Health-focused research funder the Wellcome Trust is to open an office in Berlin, in another sign that UK-based research institutions are drawing closer to Germany in advance of Brexit.

The London-headquartered charitable foundation, which in 2015-16 awarded research grants worth ?822 million, said that it would open the outpost later this year ¡°so that we can work more closely with our international partners on shared priorities¡±.

¡°Berlin is a leading international centre for global health, research, innovation and culture,¡± it said in a statement. ¡°As a global foundation, Wellcome wants to be part of this exciting hub and we want to explore new ideas and opportunities.¡±

Nearly four-fifths of Wellcome¡¯s funding goes to UK-based institutions. But before the UK¡¯s general election last year it warned that the country must remain part of European Union research framework programmes after Brexit if it was to continue to invest ¡°confidently¡± in the country in the future.

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Although the Wellcome announcement did not link the decision to Brexit, the University of Oxford, King¡¯s College London plus another yet to be announced research-intensive university have already sought to establish links with Germany ¨C currently enjoying healthy annual increases in its research budget ¨C through joint campuses or research centres.

The universities aim to keep hold of existing partnerships after the UK leaves the EU, and potentially tap into national German sources of funding.

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Explaining the new office, Wellcome said that Germany was ¡°increasingly playing a leading role in global health¡± and had in ¡°recent years¡± doubled its spending on international health.

The country had used its presidency of the G7 and G20 to to drive ¡°significant progress on issues such as WHO [World Health Organization] reform, epidemic preparedness and tackling drug-resistant infections¡±.

The foundation said that it already had several partnerships in Germany, including a collaboration with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, which speedily develops vaccines for epidemic diseases.

david.matthews@timeshighereducation.com