Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have a remarkably high burden globally, accounting for 74% of all deaths. Every year 17 million people die from an NCD before the age of 70, and 86% of these premature deaths occur in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). The World Health Assembly endorsed the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs 2013–2020 (NCD-GAP), now extended to 2030, to provide member states, international partners and the WHO with the tools, knowledge and policy options to reduce the impact of NCDs. The NCD-GAP includes a specific objective relating to research for NCD prevention and control, however the midpoint evaluation for the NCD-GAP, published in 2020, found that ‘overwhelmingly, research has been the weakest NCD-GAP objective in terms of implementation. Progress towards the NCD-GAP and United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets has been slow and hugely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with only a handful of countries on-track to reach SDG target 3.4—a one-third reduction in premature mortality from NCDs through prevention and treatment by 2030...