Submissions open for Wellcome Career Development Awards

Deadline Date: April 11, 2024

Donor Name: Wellcome Trust

Grant Size: Not Available

https://wellcome.org/grant-funding/schemes/career-development-awards

Submissions are now open for the Wellcome Career Development Awards to provide funding for mid-career researchers from any discipline who have the potential to be international research leaders.

They will develop their research capabilities, drive innovative programmes of work and deliver significant shifts in understanding that could improve human life, health and wellbeing.

What they offer?

• A Wellcome Career Development Award provides a salary for the grantholder (if required) and research expenses.
• The award usually lasts for 8 years, but may be less for some disciplines, such as humanities and social science.
• The award may be held on a part-time basis. They will extend the duration of the award to reflect this.
• You should ask for a level and duration of funding that’s justifiable for your proposed research.
• The award includes:
  • a basic salary (determined by your host organisation)
  • staff
  • continuing professional development and training
  • materials and consumables
  • animals
  • equipment
  • access charges
  • overheads
  • travel and subsistence
  • overseas allowances
  • fieldwork expenses
  • inflation allowance
  • open access charges
  • clinical research costs
  • public engagement and patient involvement costs
  • contract research organisations
  • other costs

Eligibility Criteria

• You can apply for a Wellcome Career Development Award if you are a mid-career researcher and you are ready to lead a substantial and innovative research programme. You must aim to make a key contribution to your field by:
  • generating significant shifts in understanding
  • developing methodologies, conceptual frameworks, tools or techniques that could benefit health-related research.
• During the award, they expect you to:
  • develop your research capabilities and leadership skills
  • support others to undertake research responsibly and promote a positive and inclusive culture
  • start training the next generation of researchers and develop their research skills and careers
• Your research can be in any discipline – including science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), experimental medicine, humanities and social science, clinical/allied health sciences, and public health – as long as it has the potential to improve human life, health and wellbeing, and aligns with the funding remit.
• Career stage and experience
  • To be eligible, you will already be driving your own research.
  • You must have:
    • completed one or two substantial periods of research after your initial training
    • made important contributions to your area of research.
  • You must be able to contribute at least 80% of your research time to the award. For permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contracts, you must have been appointed within the last three years unless, during this time, you:
    • spent time away from research due to personal circumstances (for example, for a career break, maternity leave, long-term sick leave or a chronic illness)
    • worked part-time and research was not part of the role, for example, if you have been employed as a healthcare professional
    • changed research discipline, for example, moving from astrophysics to computational neuroscience, or environmental chemistry to social anthropology. There may be some crossover, such as in research sites or techniques, but the shift should still be a significant change.
    • were based in a low- or middle-income country where it is normal to be appointed to a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract early in your research career.
• Host organisation
  • You must have sponsorship from an eligible host organisation in one of the following:
    • UK
    • Republic of Ireland
    • a low- or middle-income country (apart from India and mainland China)
  • It can be a:
    • higher education institution
    • research institute
    • non-academic healthcare organisation
    • not-for-profit organization

Who can’t apply?

• You are not eligible to apply if:
  • you hold, or have held, an equivalent award at this career stage (an exception to this is that the current Wellcome grantholders at an equivalent stage can apply to this scheme)
  • you have made an application to this scheme and you are waiting for a decision.
• You cannot apply to carry out activities that involve the transfer of grant funds into mainland China.

For more information, visit Wellcome.