Organisation: Wellcome

Funding: Usually below £250,000 per year, excluding applicant salary

Duration: Usually up to 8 years

Eligibility: Mid-career researchers

Disciplines: Any discipline within Wellcome’s Discovery Research remit

Co-applicants: Not accepted

Application deadline: None – applications accepted year-round

Location: Eligible organisations in the UK, Republic of Ireland and qualifying low- and middle-income countries, with location rules changing from 29 October 2026

Overview

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.

From 29 October 2026, Wellcome will only accept applications from lead applicants based at eligible administering organisations in the UK and low- and middle-income countries in Africa, South Asia and South-East Asia. Any applications submitted to Wellcome on or before 28 October 2026 will be assessed under the current location eligibility requirements.

Key Expectations

Generating significant shifts in understanding
Developing methodologies, conceptual frameworks, tools or techniques that could benefit health-related research
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.
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.

ELIGIBILITY

You must have:

Completed one or two substantial periods of research after your initial research training
Made important contributions to your area of research.

At the point of application, you must have been appointed to:

your first permanent, open-ended, or long-term rolling contract, or to a tenure-track contract.
a fixed-term position with four years or less remaining on your contract at the point of application.
A fixed-term position with more than four years left on your contract at the point of application.

For permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contracts, Applicants must meet Wellcome’s career-stage and employment requirements, including having completed substantial research experience after their initial research training.

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 our current Wellcome grant holders at an equivalent stage can apply to this scheme)
you have made an application to this scheme, and you are waiting for a decision.

Wellcome funding Discovery research

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 knowledge or a significant shift in understanding
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 inequalities
social, ethical, cultural, political, economic and historical contexts of human health and disease
ways in which health systems operate and are experienced by patients

What the Award Covers

A Wellcome Career Development Award provides a salary for the grant holder (if required) and research expenses.
The award usually lasts for 8 years, but may be less for some disciplines, such as humanities and social science.
The award may be held on a part-time basis. When applying, you should cost the application at 1.0 (100%) full-time equivalent. We will then 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), staff, continuing professional development and training, materials and consumables, Animals, Equipment, access charges, overheads, travel and subsistence, overseas allowances, fieldwork expenses, inflation allowance, open access charges, clinical research costs, public engagement and patient involvement costs, and other costs

If you’re awarded this grant

You are guaranteed an endorsement of a Global Talent visa application.
If your host 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.

How 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.

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

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.

Start your application

For more information, visit the Wellcome official announcement page