Deadline: 4-Apr-23
Nominations are now open for the Wellcome Career Development Awards to provide 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 that could improve human life, health and wellbeing.
What they Offer?
- A Wellcome Career Development Award provides a salary for the grantholder (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. They will extend the duration of the award to reflect this.
- The award includes:
- A basic salary (determined by your host 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
- Contract research organisations
- Other costs
Eligibility Criteria
Host organisation
You must have sponsorship from an eligible host organisation in one of the following:
It can be a:
- Higher education institution
- Research institute
- Non-academic healthcare organisation
- Not-for-profit organisation.
- 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, they 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.
- 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 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.
- A fixed term position. If this applies to you, you can ask for your own salary with this award if you have four years or less remaining on your contract at the point of application. If you have more than four years left on your contract at the point of application, you cannot ask for your salary with this award and your host organisation must underwrite your salary costs for the duration of the award.
- You must be able to contribute at least 80% of your research time to 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, maternity 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
- 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, they 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.
Ineligible
- You are not eligible to apply if:
- You hold, or have held, an equivalent award at this career stage (an exception to this is that their 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.
For more information, visit Wellcome Career Development Awards.