Wellcome Early-Career Awards

Benefits & funding

• The award pays the lead applicant’s salary for the grant period.
• It provides up to £400,000 for research expenses.
• Eligible overheads, overseas allowances, specified macaque costs and disability-related adjustment support may be requested outside the £400,000 limit.
• The award usually lasts five years; it may be shorter for some disciplines and longer only when held part-time.
• Where Wellcome pays the salary, eligible visa, immigration health surcharge and work-permit costs may be requested for the award holder, a partner and dependent children.

Eligibility

• Applicants must be early-career researchers ready to design, plan and deliver their own innovative project within Wellcome’s Discovery Research remit.
• Applicants must either have completed a PhD or equivalent higher research degree and passed the viva by the date of submission, or have at least four years of research experience equivalent to a PhD.
• Postdoctoral experience is normally capped at three years at the date of submission. Wellcome allows adjustments where other factors have affected the research career, such as part-time work, the Covid-19 pandemic, career breaks, significant time outside research and a substantial change of discipline.
• Applicants must devote at least 80% of their research time to the award and no more than 20% of their time to non-research activities. Clinical craft specialists may spend up to 40% on clinical duties.
• The administering organisation must be an eligible not-for-profit higher education institution, research institute or healthcare organisation in the UK, Republic of Ireland, or a low- or middle-income country other than India or mainland China.
• Applicants normally cannot hold an existing tenured salaried post for the award’s duration, with an exception for applicants based in low- or middle-income countries. They also cannot hold, have held or have accepted an equivalent award at this career stage; short-term funding from the administering organisation or a learned society is allowed if the combined duration stays within three years.
• A sponsor and a mentor at the administering organisation must be named. There are no co-applicants, and no nationality, residency, gender or age restriction is stated.

Application process

1. 1
   Check the scheme eligibility, Discovery Research remit and host-organisation requirements.
2. 2
   Create or sign in to a Wellcome Funding account and complete the online application, including the research proposal, applicant details, environment and costs.
3. 3
   Add the required sponsor and mentor, plus any applicable support letters for clinical training or overheads.
4. 4
   Submit the application to the administering organisation so its approver can review and submit it to Wellcome. Applications are accepted at any time and are assigned to the next shortlisting meeting with capacity.
5. 5
   If shortlisted, take part in external expert review and an interview at Wellcome’s London offices; applicants who cannot attend in person can take part remotely. The Discovery Research Decision Board makes the final funding decision.

Program timeline

1. Scheme reopens to applications with no deadline.

   25 August 2026

2. Any time

   Applications accepted and assigned to the next shortlisting meeting.

3. Shortlisting meetings.

   February, June and September each year

4. Interview meetings.

   May, September and January each year

5. Interviews and decisions for one current assessment cycle.

   May 2027

6. Interviews and decisions for the following cycle.

   September 2027