Apply for Wellcome Career Development Awards

They will develop their research capabilities, drive innovative programmes of work and deliver significant shifts in understanding related to 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.
• You can only hold one of these awards. They do not offer renewals.
• 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 will probably have experience of working collaboratively. You may have directed, or closely guided, the work of others.
  • At the point of application, you may also have been appointed to:
    • your first permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract, or to a tenure track contract. If this applies to you, you cannot ask for your own salary with this award unless you are based in a low- or middle-income country and have to get your salary from external grant funding.
    • a fixed term position with four years or less remaining on your contract at the point of application. If this applies to you, you can ask for your own salary with this award. If your contractual circumstances change between the point of application and your award activation you must tell them immediately as this may change your eligibility for salary. They will not normally supplement for salary funds after the award has been made (see the supplementary grant funding page for more information). If after two or more years of your CDA activating your organisation awards you a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract that includes your salary, you will be able to keep the salary element of the award to use towards your remaining research costs.
    • a fixed term position with more than four years left on your contract at the point of application. If this applies to you, you cannot ask for your salary with this award and your host organisation must underwrite your salary costs for the duration of the award.
  • 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.
  • If the three-year limit falls between two deadlines for this scheme, and you would benefit from applying to the second deadline, they will allow you to do this.
  • If you hold a proleptic appointment, you can request your salary costs from Wellcome for the duration of the award.
  • If you are a health professional, you will have completed your clinical training. If you want to continue with clinical activities, you must be registered with, and licensed by, the relevant professional regulator in the country you intend to work in.
• By the end of the award
  • By the end of the award, you should have achieved international standing in your area of research.
  • You should also have the skills and experience to apply for permanent positions at research organisations.
• 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 organisation.
• Time spent away from research
  • You can apply if you’ve been away from research (for example a career break, maternity leave, or long-term sick leave). They’ll allow for this when they consider your application.
  • Depending on your previous career stage and the level of supervision and retraining you need now, you may also want to consider an Early-Career Award.
• Resubmissions
  • If you are unsuccessful with an application to this scheme, you can submit one more full application for the same project. Significant changes are needed for the second application. You do not need to contact them first.
• Current Wellcome grantholders
  • They will allow current grantholders of the following mid-career schemes to apply for a Career Development Award until the end of their awards, unless they have been appointed to a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract:
    • Sir Henry Dale Fellowships (including those with extensions)
    • Research Career Development Fellowships
    • Research Career Re-entry Fellowships
    • Intermediate Clinical Fellowships (including those with one-year extensions)
    • Clinical Research Career Development Fellowships (stage 2)
    • International Intermediate Fellowships.
  • If you are one of these grantholders, you must have an active grant at the time of application.

Ineligible

• 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.