Applications open for Wellcome Discovery Awards 2024

Deadline Date: December 03, 2024

 Donor Name: Wellcome Trust

 Grant Size: Not Available

https://wellcome.org/grant-funding/schemes/discovery-awards#is-your-research-right-for-this-scheme?-0796

The Wellcome Discovery Awards provides funding for established researchers and teams from any discipline who want to pursue bold and creative research ideas to deliver significant shifts in understanding related to human life, health and wellbeing.

Awards can be up to 8 years, but may be less for some disciplines, and may be longer if held on a part-time basis. The average duration of a Discovery Award is 7 years, although they have supported awards from 3 to 8 years.

Funding Information

• The average size of a Discovery Award is £3.5 million, although we have supported awards from £700,000 to £8 million. Applications above £5 million will be subject to additional due diligence.
• Awards can be up to 8 years, but may be less for some disciplines, and may be longer if held on a part-time basis. The average duration of a Discovery Award is 7 years, although we have supported awards from 3 to 8 years.

What they offer?

• A Wellcome Discovery Award provides funding for 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. They will then extend the duration of the award to reflect this.
• The award includes:
  • 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
  • contract research organisations
  • other costs

Is your research right for this scheme?

• You must check whether Wellcome Discovery Research can fund your type of research project before you apply.
• Your research must:
  • fit within what they 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.
  • be in a single discipline or multidisciplinary.
• Your research must not:
  • fall outside of what they support in Discovery Research. Check what they don’t fund.
  • start earlier than seven months after the application deadline.

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.
• The lead applicant must be based at an eligible administering organisation that can sign up to the grant conditions.
• 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).
• The organisation can be a not-for-profit:
  • higher education institution
  • research institute
  • non-academic healthcare organisation
  • charity or social enterprise.

Who can apply?

• You can apply for a Wellcome Discovery Award if you are a researcher who wants to pursue bold and creative research ideas. You must aim to make a major contribution to your research field by:
  • generating significant shifts in understanding
  • and/or
  • developing methodologies, conceptual frameworks, tools or techniques that could benefit health-related research.
• An award can be held by an established researcher or a team of researchers led by an established researcher.
• Team size will depend on the proposed research. It will usually range from two to eight applicants, including the lead applicant.
• They encourage lead applicants to put together diverse teams. You will be expected to actively promote a diverse, inclusive and supportive research environment within your team and across your organisation.
• You are not eligible to apply as a lead applicant on a Discovery Award if you are the lead applicant on two other Discovery Award applications and you are waiting for a decision.
• You cannot apply if you intend to carry out activities that involve the transfer of grant funds into mainland China.

For more information, visit Wellcome.