The International Alliance of Mental Health Research Funders (IAMHRF) was founded in 2009, by the Graham Boeckh Foundation (GBF), to unite the world’s public and private funders of mental health research. Supported by grants from Wellcome, GBF and continued growth in our membership, we recently transitioned to a new host organization, Global Impact. With an expanded team, we are thrilled to begin a new chapter of growth and collaboration.
The IAMHRF occupies a pivotal role in the global mental health research ecosystem. As a collaborative network of funders, IAMHRF brings together diverse organizations with a shared mission: to drive impactful mental health research that leads to real-world solutions for individuals and communities affected by mental health challenges.
In a field where funding is often fragmented and research can struggle to translate into practical outcomes, IAMHRF serves as a unifying force. We foster cross-sector collaborations, enabling a space for research funders to collaborate with each other and the wider sector to amplify the impact of mental health research funding. By aligning resources and priorities across sectors and borders, IAMHRF accelerates progress on some of the most pressing mental health issues globally.
Our focus is on identifying tractable opportunities—areas where concerted efforts can yield the most significant benefits. In addition, IAMHRF plays a key role in shaping the mental health research agenda by facilitating strategic discussions among its members and partners, promoting data sharing, and encouraging best practice.
As mental health continues to rise on the global public health agenda, IAMHRF is uniquely positioned to catalyse progress by leveraging the collective power of its members to generate actionable insights, foster collaboration, and ensure that research funding delivers meaningful, long-lasting impact for those who need it most.
“[We value the] opportunity to share our work and landscaping to help inform others' priorities and ensure research is addressing the biggest gaps.”
Our membership includes over 20 of the world’s largest mental health research funders and partner organisations. If you share our mission to increase the impact of mental health research, we would love to hear from you.
Our approach
Our strategic approach centres on four key pillars: convene, curate, challenge, and celebrate.
CONVENE
Our webinars, working groups, member café's, and annual meetings bring funders together around emerging challenges and opportunities in mental health research and funding.
CURATE
We compile and curate new evidence, insights and resources to inform priority setting and investment in mental health. Our flagship report, The Inequities of Mental Health Research Funding, maps the global distribution of mental health research funding.
CHALLENGE
We promote the development and implementation of new practices and standards in research funding — from adopting common measures to embedding lived experience.
CELEBRATE
We collect and amplify the success stories from mental health research.
Current projects
We work on a range of topics affecting the mental health research sector, and responding to our members' needs and interests. These include:
- Mapping the distribution of mental health research funding
- Driving the adoption of common measures
- Involving people with lived experience
- Promoting equity in mental health research
- Exploring the risks and opportunities in digital mental health
- Unlocking more investment in prevention and early intervention research
“I found another organization who is interested in similar topics. We explored to what extent we might be able to collaborate.”
Our achievements
Published in 2020, our flagship report, The Inequities of Mental Health Research Funding, was the first comprehensive global analysis of how mental health research funding is distributed. It examined over 75,000 research grants from approximately 350 funders across 35+ countries. Now, we're building on this work with a follow-up study that will explore a wider range of research outputs and impacts.
Building on the efforts of our cross-funder working groups, we’ve also published influential papers on common measures in mental health and lived experience in research funding.
In 2023, we co-sponsored the Global Mental Health: Research Without Borders conference which brought together researchers, innovators, and other scholars from around the globe from around the world to highlight findings and explore opportunities for research.
You can also explore the key opportunities we identified in 2023 and 2024 and the actions we're taking to drive change.