Wellcome Early-Career Awards (February 2025 round)

18 December 2024

The Wellcome Early-Career Awards provides funding for early-career researchers from any discipline who are ready to design, plan and deliver your own innovative research project that aims to:

  • advance understanding in your field

and/or

  • develop methodologies, conceptual frameworks, tools or techniques that could benefit health-related research.

Through innovative projects, they will deliver shifts in understanding that could improve human life, health and wellbeing. By the end of the award, they will be ready to lead their own independent research programme.

Deadline: 25 February 2025, 17:00 GMT

Benefit:

  • Your salary and up to £400,000 for research expenses. If eligible, you may also request additional funding for overseas allowances, overheads and adjustment support.

Duration: Usually 5 years, but may be less for some disciplines, and may only be longer if held on a part-time basis.

Research Areas: Any discipline

Eligibility:

You can apply to this scheme if you meet the following criteria.

  • You are an early-career researcher.
  • You must have:
    • completed a PhD (for example, in the life sciences) or an equivalent higher research degree. At the point of application, you must have passed your viva examination. or
    • if you have not started a PhD or equivalent degree, at least four years’ equivalent research experience (for example, in the humanities and social sciences).
  • You may also have some postdoctoral experience in your proposed field of study, but no more than three years unless you can demonstrate how other factors have impacted on your research career.
  • You can apply if you hold a permanent, open-ended or long term rolling contract and are based in a low- or middle-income country. All other eligibility criteria apply.
  • If you are a health professional and you want to continue with clinical activities, you must be registered with, and be licensed by, the relevant professional regulator in the country you intend to work in.
  • 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).
      It can be a:
    • higher education institution
    • research institute
    • non-academic healthcare organisation

For more information about eligibility, please refer to this link: https://wellcome.org/grant-funding/schemes/early-career-awards#who-can-apply-be42  

How to Apply?

Apply for this scheme on the Wellcome Funding platform (please click).

Note: You can download a Sample full application form for Wellcome Early-Career Awards here.

For more information: