Community Jameel and Imperial College London have created a new fund to support the scale-up of crucial COVID-19 projects.

The £1 million Community Jameel Imperial College COVID-19 Excellence Fund will provide a new injection of financial support for major research projects into the impact, understanding, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19.

Imperial is at the forefront of the global effort to respond to the crisis. Academics from across the College are channeling their expertise to advise the public and policymakers, drive our understanding of the disease, develop new vaccines and therapies, and create new technologies to support the fight against the novel coronavirus.

This new fund, supported by donations from Community Jameel, the global philanthropy founded by Mohammed Jameel KBE, and Imperial’s President’s Excellent Fund, will sit alongside the College’s existing COVID-19 Response Fund, providing grants of up to £200,000 to rapidly scale up high-impact projects.

The move signal’s Community Jameel’s commitment to tackling some of the world's most urgent challenges. last year Community Jameel co-founded J-IDEA, the Abdul Latif Jameel Institute for Disease and Emergency Analytics. J-IDEA is headed by Professor Neil Ferguson, whose landmark reports are influencing COVID-19 policies around the world.

Global fight

Professor Alice Gast, President of Imperial College London, said: “This generous gift is a step-change in support for the College’s vital COVID-19 research, helping us to unlock new, high-impact avenues of research that will have a profound impact in the global fight against this disease.

“Community Jameel have long been a beacon for the transformative power of philanthropy. We hope that others will share their foresight and join us as we race to confront the most urgent crisis in a generation.”

Fady Jameel, President, International of Community Jameel, said: “The work of the team at the Jameel Institute has been at the forefront of enabling policy makers and the public to make more sense of the pandemic. We are humbled to be able to support the vital research they do and, with the new Excellence Fund, continue to enable scientists to rigorously explore new avenues in tackling this most important of challenges.”

Grants from the new fund are expected to start being awarded to projects in the summer following a panel review and selection process by the COVID-19 Research Fund Review Committee.

Find out more about the fund and how to apply,