Wellcome Early-Career Awards

This scheme provides funding for early-career researchers from any

discipline who are ready to develop their research identity. 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.

Scheme at a glance

Lead applicant career stage:

Early-career researcher

Administering organisation location:

UK, Republic of Ireland, Low- or middle-income countries (apart from India and mainland China)

Strategic programme:

Discovery Research, Climate & Health, Infectious Disease, Mental Health

Frequency:

Three times a year - Upcoming deadline in October 2024

Funding amount:

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.

Funding duration:

Usually 5 years, but may be less for some disciplines, and may only be longer if held on a part-
time basis.

Coapplicants:

Not accepted

Help
 Deadline for new applications
Application deadline: 01 October 2024, 1700 BST

V i e w a l l key d a t e s

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, we 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 we review how much postdoctoral
experience you have, we 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).

We 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.

We 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.

How much time you must contribute

You must be able to contribute at least 80% of your research time in support of the
project proposed in 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.

Health professionals

If you are a health professional and you want to continue with clinical activities, you
must be registered with, and be licensed by, the relevant professional regulator in the
country you intend to work in. Read our Q&As for health professionals.

If you are based in a low- or middle-income country

You can apply if you hold a permanent, open-ended or long term rolling contract and
are based in a low- or middle-income country. All other eligibility criteria apply.

If you’ve spent time away from research

You can apply if you've spent time 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.

Depending on your previous career stage and the level of supervision and retraining
you need now, you may also want to consider a Career Development Award.

Other people you must involve in the application and award

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.

Other people you can involve in the application and award

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.

Other Wellcome awards

During an Early-Career Award, you can be a coapplicant on one other Wellcome

award.

Read about the different applicant roles at Wellcome and how many awards you can
apply for or hold at one time.

Resubmissions

If you are unsuccessful with an application to this scheme, you can submit one more
application for the same project. Significant changes are needed for the second
application. You do not need to contact us first.

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.

What short-term funding we allow

We allow short-term funding from your administering organisation or a learned
society that supported your transition from doctoral to postdoctoral research. This
can include, but is not limited to, funding for:

• developing new research ideas (rather than a substantive research project)

• career progression

• networking

• travel or residencies after your PhD.

You can have more than one period of short-term funding, but the combined duration
cannot be more than three years.

You cannot apply if you intend 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.

Review previous projects that have been successful for this scheme

Search awarded grants

Is your organisation right for this scheme?

The administering organisation is the organisation responsible for submitting your

final application to Wellcome and managing the finances of the grant if it is awarded.

Your grant must be administered by an eligible organisation that can sign up to

our grant conditions.

Where your administering organisation is based

The administering organisation must be 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.

What your administering organisation must do

We expect organisations based in the UK to meet the responsibilities required by

the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers for institutions,
managers and researchers.

Any organisation with Wellcome funding that is based outside the UK is expected, at
a minimum, to follow the principles of the Concordat.

Read the Concordat

We also expect your administering organisation to:

• Give you, and any staff employed on the grant, 10 days a year (pro rata if part-
time) to undertake training and continuing professional development (CPD in line
with the Concordat. This should include the responsible conduct of research,
research leadership, people management, diversity and inclusion, and the
promotion of a healthy research culture.

• Provide a system of onboarding, embedding and planning for you when you join
the organisation and/or start the award.

• Provide you with the status and benefits of other academic staff of similar
seniority.

If your administering organisation is a core-funded research organisation, an Early-

Career Award should not replace or lead to a reduction in existing or planned core
support.

Your research environment

You should choose a research environment that provides you with the appropriate
training, resources and experience to deliver your project and develop your research
skills and identity. We encourage you to move away from your current research
environment. This may mean moving from your group or department, but it is not
essential to move organisations.
How applications are assessed

We will review your research proposal, skills and experience, and research
environment. The assessment weightings are used at interview stage.

Your research proposal (50%

To be competitive, your research proposal will be:

• B o l d . It aims to deliver a significant shift in understanding and/or it provides a

significant advance over existing methodologies, conceptual frameworks, tools or
techniques. It has the potential to stimulate new and innovative research.

• C r e a t i v e . Your proposed approach is novel – it develops and tests new concepts,

methods or technologies, or combines existing ideas and approaches in a new
way.

• H i g h q u a l i t y. It is well-designed, clear, supported by evidence and the proposed

outcomes/outputs are feasible.

Your skills and experience (25%

We will review:

• Your previous research outputs and contributions to the research community.

• Your research skills and experience of different methodologies, and how you plan
to develop these during the award.

• How you will develop your management skills and capabilities for leading a
research programme.

Your research environment (25%

We will review:

• How your research environment(s) will support you to deliver your research
programme and develop as a researcher.
 • How your administering organisation will help you develop your project and
management skills.

• How you will contribute to a positive and inclusive research culture.

Research costs we'll cover

A Wellcome Early-Career Award provides a salary for the grantholder and up to

£400,000 for research expenses.

On top of the £400,000 research expenses limit, you may also be able to ask for:

• overheads

• overseas allowances

• adjustment support, including assistive technology (for example, screen readers

or mobility aids) and support staff. Review the ‘staff’ section for more
information.

If you are eligible for these costs, we will not count them against the £400,000 limit
for research expenses. Contact us if you have any questions.

If after two or more years from your Early-Career Award activation date 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.

The award usually lasts for 5 years, but may be less for some disciplines, such as
humanities and social science.

The award may be held on a part-time basis. We 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. We do not offer renewals.

The award includes:

a basic salary (determined by your administering organisation)

We will fund the total cost of your salary for the entire period of the grant.

You can only receive one salary.

If you hold a permanent, open-ended or long term rolling contract and are based in a
low- or middle-income country, we will fund the cost of your salary for the duration
of the award.

Your salary should be based on the pay scales of the host organisation that will be
employing you. It should include:

• your basic salary

• employer’s contributions, including any statutory obligations (for example,

National Insurance contributions if you’re based in the UK and pension scheme
costs

• any incremental progression up the salary scale

• locally recognised allowances such as London allowance.

You should not include:

• any potential promotion costs

• any Wellcome fellowship supplement that was part of a previous grant.

If your host organisation is in a low- or middle-income country and you will be

working in a high-income country for four weeks or more, you should be paid at an
appropriate rate for that country, according to your age and experience.

You should only allow for salary pay awards during Year 1. These should be based on
pay awards already agreed. If the pay award is not yet known, applicants should use
the International Monetary Fund inflation rate, selecting the ‘inflation, average
consumer price’ option as indicator.

From Year 2 onwards, we will automatically increase your salary, based on our
current inflation allowance rates.

If you are a clinical academic, your salary should be appropriate to your clinical status
and within the salary scale for academic and senior clinical lecturers.

If you're paid on a non-clinical salary scale, your basic salary should be in line with
academics of a similar seniority.

Read about the responsibilities of grantholders and host organisations for people
working on a Wellcome grant.

Visa and work permit costs

If Wellcome is going to pay your salary on the grant, you can ask for visa and work
permit costs to help you take up the post at your host organisation. Award holders
who need a visa to work in the UK may be eligible for a Global Talent Visa.

You can also ask for:

• visa costs for your partner and dependent children

• Immigration Health Surcharge costs for you, your partner and dependent children
if you will be in the UK for six months or more

• essential associated costs, such as travel to attend appointments at a visa

application centre or embassy, and English language tests, if you can justify
these.

relocation allowance
If you have to move to take up the post at your host organisation, you can ask for up
to £1,000. This is to cover personal removal costs only.

You will have to explain in your application why you need this.

staff

We will provide the salary costs for staff, full or part-time, who work on your project,
up to the equivalent of a 36-month full-time post. For example, you can ask for 24
months' salary for a research assistant, and 12 months' salary for a technician.

You can ask for more staff costs (in addition to the equivalent of a 36-month full-time
post) if you need:

• specialist service staff and technical experts, for example environmental

sustainability, data analysis, fieldwork and clinical studies

• support because you or a member of staff employed on your grant is disabled or

has a long-term health condition – see 'Disability-related adjustment support'.

We do not provide studentships on this award.

How to cost salaries for research staff

Staff salaries should be appropriate to skills, responsibilities and expertise. You

should ask your host organisation to use their salary scales to calculate these
costs, which should include:

• basic salary

• employer’s contributions, including any statutory obligations (for example,

National Insurance contributions if you’re based in the UK and pension scheme
costs

• Apprentice Levy charges for UK-based salaries

• any incremental progression up the salary scale

• locally recognised allowances such as London allowance.

You should allow for salary pay awards during Year 1. If the pay award is not yet
known, applicants should use the International Monetary Fund inflation rate,
selecting the ‘inflation, average consumer price’ option as an indicator.

From Year 2 onwards, you should use your organisation’s current pay rates. We’ll
provide a separate inflation allowance for salary inflation costs.

Read about the responsibilities of grantholders and host organisations for people
working on a Wellcome grant.

Visa and work permit costs

If you have named people on your grant whose salaries will be funded by
Wellcome, you can ask for visa or work permit costs to help them take up their
posts at the host organisation. You can also ask for:

• visa costs for the person's partner and dependent children

• essential associated costs, such as travel to attend appointments at a visa

application centre or embassy, and essential English language tests

• Immigration Health Surcharge costs for the person, their partner and
dependent children if they will be in the UK for six months or more.

Disability-related adjustment support

If you or a member of staff working on your grant is disabled or has a long-term

health condition, you can ask for adjustment support to help you carry out your
project.

Costs can include, but are not limited to:

• additional costs for staff to help with day-to-day activities related to your
project

• assistive technology to help use computers, research equipment or materials –

for example, text to audio software

• care costs for assistance animals if you need to travel.

 We will not pay for capital or building costs, such as access ramps.

You can ask for these costs if your government and/or employer:

• does not cover any of the costs

• only covers some of the costs (if they do, we will only meet the shortfall).

The costs we provide must not replace the support you may get from the
government or your organisation, who are responsible for providing these costs.

If you don't know what these costs are now, you can ask for them after we've
awarded your grant.

continuing professional development and training

You can ask for costs to cover the following types of training.

Continuing professional development and professional skills training

You can ask for a contribution towards these costs.

Types of training can include:

• research leadership, professional and people management skills

• career development support

• responsible conduct of research

• diversity and inclusion

• promotion of a healthy research culture

• understanding and reducing the environmental impact of research.

We expect your host organisation to provide and fund this training. However, if these
types of training are not available, or the quality is inadequate, you can ask for up to
£500 a year for you and each member of staff employed on your grant who will be:

• in a post of 12 months duration or more only and

 • working on Wellcome funded awards for at least 50% full time equivalent.

You will need to justify these costs in your application.

Research skills training

You can ask for costs to cover training for the technical and research skills you need
to deliver your proposed research.

You can ask for whatever research skills training you need for you, and each member
of staff employed on your grant, who will be:

• in a post of 12 months duration or more only and

• working on Wellcome funded awards for at least 50% full time equivalent.

You will need to justify these costs in your application.

materials and consumables

We will pay for the materials and consumables you need to carry out your
project, including:

• laboratory chemicals and materials (for example reagents, isotopes, peptides,

enzymes, antibodies, gases, proteins, cell/tissue/bacterial culture, plasticware
and glassware)

• project-specific personal protective equipment (PPE that is above the standard

expected for the setting

• printing associated with fieldwork and empirical research

• associated charges for shipping, delivery and freight.

animals

You can ask for funds to buy animals if they are essential to your project. We will also
fund the charge-out rates for animal house facilities if your organisation uses full
economic costing methodology. These costs include:
 • running costs (including animal maintenance, any experimental procedures,
licences and relevant staff training)

• appropriate estates costs

• cage and equipment depreciation costs, but not building depreciation costs.

We may not pay the full charge-out rate for an animal house facility if we've provided
significant funding towards the infrastructure and/or core support of the facility.

If your organisation does not use full economic costing methodology to establish
charge-out rates for animal house facilities, you can ask for funds to cover:

• the cost of buying animals

• running costs (including animal maintenance, any experimental procedures,

licences and relevant staff training)

• staff costs, for example, contributions towards the salaries of animal house
technicians.

We will not provide estates or depreciation costs.

equipment

Equipment purchase

Your chosen research environment should have the necessary equipment for you to
complete your work. You can ask for additional basic items of equipment that are
essential to your research project.

Costs may include purchase, delivery, installation, maintenance and training, where
necessary.

We will cover VAT and import duties if:

• the usual UK exemptions on equipment used for medical research don’t apply

• you’re applying from a non-UK organisation, and you can show these costs can’t
be recovered.
You can also ask for specialised equipment if:

• it is essential to the success of the proposed research project

• it is not available at your host organisation or through collaboration, and

• you’ll be the main user and have priority access to the equipment.

If a complete piece of specialised equipment costs £100,000 or more, we expect a

contribution of at least 25% of the total costs, including maintenance, from the host
organisation or another source. In some cases, we may expect a larger contribution.
We’ll discuss this with you after we’ve assessed your application. Contributions can
include benefits in kind, such as refurbishment or the underwriting of a key support
post.

Multi-component items must not be broken down into component parts to avoid this
contribution.

Equipment maintenance

We will cover maintenance costs for equipment if:

• you are requesting it in your application

• it is existing equipment that is:

◦ funded by us or another source

◦ essential to the proposed research project

◦ more than five years old

◦ cost effective to keep maintaining it.

We won’t cover maintenance costs for equipment if there is a mechanism in place to

recoup these costs through access charges.

Computer equipment

We will cover the cost of one personal computer or laptop per person up to £1,500.

We won't pay for:

 • more expensive items, unless you can justify them

• installation or training costs.

access charges

You can ask for the cost of access to shared equipment, facilities or services if
they’re essential to your project.

These may include materials and consumables, plus a proportion of:

• maintenance and service contracts

• staff time costs for dedicated technical staff employed to operate the equipment
or facility.

We don’t cover the costs of:

• estates and utilities

• depreciation or insurance

• other staff, for example, contributions towards departmental technical,

administrative and management staff time.

We do cover these costs if related to animal housing facilities.

If the facilities or equipment were paid for by a Wellcome grant, you can only ask for
access charges if:

• the grant has ended

• any support for running costs and maintenance contracts has ended.

overheads

You can ask for overheads if your grant will be based at a:

• university outside the UK or Republic of Ireland

• research organisation that does not receive core funding for overheads
 • charitable or not-for-profit organisation

• small or medium-sized commercial organisation.

You can also ask for overheads on any part of your grant that is sub-contracted to
any of the organisations listed above.

If you’re based at a UK university you can’t ask for overheads for sub-contracted
activity if your university will include the sub-contracted funding in its annual report
to the UK Charity Research Support Fund.

Overheads are not counted against your £400,000 limit for research expenses.

Overheads can include:

• estates, for example building and premises

• non-project dedicated administrative and support staff

• administration, for example finance, library, and room hire.

The total cost for overheads should not be more than:

• 20% of the direct research costs if you’re based in a low- or middle-income

country

• 15% of the direct research costs if you’re based anywhere else.

These costs must directly support the activity funded by the grant.

How to apply for these costs

In your grant application you must:

• give a full breakdown of costs (you can't ask for a percentage of the research
costs)

• explain why these costs are necessary for your research

 • include a letter from the finance director of your host organisation, or the sub-
contracted organisation, confirming that the breakdown is a true representation
of the costs incurred.

travel and subsistence

Research should be designed to minimise travel. You can ask for the cost of essential
travel. The mode of transport should be low carbon, even if it is more expensive (for
example travelling by train instead of flying).

We will not pay for business class flights.

Conference attendance

You can ask for a contribution towards the costs of attending scientific and academic
meetings and conferences, including registration fees. The limits are:

• Grantholder – £2,000 a year

• Research and technical staff on your grant – £1,000 each a year

We provide costs to cover caring responsibilities if you or any staff employed on your
grant attend a conference. This includes childcare and any other caring responsibility
you have. We will pay these if:

• Wellcome is providing the salary

• the conference is directly related to the research

• the caring costs are over and above what they'd normally pay for care

• the conference organiser and their employing organisation are unable to cover
the costs.

You can ask for up to £1,000 per person for each conference.

Collaborative travel

You can ask for travel and subsistence costs for collaborative visits for you and any
staff employed on your grant. You’ll need to justify each visit and its duration.
Other travel

We will pay for other essential visits, for example to facilities, for sample collection
and for fieldwork. You can include subsistence costs. You’ll need to justify each visit
and its duration.

Carbon offset costs

This applies to all types of travel costs Wellcome provides.

You can ask for:

• the cost of a low carbon mode of transport, even if it is more expensive (for
example travelling by train instead of flying)

• project-related resources or activities that provide an alternative to travel, such

as video conferencing, communication and file-sharing software

• costs to offset the carbon emissions generated by the essential travel. If carbon
offsetting for travel is not part of your organisational sustainability strategy, you
can ask us for a similar level of support for other sustainability initiatives. Your
organisation must get our approval before submitting an application.

We won't pay for the core infrastructure that your host organisation should provide,
unless you're eligible to ask for these costs under our overheads policy. Examples of
these costs include:

• organisation-wide video conferencing packages

• high-speed broadband

• HD screens.

See our environmental sustainability policy for what you and your organisation can
do.

Subsistence costs

If you’re away for u p t o o n e m o n t h you can ask for subsistence costs. These include
accommodation, meals and incidentals (for example, refreshments or newspapers).
If your administering organisation has a subsistence policy, use their rates.

If your administering organisation doesn’t have a subsistence policy, please use the
HMRC rates.

If you’re away for m o r e t h a n o n e m o n t h a n d u p t o 1 2 m o n t h s , we will pay

reasonable rental costs only, including aparthotels. You should discuss appropriate
rates with your administering and host organisations, or Wellcome, as appropriate.
We expect you to choose the most economical options, booked in advance where
possible.

If you’re from a low- or middle- income country and will be working in a high-income
country for m o r e t h a n o n e m o n t h a n d u p t o 1 2 m o n t h s , you can also ask for up to
£10 a day to cover extra costs, such as transport and incidentals.

If you’re away for m o r e t h a n 1 2 m o n t h s , we will pay the costs of your housing. You
should discuss your needs with your administering and host organisations.

The allowance we provide will be based on family and business need. We will set the
maximum allowance we pay for each location. This will be based on current market
data or, where data is unavailable, in consultation with your administering
organisation, using equivalent market rates. Please contact us if you need help
calculating the costs.

We will cover the direct expenses you have to pay to find and rent a home. We will
not cover the cost of utilities or any refurbishment.

Overseas research

If you or any research staff employed on your grant will be doing research away from
your home laboratory, we'll help with the additional costs of working on the project
overseas. Please see the 'Overseas allowances' section for details.

overseas allowances

If you or any staff employed on your grant will be spending time in another country,
we’ll help you with the additional costs of working on the project overseas.
Overseas allowances are not counted against your £400,000 limit for research
expenses.

Our overseas allowances are:

• a contribution towards the personal cost of carrying out research overseas, to

ensure that you are not disadvantaged

• provided on the assumption that you’ll be paying income tax, either in your home
country, or the country you will be working in (your personal tax is your
responsibility).

• provided on the understanding that you or your partner will not receive
equivalent allowances from elsewhere

• determined by the amount of time you will spend away from your home country.

Carbon offset costs

We expect the people we fund to choose travel that has a lower carbon impact,
where practical, even if it’s more expensive (for example travelling by train instead of
flying).

You can ask for costs to offset the carbon generated by the travel, as part of your
overseas allowances. If carbon offsetting for travel is not part of your organisational
sustainability strategy, you can ask us for a similar level of support for other
sustainability initiatives. Your organisation must get our approval for other
sustainability initiatives to be included in applications.

See our carbon offset policy for travel for information on what you and your
organisation need to do.

Partners and dependants travelling with you

If you will be away more than 12 months, we will provide overseas allowances for
your partner and any dependants if they are travelling with you.

If you will be away for 12 months or less and can justify why your partner and
dependants must travel with you, we may provide overseas allowances for them.
 We define your partner as the person:

• you’re married to

• you’re not married to but with whom you’ve been in a relationship for at least a
year

and

• you live with at the same permanent address and share some form of joint
financial commitment with, such as a mortgage.

See a list of low- and middle-income countries, as defined by the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD.

You can ask for the following allowances. You need to provide estimated costs as
accurately as possible.

outward and return travel

We will pay your travel costs at the beginning and end of your overseas work.
Costs can be for air, ferry, train or coach fares.

All fares should be:

• in line with our carbon offset policy

• booked in advance where possible.

baggage and freight shipping allowance

If you are away for u p t o 1 2 m o n t h s , you can ask for up to 80kg of additional
baggage or unaccompanied airline freight for your outward and return journeys.

If you are away for m o r e t h a n 1 2 m o n t h s , you can ask for the costs of shipping
your personal items at the beginning and end of your overseas work.

We will pay the full cost of transporting:

 • half a standard shipping container if you’re travelling alone

• a whole standard shipping container (20ft) if you’re travelling with a partner

and/or dependants.

medical and travel insurance

We will pay the cost of your medical insurance and travel insurance.

If you will be working in a low- or middle-income country we will also cover the
cost of emergency evacuation cover.

We won’t pay for medical insurance if you will be based in the UK or Republic of
Ireland.

visas and vaccinations

We will pay the costs of visas, vaccinations and anti-malaria treatment.

housing security

You can ask for this if you’ll be based in a low- or middle-income country and it is
necessary.

Costs can include guards, panic buttons and alarms. You should ask your
employing organisation for advice on the level of security you need.

accommodation and subsistence

If you’re away for u p t o o n e m o n t h you can ask for subsistence costs. These
include accommodation, meals and incidentals (for example, refreshments or
newspapers).

If your administering organisation has a subsistence policy, use their rates.

If your administering organisation doesn’t have a subsistence policy, please use the
HMRC rates.

If you’re away for m o r e t h a n o n e m o n t h a n d u p t o 1 2 m o n t h s , we will pay

reasonable rental costs only, including aparthotels. You should discuss appropriate
rates with your administering and host organisations, or Wellcome, as appropriate.
We expect you to choose the most economical options, booked in advance where
possible.

If you’re from a low- or middle- income country and will be working in a high-
income country for m o r e t h a n o n e m o n t h a n d u p t o 1 2 m o n t h s , you can also ask
for up to £10 a day to cover extra costs, such as transport and incidentals.

If you’re away for m o r e t h a n 1 2 m o n t h s , we will pay the costs of your housing. You
should discuss your needs with your administering and host organisations.

The allowance we provide will be based on family and business need. We will set
the maximum allowance we pay for each location. This will be based on current
market data or, where data is unavailable, in consultation with your administering
organisation, using equivalent market rates. If you need help calculating the costs
please contact us.

We will cover the direct expenses you have to pay to find and rent a home. We will
not cover the cost of utilities or any refurbishment.

education

If you’re away for m o r e t h a n 1 2 m o n t h s we will pay:

Local nursery or school fees

You can ask for these costs if you are in a location where there isn’t free local
education of the same standard as in your home country.

Costs include:

• local nursery school fees up to a maximum of 570 hours a year for 3 to 4 year
olds

• local junior or secondary school fees, up to the end of secondary school

education.

Local international school fees

You can ask for these costs if local schools do not provide the same standard of
education as in your home country. We will only pay the published termly school
fees.

We will not cover the costs of:

• extracurricular activities, including field trips

• other extras including, but not limited to, uniforms, sports kit and equipment,
transport, meals, books and electronic equipment.

Boarding school fees

We will consider paying the cost of boarding school fees in your home country if:

• a local international school is not available

• both parents, guardians or the sole care giver live outside the home country.

The allowance covers:

• up to a maximum of £30,000 a year for each child for the published termly fees
only

• the cost of return airfares at the start and end of each school term, in line with
our carbon offset policy for travel.

We will not cover the costs of:

• additional annual leave airfares

• extracurricular activities, including field trips

• other extras including, but not limited to, uniforms, sports kit and equipment,
transport, meals, books and electronic equipment.

We will cover the cost of providing special needs education as far as possible.
Please contact us to discuss your needs.

We would not usually expect to provide an education allowance if you will be

 working in a high-income country.

annual leave travel costs

If you will be away for m o r e t h a n 1 2 m o n t h s , we’ll pay for you to travel back to
your home country for annual leave. This is in addition to your outward and return
travel costs and depends on how long you will be away:

• 1224 months – 1 annual leave trip

• 2536 months – 2 annual leave trips

• 3748 months – 3 annual leave trips

• 4960 months – 4 annual leave trips

• 6172 months – 5 annual leave trips

• 7384 months – 6 annual leave trips

• 8596 months – 7 annual leave trips.

All fares should be:

• in line with our carbon offset policy

• booked in advance where possible.

language lessons

If you will be away for m o r e t h a n 1 2 m o n t h s , you can ask for up to 100 hours of
lessons in the local language for you and/or your partner during the first 12 months
of your visit.

We will cover 100% of the costs for local language school classes or up to 50% of
the costs of individual tuition.

We will not cover the cost of examinations or personal learning materials such as
DVDs and books.

fieldwork expenses

We cover fieldwork costs if they’re essential and you can justify them. Costs can
include:

• survey and data collection, including communication and data collection services
and any associated costs such as essential field materials, travel costs and
language translation services

• the purchase, hire and running costs of vehicles dedicated to your project

• expenses for subjects and volunteers, including the recruitment of participants,

their participatory fees and travel costs

• statistical analysis.

You can ask for other fieldwork costs that aren’t listed here, but you’ll need to justify
them.

inflation allowance

How we calculate your inflation allowance

We will add an inflation allowance to your award. Your inflation allowance is based on
your total eligible costs and the duration of the award.

We will use an inflation allowance that reflects the inflation rate of the country where
the host organisation is based using data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF.
You'll receive the following allowance if the costs in your application are in pounds
sterling.

AWA R D D U R AT I O N  I N M O N T H S  I N F L AT I O N A L L O WA N C E

012 0.0%

1324 1.01%

2536 2.04%

3748 3.08%

4960 4.13%

The costs in your application must be based on current known costs, excluding
inflation.

You should allow for salary pay awards during Year 1. These should be based on pay
awards already agreed; if you don’t know what the pay award is yet then use the IMF
rate for the currency your award will be made in.

open access charges

If your organisation receives open access block grant funding, you can ask them to
cover your open access article processing charges.

If you're at an organisation that does not receive block grant funding, we’ll
supplement your grant when your paper has been accepted for publication.

You cannot ask for these charges in your grant application.

clinical research costs

If you need to carry out clinical research using NHS patients or facilities, we will
cover some of the research costs.

Annex A of the guidelines for attributing the costs of health and social care research
and development (AcoRD sets out the costs we cover, and which costs should be
funded through the Department of Health and Social Care in England, or its
equivalent in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. If you're based in the Republic of
Ireland, we would expect you to adhere to the spirit of these principles.

Read more information on our clinical trials policy.

If your proposal involves clinical research using NHS resources, check if you need to
upload a SoECAT form with your full application.

public engagement and patient involvement costs

You can ask for costs that are essential to the project. These can include:

• materials, including printing and publishing

 • other costs relating to engagement activities that are essential to carry out your
research, such as collaborating with people with lived experience, patient
involvement (including under-served groups) and community engagement

• dissemination of research results and findings arising from Wellcome funded

research and workshops.

For more information, please refer to our guidance on using an engaged research
approach.

contract research organisations

We will provide funds if you need to outsource project work to:

• contract research organisations

• other fee-for-service providers.

other costs

Allowed costs

You may ask for the following costs (you will have to justify them in your application):

• specialist publications that are relevant to the research and not available in
institutional libraries

• consultancy fees

• expenses for subjects and volunteers – includes recruitment of participants, their

participatory fees and travel, as well as interviewee expenses

• reasonable research-associated costs related to the feedback of health-related

findings but not any healthcare-associated costs

• costs associated with developing an outputs management plan

• questionnaires, recruitment material, newsletters etc for clinical, epidemiological

and qualitative research studies

• recruitment, advertising and interviewee travel costs for staff to be employed on

the grant

• purchase, hire and running costs of project-dedicated vehicles

• PhD fees for the grantholder (if required)

 • project-specific personal protective equipment (PPE that is above the standard
expected for the setting

• computing, including recurrent costs dedicated to the project (for example,

software licences).

Disallowed costs

We will not pay for:

• estates costs – such as building and premises costs, basic services and utilities*

• phone, postage, photocopying and stationery, unless you can justify these within
a clinical or epidemiological study

• age charges and the cost of colour prints

• research, technical and administrative staff whose time is shared across several
projects and isn’t supported by an audit record*

• PhD stipends

• cleaning, waste and other disposal costs*

• indirect costs – this includes general administration costs such as personnel,

finance, library, room hire and some departmental services

• office furniture, such as chairs, desks and filing cabinets

• clothing, such as lab coats and shoes

• non-research related activities such as catering, room and venue hire for staff
parties, team-building events and social activities

• indemnity insurance (insurance cover against claims made by subjects or

patients associated with a research programme)

• ethics reviews, unless you are in a low- or middle-income country

• radiation protection costs

• contingency funds

• organisation insurance

• clinical examination or course fees

• working capital costs of commercial organisations.

*We will fund these costs in the case of animal-related research.

Global Talent visa

If you're awarded this grant, you are guaranteed an endorsement of a Global Talent
visa application.

If your administering organisation is in the UK and you have team members who will
spend at least 50% of their working time contributing to the award, they may be
eligible to apply for a Global Talent visa through the endorsed funder route.

What we don't offer

See 'Other costs' for the costs we will and will not provide.

How to apply

Where to apply

Apply for this scheme on the Wellcome Funding platform. 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 Early-Career Awards

Start your application

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 person overseeing your clinical training if you are
intending to complete clinical training during the award
 • a letter of support from the director of finance at your administering organisation
if you are requesting overheads.

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.

Getting support with your application

We offer disability-related support for applicants. Read the disability-related support

guidance if you:

• are disabled or have a long-term health condition and you need help applying for
funding

• need to defer your application

• need help completing your project, for example costs for assistive technology.

Application process

 Before you apply

Make sure you read everything on this page. You do not need to contact us
before you write and submit your application.

 Submit your application to your administering organisation for approval

Complete your application form on Wellcome Funding.

Submit it to the 'authorised approver' at your administering organisation for

approval. Make sure you leave enough time for the approver to review and submit
your application before the deadline. The approver may ask you to make changes
to your application.
 Administering organisation approves and submits it to Wellcome

Your application must be submitted by 1700 GMT/BST on the deadline

day. Check with your research office if the industrial action announced at UK
universities will affect their approval of your application. We are unable to offer
deadline extensions in relation to this action, so you should agree when you’ll
need to submit your application for them to approve it by the deadline.

Watch a recording of a webinar demonstrating the Wellcome Funding platform

from Thursday 4 May 2023.

 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 Early-Career Advisory Groups will review your application,
depending on your area of research:

◦ Molecular, Cellular and Physiological Sciences

◦ Brain and Behavioural Sciences

◦ Infection and Immunobiology

◦ Population and Public Health

◦ Medical Humanities

◦ Social Sciences.

If shortlisted, we will invite you for interview.

  Interviews

The Early-Career Interview Committee 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 focus of the interview will be on questions and answers. The committee will
assess across a set of criteria rather than one specific aspect of the proposal.

 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.

We may use positive action on this scheme. Read our guidance for more information.

Key dates

You must submit your application by 1700 GMT/BST on the deadline day. We don’t
accept late applications.

O p e n ro u n d Closed round
October 2024 round

Open to new applications

22 May 2024
Applications open

01 October 2024, 1700 BST

Application deadline

December 2024
Shor tlisting

1113 March 2025

Inter views

More information about this scheme

Watch our webinar for early-career researchers 1-hour) to hear about our goals
for Discovery Research at Wellcome.

Contact us

If you have a question about eligibility, what we offer or our funding remit,
contact our funding information advisers:

Send us a message

020 7611 5757

We do not answer questions on the scope or competitiveness of proposals.