Wellcome Discovery Awards fund established researchers or interdisciplinary teams pursuing bold, creative research programmes that deliver significant shifts in understanding human health, wellbeing, and disease.
Eligibility Criteria:
-
Lead applicant must be an established researcher based at a not-for-profit organisation in the UK, Republic of Ireland, or a low-/middle-income country (excluding India and mainland China).
-
Projects may be led by an individual or a team (2–8 coapplicants), with diverse, inclusive research environments.
-
Applicants cannot hold more than two active Discovery Award applications or (for individual awards) be current holders of an Investigator Award or Senior Research Fellowship as sole applicant.
-
Research must begin no earlier than seven months after submission and fit within Wellcome’s Discovery Research remit.
Funding Details:
-
Amount: Request based on need; average award ~£3.5 million, with additional scrutiny for requests >£5 million.
-
Duration: Up to 8 years (average 7 years; part-time options extend duration).
-
Use of Funds: Staff salaries; training and CPD; materials and consumables; animals; equipment; access charges; overheads; travel and subsistence; fieldwork; open access; public engagement; clinical research costs; contract research; overseas allowances; inflation.
Deadline:
-
Next Round: 29 July 2025, 17:00 BST (opens 9 April 2025)
-
Frequency: Three rounds per year (July, November, March)
Where to Go for Further Information & Application:
Apply via the Wellcome Funding platform.