The Trinity Challenge

Quick Stats

• Annual Giving: £2.7-5.7 million per challenge cycle
• Success Rate: 2.4% (applications to awards)
• Decision Time: 8-10 weeks from deadline
• Grant Range: £7,500 - £1,000,000
• Geographic Focus: Global, with emphasis on low- and middle-income countries

Contact Details

Website: https://www.thetrinitychallenge.org/

Email: info@thetrinitychallenge.org

Phone: 01223 338585

Application Portal: Applications hosted via MIT Solve platform

Overview

The Trinity Challenge is a UK-registered charity (1191909) founded in September 2020 by Dame Sally Davies, former Chief Medical Officer for England, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The charity brings together a global coalition of over 40 leading organizations from the private, public, and social sectors—including Google, Microsoft, McKinsey, GSK, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the University of Cambridge—to support data-driven solutions addressing global health threats. Since its inception, the charity has distributed approximately £9.45 million through prize-based innovation competitions. The organization's current strategic focus is antimicrobial resistance (AMR), with anchor funding provided by Wellcome. The Trinity Challenge operates through periodic high-stakes innovation competitions rather than traditional grant cycles, seeking transformative, scalable solutions with global public benefit.

Funding Priorities

Grant Programs

Major Innovation Challenges (£1-2.7 million total per competition)

• Grand Prize: Up to £1 million for a single transformative solution
• Second Prizes: £600,000 each (typically two awarded)
• Third Prizes: £500,000 each (one or more awarded)
• Application method: Online via MIT Solve platform, fixed deadlines

Youth Competition on Behaviour Change (£7,500 per team)

• Grant amount: Up to £7,500 per youth-led team
• Focus: Behaviour change campaigns addressing AMR
• Eligibility: Teams of 3+ people, majority aged 18-35
• Application method: Rolling/fixed deadlines announced on website

Community Access to Effective Antibiotics Challenge

• Prize fund: £1 million (typically split between two winners at £500,000 each)
• Focus: Improving access to quality antibiotics in LMICs

Priority Areas

The Trinity Challenge focuses exclusively on data-driven solutions to global health threats. Current priorities include:

• Innovation: Developing new capabilities and tools for collecting and using data from community settings related to antibiotic resistance
• Integration: Creating systems that connect data across health, agricultural, and environmental sectors (One Health approach)
• Implementation: Ensuring solutions are scalable, sustainable, and provide global public benefit
• Geographic focus: Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), particularly communities disproportionately affected by health threats
• Cross-sectoral approaches: Solutions spanning human health, animal health, environmental health, or combinations thereof
• Technology and analytics: Leveraging data, artificial intelligence, and breakthrough technologies

Past challenge themes:

• 2021: Pandemic preparedness and response (£5.7 million distributed)
• 2024: Antimicrobial resistance in LMICs (£2.7 million distributed)
• 2025: Community access to effective antibiotics (£1 million distributed)

What They Don't Fund

• Solutions without a data-driven or analytics component
• Projects focused solely on high-income countries
• Proprietary solutions without commitment to global public benefit under fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms
• Non-pharmaceutical research (challenges specifically seek non-pharmaceutical, data-focused solutions)
• Projects without clear implementation and sustainability plans
• Standalone research without deployment pathways

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Governance and Leadership

Board of Trustees

Dame Sally Davies, DBE FRS (Chair)

Master of Trinity College Cambridge and first woman to hold the post. Former Chief Medical Officer for England (2011-2019) and UK Government's Special Envoy on AMR since 2019. Dame Sally stated at the launch: “Others talked, we took action” and emphasized that “The Trinity Challenge is committed to delivering for people, not profit.”

Sally Bridgeland

Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and Fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers. Trustee of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, serving on the Finance and Management Committee.

Dr David Secher

Independent consultant in research commercialisation, intellectual property, and technology transfer.

Steve Davis

Former Executive Strategy Advisor with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Interim Director for China Country Office. Lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Leadership Team

Hala Audi (Former CEO)

Led the organization through its early challenges. Audi emphasized the organization's global approach, stating: “Each judge brings a tremendous wealth of experience” when describing their independent expert panels.

Application Process and Timeline

How to Apply

Major Innovation Challenges:

1. Pre-application webinars and town halls typically offered

Youth Competition:

1. Teams of 3+ people (majority aged 18-35)
2. Designated Team Lead must be 18-35 years old
3. Proposals submitted via online application form
4. Must demonstrate co-design between experts and young people

Decision Timeline

Major Innovation Challenges (based on 2024 AMR timeline):

• Application deadline: Late February/March
• Finalist notification: 8-10 weeks later (late April/early May)
• 8 finalists selected from ~280-340 applications
• 15 additional teams may receive “Highly Commended” status
• Winners announced: 12-14 weeks from deadline (June awards ceremony)
• Live-streamed public awards ceremony

Youth Competition:

• Variable timeline depending on specific competition
• Typical decision time: 6-8 weeks

Success Rates

Highly competitive:

• Overall success rate: 2.4% (8 winners from 340 applications in 2021 challenge)
• Finalist selection rate: 4.7% (16 finalists from 340 applications)
• Winners from finalists: 50% (8 out of 16 finalists receive awards)

2021 Challenge statistics:

• 340 applications received from 61 countries
• 16 finalists selected
• 15 “Highly Commended” teams
• 8 prize winners

2024 AMR Challenge statistics:

• 285 solutions from 57 countries
• 8 finalists selected
• 4 prize winners

Youth competitions:

• Lower competition levels, with selected teams receiving funding from pools of £50,000+

Reapplication Policy

Previous applicants are explicitly welcome to reapply to future challenges. The organization states that applications are welcomed “from anyone, anywhere in the world, including previous applicants.” No waiting period between applications is mentioned.

Application Success Factors

Evaluation Criteria (scored on 4-point scale)

1. Challenge Alignment: Direct relevance to the current challenge theme and mission
2. Potential for Impact: Significant, measurable improvement in global health outcomes, particularly in LMICs
3. Feasibility: Realistic implementation plan, operational sustainability beyond prize funding, demonstrated capability of team
4. Innovative Approach: Novel use of technology, data/analytics, policy models, or processes
5. Partnership Potential: Ability to collaborate across sectors and scale globally

Judging Process

• Independent panel of experts from diverse disciplines and geographies
• Judges include representatives from LMICs
• Cross-disciplinary expertise: technology, analytics, AI, public health, epidemiology, investments, non-profit sector
• Quantitative scoring coupled with qualitative deliberation
• Quality-controlled, fair, and transparent process

Recent Winning Projects (2024 AMR Challenge)

Grand Prize (£1 million):

• Farm2Vet (Vietnam): Platform offering farmers instant, low-cost access to veterinary services for disease diagnosis and treatment advice, encouraging responsible antibiotic use in food-producing animals

Joint Second Prizes (£600,000 each):

• AMRSense (India): Proactive One Health ecosystem empowering community health workers
• OASIS (India): OneHealth Antimicrobial Stewardship for Informal Health Systems, empowering informal caregivers with new technologies

Third Prize (£500,000):

• AMRoots (South Africa): Grassroots AMR data generation in small-scale farming communities

What Winners Have in Common

• Data-centric approach: All solutions harness community-level data in innovative ways
• One Health integration: Cross-sector approach spanning human, animal, environmental health
• LMIC focus: Directly address gaps in communities most affected by health threats
• Empowerment of local actors: Solutions empower community health workers, farmers, informal caregivers
• Scalability: Clear pathways to scale beyond initial implementation
• Technology enablement: Use of mobile platforms, AI, low-cost diagnostics

Strategic Advice for Applicants

From the organization's guidance:

• “Solutions should provide a public benefit that would be globally accessible under fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms”
• Emphasize how your solution fills critical data gaps in LMICs
• Demonstrate commitment to diversity and global representation in your team
• Show evidence of co-design with affected communities
• Articulate clear implementation timeline and post-prize sustainability plan

Language and terminology to use:

• Data-driven, analytics, breakthrough technology
• One Health approach (integration of human, animal, environmental health)
• Global public benefit, globally accessible
• Pandemic preparedness, health emergency response
• Community-level implementation, informal health systems
• Operational sustainability, scalability

Key Takeaways for Grant Writers

• Data is essential: Every funded solution must have a strong data/analytics component; this is non-negotiable
• Think transformative, not incremental: The Challenge seeks “breakthrough” and “game-changing” solutions—aim high
• LMIC focus is critical: Solutions must address communities in low- and middle-income countries; high-income-only projects are not competitive
• Demonstrate global benefit: Commit to making your solution accessible globally under fair terms; proprietary approaches are less competitive
• Build diverse, expert teams: Successful applicants typically have cross-disciplinary teams with representation from LMICs
• Competition is intense: With 2.4% success rate overall, applications must be exceptionally strong across all evaluation criteria
• Finalists receive significant visibility: Even non-winning finalists (50% of finalists don't win prizes) gain global recognition and “Highly Commended” status opens doors to partnerships
• Plan for sustainability: Prize funding is meant to launch/scale solutions, not provide ongoing operational support—show how your solution becomes self-sustaining

References

1. The Trinity Challenge Official Website - https://www.thetrinitychallenge.org/
2. Charity Commission Register - THE TRINITY CHALLENGE (1191909) - https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/-/charity-details/5167375
3. MIT Solve - The Trinity Challenge Portal - https://solve.mit.edu/challenges/the-trinity-challenge
4. MIT Solve - Trinity Challenge on Antimicrobial Resistance - https://solve.mit.edu/challenges/trinity-challenge-amr
5. “New technologies to help farmers and health workers combat AMR are awarded £2.7 million” - The Trinity Challenge Press Release, June 2024 - https://thetrinitychallenge.org/news-and-stories/new-technologies-to-help-farmers-and-health-workers-combat-amr-are-awarded-2-7-million/
6. “Cambridge helps launch £10m Trinity Challenge to protect the world against future pandemics” - University of Cambridge, September 2020 - https://www.cam.ac.uk/news/cambridge-helps-launch-ps10m-trinity-challenge-to-protect-the-world-against-future-pandemics
7. “Trinity Challenge announces inaugural winners” - University of Cambridge, June 2021 - https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/trinity-challenge-announces-inaugural-winners
8. “The Trinity Challenge Finalists are announced” - MIT Solve Press Release, April 2021 - https://solve.mit.edu/articles/press-release-the-trinity-challenge-finalists-are-announced
9. The Trinity Challenge Board of Trustees - https://thetrinitychallenge.org/about-us/our-board/
10. The Trinity Challenge Founding Members - https://thetrinitychallenge.org/about-us/our-members/
11. “A new partnership issues a global challenge: Protect the world against the next pandemic” - McKinsey & Company, September 2020 - https://www.mckinsey.com/about-us/new-at-mckinsey-blog/announcing-the-trinity-challenge
12. Youth Voice Programme - The Trinity Challenge - https://thetrinitychallenge.org/youth-voice/