Abstract
Here, we consider how the lessons we learned in 2020 from funding COVID-19 research could have a long-term impact on the way that we fund medical research. We look back at how UK government funding for COVID-19 medical research evolved, beginning with the early calls for proposals in February that pump-primed funding for vaccines and therapeutics, and culminating in the launch of the government's National Core Studies programme in October. We discuss how the research community mobilized to submit and review grants more rapidly than ever before, against a background of laboratory and office closures. We also highlight the challenges of running clinical trials as the number of hospitalized patients fluctuated with different waves of the disease.