Wellcome Career Development Awards 2025

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About Wellcome Career Development Awards

This scheme provides funding for mid-career researchers from any discipline who have the potential to be international research leaders. They will develop their research capabilities, drive innovative programmes of work and deliver significant shifts in understanding related to human life, health and wellbeing.

Wellcome supports discovery research into life, health and wellbeing, and they are taking on three worldwide health challenges: mental health, infectious disease and climate and health.

• Sponsor Organisation: Wellcome Trust Foundation

Benefits of Wellcome Career Development Awards

• The annual expenditure for a Career Development Award is usually below £250,000 excluding the applicant’s salary.  Applications above this value will be subject to additional scrutiny.

Funding duration:

Usually 8 years, but may be less for some disciplines and may only be longer if held on a part-time basis.

Wellcome Career Development Awards Requirements

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

and/or

• developing methodologies, conceptual frameworks, tools or techniques that could benefit health-related research.

During the award, we 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 applicant 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 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.

If the three-year limit falls between two deadlines for this scheme, and you would benefit from applying to the second deadline, we 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 your contractual circumstances change between the point of application and your award activation you must tell us immediately as this may change your eligibility for salary. We will not normally supplement for salary funds after the award has been made (read our supplementary grant funding page for more information). If after two or more years of your Career Development Award 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. 

How much time you must contribute 

You must be able to contribute at least 80% of your research time to the award.

If you are requesting your salary on the award, 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 in a clinical craft speciality, you may spend up to 40% of your time on clinical duties.

If you are not requesting your salary on the award, you should be spending sufficient time on research to support your research team and achieve the aims of the proposed work.

Health professionals

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. Read our Q&As for health professionals.

If you’ve spent time spent away from research

You can apply if you've been away from research (for example a career break, parental leave, or long-term sick leave). We'll allow for this when we consider your application.

 

Other people involved in the application and award

Sponsor

Your sponsor must be an individual at your administering organisation. Your sponsor must hold an established post (or an honorary academic appointment) at the administering 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 programme.
• Explain how your research fits with the strategic aims of the organisation.
• Confirm workload expectations with you, If you are requesting your salary on the award, 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 in a clinical craft speciality, you may spend up to 40% of your time on clinical duties. If you are not requesting your salary on the award, you should be spending sufficient time on research to support your research team and achieve the aims of the proposed work.
• Organise a discussion about your future at the organisation, for example an appointment to a permanent position.

If you plan to work for more than three months outside your host organisation, you must also have an additional sponsor at that location who will 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 host organisation (although they do not need to be based at your 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.

Ineligible projects 

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 our 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.

Is your research right for this scheme?

You must check whether Wellcome Discovery Research can fund your type of research project before you apply.

Check what we fund in Discovery Research

Your research must:

• fit within what we support in Discovery Research
• have the potential to improve human life, health, and wellbeing.

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.

Your research must not:

• fall outside of what we support in Discovery Research. Check what we don't fund.
• start earlier than seven months after the application deadline.

Application Date and Process

Apply for this scheme on the Wellcome Funding platform. Click on the same link to the application website to access this portal. You will need to log in or create an account. You can save your application and return to it at any time.

Get some tips to help you write your grant application.

Sample full application form for Wellcome Career Development Awards

Information you need to provide

As well as answering the application questions, you will need to provide:

• a letter of support from your current supervisor
• a letter of support from the director of finance at your administering organisation if you are requesting overheads
• a quote if you wish to purchase a piece of equipment costing £100,000 or more.

How long it takes to apply

You must leave enough time for:

• you to complete the application
• your organisation to review and submit the application.

Application process

1. Before you apply

   Make sure you read everything on this page.

   Get some tips to help you write your grant application.

   You do not need to contact us before you write and submit your application.

   View the Sample full application form for Wellcome Career Development Awards [PDF 1.38MB].

2. Submit your application to your administering organisation for approval

   Complete your application form on Wellcome Funding.

   Submit your application to the ‘approver’ your administering organisation for approval. Make sure you leave enough time for the to review and submit your application to Wellcome before the deadline. The approver may ask you to make changes to your application.

   If this is your organisation’s first time applying for Wellcome funding

   If this is your organisation’s first time applying for Wellcome funding, they will need to contact us to request an organisation account. Email [email protected] with your organisation’s:

   • name
   • address
   • country
   • team email address for the people who will approve and submit your application (this is usually a research management team).

   We will create the organisation account and provide access to the approvers. Review our guidance for research offices.

3. Administering organisation reviews your application and submits it to us

   Your application must be submitted by 17:00 (GMT/BST) on the deadline day. Watch a recording of a webinar demonstrating the new Wellcome Funding Platform from Thursday, 4 May 2023.

4. Shortlisting

   We will check your eligibility for the scheme and that your application demonstrates how you will meet the aims of the scheme. If your application is ineligible or does not demonstrate how you will meet the aims of the scheme, we will withdraw your application and contact you to explain why.
   
   One of the following Discovery Advisory Groups will then review your application, depending on your area of research:

   • Molecular Mechanisms
   • Pathogen Biology and Disease Transmission
   • Cell Biology, Development and Physiology
   • Immune System in Health and Disease
   • Population and Public Health
   • Brain and Behavioural Sciences
   • Genetics and Genomics
   • Medical Humanities
   • Social Sciences
   • Data Sciences, Tools and Technology.

   If shortlisted, we will invite you for interview.

5. Written expert review

   We'll seek external written expert review on shortlisted applications. Only the proposed research will be reviewed.

   Reviewers will be chosen based on their expertise within the relevant research field and not on their level of seniority.

   Unattributed comments will be sent to you before your interview.

6. Interviews

   The Career Development Award Interview Panel will interview shortlisted candidates at the Wellcome offices in London. Accessibility requirements will be accommodated. Those who cannot attend in person can participate remotely.

   We will provide information on the structure of the interview, layout of the room, and interview committee membership.

   You will be asked to give a presentation at the start of your interview. Shortly before the day of the interview, you will need to provide us with your presentation slides.

   The committee will assess across a set of criteria rather than one specific aspect of the proposal.

7. Funding decision

   Final funding decisions will be made by the Discovery Research Decision Board.

   You will receive an email notification of the funding decision soon after the decision has been made. We will write to you after this with the reasons for the decision.

 

Application Deadline

26 November, 2024

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