A legacy that lasts

The Lister Institute is proud to have pioneered and funded some of the most important advances in biomedical science since it was established in 1891. By leaving a legacy to the Lister in a will, you could also be part of our incredible story.

Our people pioneered cost-effective production of early vaccines, developed a heat-stable smallpox vaccine, discovered DNA fingerprinting and are working on new diagnostic methods for oesophageal cancer. None of these advances happened by accident. Behind the scenes, people made decisions to back excellent scientists with unquenchable curiosity and bold plans to answer difficult questions. Legacies enable us to fund more groundbreaking research for the improvement of health. 

Your legacy is their breakthrough

For over a century, we have nurtured leaders in biomedical research. We’ve provided flexible funding to talented individuals and given them a community of supportive scientists where they feel they truly belong. Today, Lister Prize funding lands at the exact moment when early-career scientists need it as they seek to stablise their independent research groups and establish leadership in often highly novel and emerging fields. Our ethos has always been to invest in scientists whose greatest work still lies ahead.

Gifts in wills are among the most significant forms of charitable support in the UK. Legacy income reached an estimated £4.4 billion in 2025, forecast to grow to £5 billion by 2029 and £10 billion by 2046 as wealth passes between generations. For the UK’s largest legacy-reliant charities, such gifts already make up nearly a third of fundraised income, with health causes receiving the largest share of all legacy.

Leaving a legacy to a cause you care about is fast becoming the norm.

Expanding possibilities

The Lister Prize is funded from returns on the Institute’s own invested endowment. That will not change; it is the bedrock that has funded Lister Fellows since the fellowship funding model was introduced more than 40 years ago.

In 2025 and again in 2026, we awarded eight new Prize Fellowships to outstanding biomedical researchers and we’ve funded over 100 Summer Studentships. But as a charity we are always thinking about opportunities and risks that may affect our mission to nurture future research leaders, support biomedical research excellence in the UK and the Republic of Ireland and ensure long-term public benefit through publication of our Fellows’ findings and by encouraging its exploitation.

Diversifying our income helps to sustain our mission while mitigating risks. A gift left in a will could help fund more Fellowships or Summer Studentships, alongside newer initiatives such as our recent contribution to the Academy of Medical Sciences Starter Grants for Clinical Lecturers.

“Every Fellow I meet tells me the same thing: that early, flexible funding doesn’t just support their research, it changes the course of their entire career,” says Julie Goodley, the Lister’s Director. “A gift in someone’s will is exactly that kind of support, carried into the future. It’s a way of saying, I believe the next discovery is worth backing, even if I never see it myself.”

Discoveries built on trust

The Institute’s former chairman, the late Dame Bridget Ogilvie, put it best: our job is not to guard a legacy. Our job is to put money in the hands of young researchers. She was talking about our regular income from investments, but this beautifully expresses what a legacy can do, too. A legacy goes beyond a name carved in stone; it enables a person, perhaps years from now, to do work that would not otherwise have existed and that has the potential to transform people’s lives.

^“

A legacy gift is a remarkable act of trust: trust that today’s bold, curious scientists will go on to do things we cannot yet imagine. Trust is the foundation we build on. It’s how the next DNA fingerprinting, the next diagnostic breakthrough, will be found._”

John Iredale, Chair, Lister Institute