Wellcome Career Development Awards for Researchers

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

Funding Information 

• The annual expenditure for a Career Development Award is usually below £250,000 excluding the applicant’s salary.
• Duration: Usually 8 years, but may be less for some disciplines and may only be longer if held on a part-time basis.

Who can apply?

• 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.
• 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.
• Lead applicants
  • 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 research 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.
    • 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.
  • 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, parental 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
    • have worked part-time and your cumulative research time is less than three years
    • 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.

Who can’t apply?

• You are not eligible to apply if:
  • you hold, have held, or have accepted an offer for an equivalent award at this career stage (an exception to this is that their 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.