Who funds obesity research?

We count 159 funded obesity projects, active between 2019 and 2034, from 6 funders. The most came from EU · ERC (38 projects), Wellcome (25 projects) and EU · MSCA (20 projects). The median award is $2.6M, across the 144 of 159 projects that list an amount.

Funded projects

159

Funders

6

Median award

$2.6M

Open calls now

1

Top funders of obesity research

Projects whose title or summary mentions obesity. Median award: of the projects that list an amount, in US dollars; “—” when fewer than 3 do.

Open obesity funding calls

1 open call mentions obesity today.

• UK Obesity Research Institute: full application
  Medical Research Council (MRC)Up to £72,000,000Deadline: December 3, 2026 ·
  Real odds: About 1 in 5 funded (19% · Medical Research Council (MRC), all funding decisions, 2024-25)

Real odds

• About 1 in 5 funded · 19% · Medical Research Council (MRC), all funding decisions, 2024-25 · UKRI investment and outputs data, table 2.1

Published success rates for the programs behind the open calls above: the share of applications the funder funded, program-wide, not for this topic.

Forecast: announced, not open yet

1 forecast call on obesity. Funders publish forecasts before a call opens; you can't apply to these yet, and dates can change.

• ForecastHealthy Lifestyles in Youth
  Indian Health ServiceNot specifiedExpected to open April 28, 2028

Funded obesity projects

A sample, latest start first, at most three per program.

• Sympathetic Neural Circuitry Controlling Whole-body Metabolism
  Wellcome · £3,400,000 · ends 2034
• The role of ILC3 tissue microenvironments in determining intestinal health and disease
  Wellcome · £2,851,259 · ends 2032
• West Virginia Rural Roots to Research
  NIH · Office of the Director · $3,697,994 · ends 2031
• BRF: Developing Multidisciplinary and Collaborative Research Spaces to Grow Biomedical Research Capacity at the University of Arkansas
  NIH · Office of the Director · $8,000,000 · ends 2031
• Ultraprocessed foods: mechanisms of harm and harm reduction
  UKRI · MRC · £2,672,836 · ends 2031
• Obesity, diabetes and hypertension during pregnancy significantly increase morbidity in pregnant women and the risks of metabolic diseases…
  USDA · $630,435 · ends 2031
• Improving suicide risk identification after bariatric surgery: A mixed methods approach
  NIH · NIMH · $3,173,148 · ends 2030
• ECHO-PROTECT Cohort Study Site in Puerto Rico
  NIH · Office of the Director · $3,924,196 · ends 2030
• Research Redesign to Reduce Chronic Conditions in Families
  NIH · NCATS · $3,312,892 · ends 2030
• Effect of caloric restriction on aging biomarkers, frailty, and multimorbidity in older adults
  NIH · NIA · $3,157,326 · ends 2030

How we count

Funded projects come from public award records (NIH RePORTER, NSF, EU CORDIS, UKRI Gateway to Research, Wellcome, the Gates Foundation, DOE, NASA and USDA NIFA) whose title or summary matches “obesity”. NIH lists each budget year separately; one project counts once. Amounts are as the funder lists them; medians use only projects that list one, in US dollars. Open calls and forecasts are from our listings of October 28, 2026. A project can mention a topic without being mainly about it, so treat the counts as a guide to who funds the area.