Wellcome Discovery Awards (December 2024 round)

28 October 2024

The Wellcome Discovery Awards aim to support established researchers or teams of researchers led by an established researcher from any discipline who wants to pursue transformative research ideas to

  • Develop methodologies, conceptual frameworks, tools or techniques that could benefit health-related research.
  • Generate significant shifts in understanding that could improve human life, health and wellbeing.

Deadline:

3 December 2024, 17:00 GMT

Fund:

You should ask for the resources you need for your research programme – see the ‘Research costs we’ll cover‘ section. You will need to justify this in your application. The average size of a Discovery Award is £3.5 million. Applications above £5 million will be subject to additional scrutiny.

Duration:

Up to 8 years

Research Areas:

Any discipline that has the potential to improve human life, health, and wellbeing

Eligibility:

  • 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.
  • Lead applicant:
    • Whether you are applying as the sole applicant or the lead applicant for a team, you must have:
      • international standing as a research leader in your field
      • experience of leading innovative and creative research
      • a track record of managing and training others.
  • Coapplicants:
    • Coapplicants can be at any career stage and based anywhere in the world apart from mainland China.
    • Coapplicants can be based in the same or in different organisations, and come from any discipline.
    • Coapplicants must be based at an eligible organisation that can sign up to our grant conditions.
  • Collaborators:
    • Collaborators support the delivery of the project but don’t lead on a specific component of the research.
    • Collaborators are not paid for their input, but you can request costs for their expenses.
  • 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:
      • charity or social enterprise.
      • higher education institution
      • research institute
      • non-academic healthcare organisation

How to Apply?

Apply for this scheme on the Wellcome Funding platform. 

For more information: