Call for Nominations: Climate and Health Awards 2025

This call builds on Wellcome’s previous funding, Advancing climate mitigation policy solutions with health co-benefits in G7 countries. This award will fund transdisciplinary research teams, led by an applicant at an LMIC-based organisation.

Research funded will investigate health effects alongside the social and economic impacts of planned or implemented greenhouse gas mitigation strategies. It will reflect local priorities and produce evidence to drive positive climate and health outcomes.

Priority Areas

• This award prioritises research based in and led by LMICs because:
  • LMICs will have a lot to gain from this transition being done well. As a continent, Africa is home to 60% of the best solar resources globally (IEA, 2022). A transition to renewables could improve air quality, helping to prevent premature deaths from air pollution which currently kills 5 times more people in LMICs than HICs. It could also reduce energy poverty, increasing energy access to the 775 million people globally without electricity, and create jobs (Lancet Countdown, 2023).
  • LMICs face major risks if transition decisions do not account for both climate and health impacts (for example, low carbon biofuels that cause air pollution). Without centring health, mitigation actions could further entrench extractive industries that are bad for health and worsen inequality.

Funding Information

• Funding amount: £500,000-£2 million per project.
• Funding duration: 2-4 years.

Cost Covered

• Staff
• Materials and consumables
• Access charges
• Contract research organisation
• Clinical research costs
• Fieldwork expenses
• Travel and subsistence
• Overseas allowances
• Public engagement and patient involvement costs
• Overheads
• Continuing professional development
• Open access charges
• Inflation allowance
• Other costs

Eligibility Criteria

• The team must:
  • be transdisciplinary, meaning the team combines knowledge from different scientific disciplines with that of public and private sector stakeholders and citizens. They’d like to see these non-academic stakeholders as co-applicants or collaborators on the application. However, they recognise building these partnerships takes time and effort. So, teams with a clear plan for how to develop partnerships with non-academic stakeholders within the first year of the grant can also apply. Academic partnerships should be in place at the point of application.
  • be of an appropriate size for the proposed research. Teams must consist of at least two applicants (one lead applicant and one coapplicant) and must not exceed eight applicants (excluding collaborators).
  • include either a lead applicant or coapplicants from each country where the research will take place. They encourage teams that draw on global expertise, but they must be LMIC-led.
  • have a strong track record of research in climate change mitigation and health.
  • have experience of using research to influence policy or practice.
  • have experience conducting research in collaboration with government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or other relevant advocacy organisations.
• The lead applicant must:
  • Be employed by an eligible organisation in a low-or middle-income country (LMIC) that can sign up to the grant conditions. This can include a sole-trader or self-employed person’s business.
  • Be a leader in their field, with the experience needed to drive and lead a collaborative, large scale research project and the necessary support structures in place to enable this.
  • Have experience of people and research management, as appropriate for their career stage.
  • Have a permanent, open-ended, or long-term rolling contract at their host organisation for the duration of the award.
  • Be able to contribute at least 20% of your research time to this project.
• Each coapplicant must:
  • Be based at an eligible organisation that can sign up to the grant conditions. This can include a sole trader/self-employed person’s business.
  • Be essential for delivery of the proposed project and make a significant contribution, for example in designing the proposed research and lead a specific component of the project. Their involvement should be justified in the application, demonstrating the value of their contribution to the team.
  • Have a guarantee of space from their administering organisation for the duration of their commitment to the project, but do not need to have a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract.
  • Be able to contribute at least 20% of their research time to this project.
• They support the delivery of the project but don’t lead on a specific component of the research. For example, collaborators could support by:
  • sharing facilities
  • providing access to tools or resources
  • providing expertise on working in different countries
  • sharing subject-specific or technical knowledge and guidance.

Ineligibility Criteria

• You cannot apply for this funding award if:
  • your research team is led by a researcher who does not hold an employment contract with an organisation in an LMIC
  • you intend to carry out activities which involve the transfer of funds into mainland China
  • you cannot demonstrate that you can dedicate enough time and resources to the project if funded
  • you are already an applicant on two applications for this funding call:
    • you can only be a lead applicant on one application and a coapplicant on another application
    • you can be a coapplicant on two applications
    • you must demonstrate that you have sufficient capacity for both projects if funded. The applications should be for different projects with no overlap of activities.
    • you already have applied for, or hold, the maximum number of Wellcome awards for your career stage.
  • promote a diverse, inclusive and supportive research environment.

For more information, visit Wellcome Trust.