Wellcome Discovery Awards

The Wellcome Discovery Awards support established researchers and collaborative teams pursuing bold, creative, and impactful research related to human life, health, and wellbeing. The scheme is open to all disciplines including STEM, medicine, humanities, and the social sciences, and enables significant leaps in understanding, innovative methods, and new technology development.

Applicants may propose major research programmes aiming to:

• Deliver significant shifts in knowledge or understanding
• Develop new methodologies, conceptual frameworks, tools, or techniques with broad health-related benefit

Funding and duration:

• Awards typically valued at average £3.5 million; flexible to project needs
• Maximum duration up to 8 years (average is 7 years; part-time possible)

Key advantages:

• Open to researchers and teams hosted by eligible administering organisations in the UK, Republic of Ireland, or low- and middle-income countries (including South Africa)
• Co-applicants welcome; applications reviewed for quality, originality, and impact
• Funding covers staffing, development, equipment, consumables, travel, fieldwork, overheads, open access charges, and public engagement costs; some salary coverage for LMIC lead applicants

Eligibility criteria:

• Lead applicant must be an established researcher based at a not-for-profit academic, research, health, charity, or social enterprise institution in an eligible country
• Proposed research must fit within Wellcome’s Discovery Research remit and aim to improve human life and wellbeing
• South African researchers and organisations are eligible—provided the institution meets eligibility and can administer the grant
• Team applications encouraged (2-8 investigators); individuals can also apply

Restrictions:

• Not eligible if applying from India or mainland China
• Lead applicant and team must be supported by their administering organisation
• Salary coverage for lead applicant provided only for LMICs, under certain contract conditions
• Applications must be submitted before the stated deadline; late applications not accepted

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