Wellcome Early-Career Awards – Apply Now!

Through innovative projects, they will deliver shifts in understanding related to human life, health and wellbeing. By the end of the award, they will be ready to lead their own independent research programme.

Funding Information

• Your salary and up to £400,000 for research expenses. If eligible, you may also request additional funding for overseas allowances, overheads and adjustment support.
• Duration
  • Usually 5 years, but may be less for some disciplines, and may only be longer if held on a part-time basis.

What they fund?

• Research questions should generate knowledge that leads to a shift in understanding or delivers new insight into how human life and health work. They welcome proposals that may have a clinical or societal impact or have translational potential, but the focus should be on discovery research.
• They fund research into the:
  • fundamental processes that underpin biology, to understand more about how human life works
  • complexities of human health and disease, including clinical and population-based approaches
  • burden of disease and its determinants, where this brings new and transformational knowledge
  • development of methodologies, conceptual frameworks, technologies, tools or techniques that could benefit health-related research
  • needs, values and priorities of the people and communities affected by disease and health disparities
  • social, ethical, cultural, political, economic and historical contexts of human health and disease.

What they don’t fund?

• They will not fund proposals that are not grounded in discovery research.  This includes:
  • Large clinical trials and population interventions where the main purpose is to develop, test or implement a drug, product or intervention. Intervention designs can be used if they bring understanding of biological and/or social mechanisms of health and disease, including understanding how or why interventions work, or to establish proof-of-concept.
  • The development of compounds, tools, technologies or methodologies predominantly to be used for diagnosis, treatment or improving clinical care. The primary focus should be the benefit to health-related research although proposals may also have potential for clinical or translational impact.
  • The study of animal diseases, including in food production animals, that are not transmissible to humans or not considered a model for human biology or disease. The study of zoonotic disease is only in remit where the aspects studied are relevant to humans (transmission or disease).
  • Stand-alone resources (including databases) except as part of a proposal where generating a new resource or enriching an existing resource is required to answer specific research questions.

Who they fund?

• They fund individuals at all career stages and teams of researchers.
• Their schemes are open to lead applicants based in the UK, the Republic of Ireland and low- and middle-income countries (as defined by the OECD) and co-applicants from the rest of the world if applying as part of a team.
• They are keen to encourage applications from low- and middle-income countries. They have made changes to their funding schemes and remain open to international applications.

Who can apply?

• 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 and/or
  • 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.
• If you decide not to pursue a career in research, you’ll have transferable skills that you can use in roles related to research or outside of research, for example in industry or teaching.
• Lead applicant career stage and experience
  • Career stage and experience
    • At the point you submit your application, you must have completed a substantive period of research training relevant to your discipline.
      • You must have:
        • completed a PhD (for example, in the life sciences) or an equivalent higher research degree. At the point of application you must have passed your viva examination, or
        • 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 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.
• Sponsor
  • Your sponsor must be an individual at your administering organisation. They must hold an established post (or an honorary academic appointment) at the organisation for the duration of the award. They will be expected to:
    • Guarantee the space and resources you’ll need from the start date to the end date of your award.
    • Ensure the research environment will support you to complete your project.
    • Confirm workload expectations with you – you should not spend more than 20% of your time on non-research related activities, for example clinical duties, teaching or administration. If you’re based in a clinical craft specialty, you may spend up to 40% of your time on clinical duties.
  • If you plan to work for more than three months outside your administering organisation, you must also have an additional sponsor at that location. They must guarantee the space and resources you’ll need during your visit.
• Mentor
  • You should also identify a mentor for the period of your award. They should have a track record in training and mentorship, and support and guide you on how to:
    • manage your application
    • develop your research career
    • progress with your personal development
    • manage the processes and regulations at your administering organisation (although they do not need to be based at your administering organisation).
  • Your sponsor can also be your mentor.
• Collaborators
  • You can involve collaborators in your application and award.
  • Collaborators 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 resources
    • providing expertise on working in different countries
    • sharing subject-specific knowledge and guidance.
  • Collaborators are not paid for their input but you can request costs for their expenses. In your application, you will need to confirm that you have contacted your proposed collaborators and they are willing to participate. Collaborators do not need to confirm their participation themselves.

Who can’t apply?

• 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, or have held, an equivalent award at this career stage. An equivalent award does not include short-term funding.

For more information, visit Wellcome.