Entries open for Wellcome Early-Career Awards Scheme

Through innovative projects, they will deliver shifts in understanding related to human life, health and wellbeing.

Funding Information

• A Wellcome Early-Career Award provides a salary for the grantholder and up to £400,000 for research expenses.
• On top of the £400,000 research expenses limit, you may also be able to ask for:
  • Overheads
  • Overseas allowances
  • The cost of macaques purchased from the Centre for Macaques
  • Adjustment support, including assistive technology (for example, screen readers or mobility aids) and support staff.
• The award usually lasts for 5 years, but may be less for some disciplines, such as humanities and social science.

Eligible Costs

• A basic salary (determined by your administering organisation)
• Staff
• Relocation allowance
• 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 to this scheme if you are an early-career researcher and you are ready to design, plan and deliver your own innovative research project that aims to:
  • Advance understanding in your field
  • Develop methodologies, conceptual frameworks, tools or techniques that could benefit health-related research.
• During the award, they expect you to:
  • Expand your technical skills and/or your experience of different research methodologies or frameworks
  • Build a collaborative network with other researchers in your field
  • Develop your people management skills
  • Advance your understanding of how to complete research responsibly and promote a positive and inclusive culture.
• By the end of the award, you should have the research maturity to develop, manage and lead your own creative, independent research programme.
• Lead applicant career stage and experience
• You must have:
  • Completed a PhD (for example, in the life sciences) or an equivalent higher research degree. You must have passed your viva examination by the application deadline.
  • If you have not started a PhD or equivalent degree, at least four years’ equivalent research experience (for example, in the humanities and social sciences).
• You may also have some postdoctoral experience in your proposed field of study, but no more than three years at the point of the application deadline unless you can demonstrate how other factors have impacted on your research career.
• When they review how much postdoctoral experience you have, they will allow for part-time work, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, career breaks (for example, parental leave or long-term sick leave) and other significant amounts of time spent outside research (for example, clinical training).
• They will also consider whether you have changed research discipline. For example, moving from astrophysics to computational neuroscience. There may be some crossover, such as in research sites or techniques, but the shift should still be a significant change.
• They consider postdoctoral experience as any periods spent in research after you passed your PhD/higher research degree viva.
• You should be able to demonstrate:
  • A good understanding of research methodology
  • Evidence of project delivery and analysis.
• You should not need close supervision to complete your proposed research, although you may need training in new techniques and experimental approaches.
• The administering organisation must be in one of the following:
  • UK
  • Republic of Ireland
  • A low- or middle-income country (apart from India and mainland China).
• The organisation must be not-for-profit and can be a:
  • Higher education institution
  • Research institute
  • Healthcare organisation

Ineligibility Criteria

• You are not eligible to apply if:
  • You have an existing tenured (salaried) post for the duration of the award (unless based in a low- or middle-income country). You can only relinquish an existing tenured (salaried) post to take up an Early-Career Award if your current post is not research-based.
  • You have made an application to this scheme and you are waiting for a decision.
  • You hold, have held, or have accepted an offer for an equivalent award at this career stage. An equivalent award does not include short-term funding.

For more information, visit Wellcome.