COVID-19 response: impact, legacy and lessons learned (April 2023)
- National Core Studies COVID-19 response: objectives, impacts and legacy (April 2023)
Clinical Research Infrastructure Initiative
In 2015, the MRC Clinical Research Infrastructure Initiative (CRII) set out to fund innovative technologies in areas of strategic opportunity. The CRII 2019 report reviews the outputs and outcomes of this initiative and discusses the insights that might be applied to future infrastructure funding initiatives.
Medical research: what’s it worth
Analyses of the economic benefits of medical research:
- Estimating the economic benefits from medical research in the UK (2008): research expenditure and returns for cardiovascular disease and mental health
- Estimating the returns to UK publicly funded cancer-related research in terms of the net value of improved health outcomes (BMC Medicine, 2014)
- Estimating the returns to UK publicly funded musculoskeletal disease research in terms of net value of improved health outcomes (BMC Medicine, 2018)
- MRC economic benefits of musculoskeletal disease research (2018)
Further resources
- Bringing research careers into focus: an MRC review of next destinations (2015)
- Career movement between academia and business (National Centre for Universities and Businesses – Research Councils UK 2015)
- Relationship between public and private investment in science and innovation (Economic Insight 2015)
- Landscape review of interdisciplinary research in the UK (Higher Education Funding Council for England – Research Councils UK 2016)
- Collaborations among Association of Medical Research Charities research-funding organisations (King’s College London output analysis 2017)
Last updated: 14 August 2025