Investigator Awards in Humanities and Social Science (Closed)

Who can apply

You can apply for an Investigator Award if you're a humanities or social science researcher with a compelling vision who wants to tackle a significant question about human health.

If you want to apply with another person, you should apply for a Collaborative Award rather than an Investigator Award.

Career stage and experience

We consider applications from researchers throughout their careers. For example, you may be a newly appointed lecturer, a mid-career researcher or a senior researcher.

If you're in the early stages of an independent research career, you should be able to show that you can drive advances in your field of study and that you have considerable promise. You should have a strong track record relative to your career stage of:

• developing innovative and creative research
• making contributions to your area of research (eg publications and impacts on policy) and/or securing grant funding
• leading or managing a research project.

If you're a more established researcher, you should have a track record of:

• delivering innovative and creative research
• making significant contributions to your area of research, eg publications and impacts on policy
• securing and managing research grants or gaining similar experience in a management role (eg in an academic department or in healthcare)
• developing and mentoring less experienced researchers.

You should have an international reputation as a research leader in your field.

If you've been away from research (eg a career break, parental leave or long-term sick leave), we'll allow for this when we consider your application.

Current situation

You must be based at an eligible host organisation in the UK, Republic of Ireland or a low- or middle-income country (apart from mainland China).

You should have a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract, or the guarantee of one. Your salary must be paid by your host organisation.

If you hold a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract but have to get your salary from external grant funding, you can ask us for this in your application. If this applies to you, you must commit at least 10% of your working hours to this award. In this case, your host organisation must confirm details about your employment contract or their policy on salary recovery costs.

If you don’t have this type of contract, or a written guarantee of one, you may want to consider a Research Fellowship in Humanities and Social Science instead.

Your research proposal

To be competitive, you must propose a compelling research vision that:

• is both ambitious and feasible
• transforms an area of humanities and social science related to human health
• builds on your area of research.

Our reviewers will assess:

• your research vision
• your research questions
• the approaches you'll use
• your track record relative to your career stage and experience
• evidence of your expertise in your proposed area of research
• the suitability of your research environment
• the time you'll spend on the Investigator Award, and how it fits in with your other academic commitments.

Read about the grants we've awarded and the research we support in the humanities and social sciences.

Who can't apply

You can't apply to carry out activities that involve the transfer of grant funds into mainland China.

What's expected of your host organisation

When we assess your application, we’ll look at the environment in which you propose to do your research and the support promised by your host organisation.

Statement of commitment

You must provide a statement of commitment from your host organisation with your application. It should come from the most senior authority in the relevant faculty, school or division. The statement is an opportunity to show us that the host organisation is the ideal place for your research. It should be specific to you and your research, and state:

• why the host organisation thinks you merit an Investigator Award
• how the host organisation will support you and your team to ensure that the ambitions of your research proposal can be achieved (including financial, technical, administrative or other assistance)
• how your research proposal complements and addresses the host organisation’s strategic aims and priorities
• the nature of your employment contract and its compliance with our eligibility criteria for an Investigator Award
• that the space and resources you need have been agreed and will be made available to you from the start date through to the end date of your award.
  

The level of funding we provide for an Investigator Award ranges from £250,000 to £1 million.

Awards usually last three to five years.

You should ask for a level and duration of funding that's justifiable for your career stage, research experience and your proposed research.

You can hold an Investigator Award on a part-time basis.

The award covers the costs of carrying out the programme, such as:

• research expenses

  • staff

    You can ask for salary costs of all staff, full or part time, who will work on your project and whose time can be supported by a full audit trail. Staff members normally include research assistants employed on your grant. If you’re doing fieldwork or clinical studies in a low- or middle-income country, we’ll consider requests for more research staff.

    If you, or any applicants, hold a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract and have to get your salary from external grant funding, you can ask us for this in your application. See the ‘Eligibility and suitability’ section above for more information.

    • How to cost salaries for research staff

      Staff salaries should be appropriate to skills, responsibilities and expertise. You should ask your host organisation to use their salary scales to calculate these costs, which should include:

      • basic salary
      • employer's contributions, which should include any statutory obligations (eg National Insurance contributions if they’re based in the UK) and pension scheme costs
      • Apprentice Levy charges for UK-based salaries
      • any incremental progression up the salary scale
      • locally recognised allowances such as London allowance.

      You should allow for salary pay awards during Year 1. These should be based on pay awards already agreed: if you don’t know what the pay award is yet then use our inflation rate.

      From Year 2 onwards, you should use your organisation’s current pay rates. We’ll provide a separate inflation allowance for salary inflation costs.

      If you are asking for a PhD Studentship(s) use the following stipend rates:

      If you're based outside London:

      • Year 1: £19,919
      • Year 2: £21,542
      • Year 3: £23,298
      • Year 4: £23,997

      If you're based in London:

      • Year 1: £22,278
      • Year 2: £24,093
      • Year 3: £26,057
      • Year 4: £26,839

      You can also ask for course fees.

      Find out more about people working on a Wellcome grant.

    Visa and work permit costs

    If you have named people on your grant whose salaries will be funded by Wellcome, you can ask for visa or work permit costs to help them take up their posts at the host organisation. You can also ask for:

    • visa costs for the person's partner and dependent children
    • essential associated costs, such as travel to attend appointments at a visa application centre or embassy if you can justify these
    • Immigration Health Surcharge costs for the person, their partner and dependent children if they will be in the UK for six months or more.

  • materials and consumables

    We will pay for the materials and consumables you need to carry out your proposed research, including:

    • archival photocopying
    • printing associated with fieldwork and empirical research
    • materials directly related to hosting workshops and interviews.

  • equipment

    Equipment purchase

    You can ask for smaller items of equipment that are essential to your proposed project. Costs may include purchase, delivery, installation, maintenance and training, where necessary.

    If you want to request larger items, please contact us before applying.

    We will cover VAT and import duties if:

    • the usual UK exemptions on equipment used for medical research don’t apply
    • you’re applying from a non-UK organisation, and you can show these costs can’t be recovered.

    Equipment maintenance

    We will cover maintenance costs for equipment if:

    • you are requesting it in your application
    • it is existing equipment that is:
      • funded by us or another source
      • essential to the proposed research project
      • more than five years old
      • cost effective to keep maintaining it.

    We won’t cover maintenance costs for equipment if there is a mechanism in place to recoup these costs through access charges.

    Computer equipment

    We will cover the cost of one personal computer or laptop per person up to £1,500.

    We won't pay for:

    • more expensive items, unless you can justify them
    • installation or training costs.

  • access charges

    You can ask for the cost of access to shared equipment or facilities if they’re essential to your research project. These may include materials and consumables, plus a proportion of:

    • maintenance and service contracts
    • staff time costs for dedicated technical staff employed to operate the equipment or facility.

    We don’t cover the costs of:

    • estates and utilities
    • depreciation or insurance
    • other staff eg contributions towards departmental technical, administrative and management staff time.

    If the facilities or equipment were paid for by a Wellcome grant, you can only ask for access charges if:

    • the grant has ended
    • any support for running costs and maintenance contracts has ended.

  • overheads

    You can ask for overheads if your grant will be based at a:

    • university outside the UK or Republic of Ireland
    • research organisation that does not receive core funding for overheads
    • charitable or not-for-profit organisation
    • small or medium-sized commercial organisation.

    You can also ask for overheads on any part of your grant that is sub-contracted to any of the organisations listed above.

    If you’re based at a UK university you can’t ask for overheads for sub-contracted activity if your university will include the sub-contracted funding in its annual report to the UK Charity Research Support Fund.

    Overheads can include:

    • estates, for example building and premises
    • non-project dedicated administrative and support staff
    • administration, for example finance, library, and room hire.

    The total cost for overheads should not be more than:

    • 20% of the direct research costs if you’re based in a low- or middle-income country
    • 15% of the direct research costs if you’re based anywhere else.

    These costs must directly support the activity funded by the grant.

    How to apply for these costs

    In your grant application you must:

    • give a full breakdown of costs (you can't ask for a percentage of the research costs)
    • explain why these costs are necessary for your research
    • include a letter from the finance director of your host organisation, or the sub-contracted organisation, confirming that the breakdown is a true representation of the costs incurred.

  • travel and subsistence

    Travel costs

    Conference attendance

    You can ask for a contribution towards the costs of attending scientific and academic meetings and conferences, including registration fees and the costs to offset the carbon emissions of your travel. The limits are:

    • lead applicant – £2,000 a year
    • staff employed on your grant – £1,000 each a year
    • PhD studentships – up to £5,000 for each studentship

    You’ll need to specify the amount you’re requesting for each person and break down the costs into registration fees, travel, carbon offsetting, subsistence (for example food and accommodation).

    You can also ask for costs to cover caring responsibilities if any staff employed on your grant attend a conference. This includes childcare and any other caring responsibility they have, provided:

    • Wellcome is paying their salary
    • the conference is directly related to the research
    • the caring costs are over and above what they'd normally pay for care
    • the conference organiser and their employing organisation are unable to cover the costs.

    You can ask for up to £1,000 per person for each conference.

    Collaborative travel

    You can ask for travel and subsistence costs for collaborative visits for you and any staff employed on your grant. You’ll need to justify each visit and its duration.

    Other travel

    We may pay for other essential visits, for example to facilities, libraries, archives and for fieldwork. You can include subsistence costs.

    Carbon offset costs

    This is a new policy. It applies to all types of travel costs Wellcome provides.

    You can ask for:

    • the cost of low carbon travel where practical, even if it's more expensive (for example travelling by train instead of flying)
    • project-related resources or activities that provide an alternative to travel, such as video conferencing, communication and file-sharing software
    • costs to offset the carbon emissions of the journeys you make.

    We won't pay for the core infrastructure that your host organisation should provide, unless you're eligible to ask for these costs under our overheads policy. Examples of these costs include:

    • organisation-wide video conferencing packages
    • high-speed broadband
    • HD screens.

    See our carbon offset policy for travel for information on what you and your organisation need to do.

    Subsistence costs

    If you’re away for up to one month you can ask for subsistence costs. These include accommodation, meals and incidentals (eg refreshments or newspapers).

    If your administering organisation has a subsistence policy, use their rates.

    If your administering organisation doesn’t have a subsistence policy, please use the HMRC rates.

    If you’re away for more than one month and up to 12 months, we will pay reasonable rental costs only, including aparthotels. You should discuss appropriate rates with your administering and host organisations, or Wellcome, as appropriate. We expect you to choose the most economical options, booked in advance where possible.

    If you’re from a low- or middle- income country and will be working in a high-income country for more than one month and up to 12 months, you can also ask for up to £10 a day to cover extra costs, such as transport and incidentals.

    If you’re away for more than 12 months, we will pay the costs of your housing. You should discuss your needs with your administering and host organisations.

    The allowance we provide will be based on family and business need. We will set the maximum allowance we pay for each location. This will be based on current market data or, where data is unavailable, in consultation with your administering organisation, using equivalent market rates. Please contact us if you need help calculating the costs.

    We will cover the direct expenses you have to pay to find and rent a home. We will not cover the cost of utilities or any refurbishment.

    Overseas research

    If you or any research staff employed on your grant will be doing research away from your host organisation, we'll help with the additional costs of working on the project overseas. Please see the 'Overseas allowances' section for details.

  • overseas allowances

    If you or any staff employed on your grant will be spending time in another country, we’ll help you with the additional costs of working on the project overseas.

    Our overseas allowances are:

    • a contribution towards the personal cost of carrying out research overseas, to ensure that you are not disadvantaged
    • provided on the assumption that you’ll be paying income tax, either in your home country, or the country you will be working in (your personal tax is your responsibility).
    • provided on the understanding that you or your partner will not receive equivalent allowances from elsewhere
    • determined by the amount of time you will spend away from your home country.

    Carbon offset costs

    We expect the people we fund to choose travel that has a lower carbon impact, where practical, even if it’s more expensive (for example travelling by train instead of flying).

    You can ask for costs to offset the carbon generated by the travel, as part of your overseas allowances.

    See our carbon offset policy for travel for information on what you and your organisation need to do.

    • Partners and dependants travelling with you

      If you will be away more than 12 months, we will provide overseas allowances for your partner and any dependants if they are travelling with you.

      If you will be away for 12 months or less and can justify why your partner and dependants must travel with you, we may provide overseas allowances for them.

      We define your partner as the person:

      • you’re married to
      • you’re not married to but with whom you’ve been in a relationship for at least a year

      and

      • you live with at the same permanent address and share some form of joint financial commitment with (eg a mortgage).

     

    See a list of low- and middle-income countries, as defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

    You can ask for the following allowances. You need to provide estimated costs as accurately as possible.

    • outward and return travel

      We will pay your travel costs at the beginning and end of your overseas work. Costs can be for air, ferry, train or coach fares.

      All fares should be:

      • in line with our carbon offset policy
      • booked in advance where possible.

    • baggage and freight shipping allowance

      If you are away for up to 12 months, you can ask for up to 80kg of additional baggage or unaccompanied airline freight for your outward and return journeys.

      If you are away for more than 12 months, you can ask for the costs of shipping your personal items at the beginning and end of your overseas work.

      We will pay the full cost of transporting:

      • half a standard shipping container if you’re travelling alone
      • a whole standard shipping container (20ft) if you’re travelling with a partner and/or dependants.

    • medical and travel insurance

      We will pay the cost of your medical insurance and travel insurance.

      If you will be working in a low- or middle-income country we will also cover the cost of emergency evacuation cover.

      We won’t pay for medical insurance if you will be based in the UK or Republic of Ireland.

    • visas and vaccinations

      We will pay the costs of visas, vaccinations and anti-malaria treatment.

    • housing security

      You can ask for this if you’ll be based in a low- or middle-income country and it is necessary.

      Costs can include guards, panic buttons and alarms. You should ask your employing organisation for advice on the level of security you need.

    • accommodation and subsistence

      If you’re away for up to one month you can ask for subsistence costs. These include accommodation, meals and incidentals (eg refreshments or newspapers).

      If your administering organisation has a subsistence policy, use their rates.

      If your administering organisation doesn’t have a subsistence policy, please use the HMRC rates.

      If you’re away for more than one month and up to 12 months, we will pay reasonable rental costs only, including aparthotels. You should discuss appropriate rates with your administering and host organisations, or Wellcome, as appropriate. We expect you to choose the most economical options, booked in advance where possible.

      If you’re from a low- or middle- income country and will be working in a high-income country for more than one month and up to 12 months, you can also ask for up to £10 a day to cover extra costs, such as transport and incidentals.

      If you’re away for more than 12 months, we will pay the costs of your housing. You should discuss your needs with your administering and host organisations.

      The allowance we provide will be based on family and business need. We will set the maximum allowance we pay for each location. This will be based on current market data or, where data is unavailable, in consultation with your administering organisation, using equivalent market rates. If you need help calculating the costs please contact Grants Management.

      We will cover the direct expenses you have to pay to find and rent a home. We will not cover the cost of utilities or any refurbishment.

    • education

      If you’re away for more than 12 months we will pay:

      Local nursery or school fees

      You can ask for these costs if you are in a location where there isn’t free local education of the same standard as in your home country.

      Costs include:

      • local nursery school fees up to a maximum of 30 hours a week for 3 to 4 year olds
      • local junior or secondary school fees, up to the end of secondary school education.

      Local international school fees

      You can ask for these costs if local schools do not provide the same standard of education as in your home country. We will only pay the published termly school fees.

      We will not cover the costs of:

      • extracurricular activities, including field trips
      • other extras including, but not limited to, uniforms, sports kit and equipment, transport, meals, books and electronic equipment.

      Boarding school fees

      We will consider paying the cost of boarding school fees in your home country if:

      • a local international school is not available
      • both parents, guardians or the sole care giver live outside the home country.

      The allowance covers:

      • up to a maximum of £30,000 a year for each child for the published termly fees only
      • the cost of return airfares at the start and end of each school term, in line with our carbon offset policy for travel.

      We will not cover the costs of:

      • additional annual leave airfares
      • extracurricular activities, including field trips
      • other extras including, but not limited to, uniforms, sports kit and equipment, transport, meals, books and electronic equipment.

      We will cover the cost of providing special needs education as far as possible. Please contact us to discuss your needs.

      We would not usually expect to provide an education allowance if you will be working in a high-income country.

    • annual leave travel costs

      If you will be away for more than 12 months, we’ll pay for you to travel back to your home country for annual leave. This is in addition to your outward and return travel costs and depends on how long you will be away:

      • 12-24 months – 1 annual leave trip
      • 25-36 months – 2 annual leave trips
      • 37-48 months – 3 annual leave trips
      • 49-60 months – 4 annual leave trips
      • 61-72 months – 5 annual leave trips.

      All fares should be:

      • in line with our carbon offset policy
      • booked in advance where possible.

    • language lessons

      If you will be away for more than 12 months, you can ask for up to 100 hours of lessons in the local language for you and/or your partner during the first 12 months of your visit.

      We will cover 100% of the costs for local language school classes or up to 50% of the costs of individual tuition.

      We will not cover the cost of examinations or personal learning materials such as DVDs and books.

  • inflation allowance

    We will add an inflation allowance to your award.

    How we calculate your inflation allowance

    Your inflation allowance is based on your total eligible costs and the duration of the award. You'll receive the allowance if the costs in your application are in pounds sterling, euros or US dollars.

    Award duration (in months)	Inflation allowance
    0-12	0.0%
    13-24	1.0%
    25-36	2.0%
    37-48	3.0%
    49-60	4.1%
    61-72	5.1%
    73-84	6.2%

    These rates are calculated using compound inflation at 2.0% a year from Year 2 onwards.

    If your costs are in any other currency, we will use an inflation allowance that reflects the inflation rate of the country where the host organisation is based.

    What to include in your application

    The costs in your application must be based on current known costs, excluding inflation.

    You should allow for salary pay awards during Year 1. These should be based on pay awards already agreed; if you don’t know what the pay award is yet then use our inflation rate.

    Wellcome's studentship stipend scales include an annual increase for inflation.

  • open access charges

    If your organisation receives block funding, you can ask them to cover your open access article processing charges.

    If you're at an organisation that doesn't receive block grant funding, we’ll supplement your grant when your paper has been accepted for publication.

    You can't ask for these charges in your grant application.

  • clinical research costs

    If you need to carry out research using NHS patients or facilities you can ask for certain research costs. Annex A of the guidelines for attributing the costs of health and social care research and development (AcoRD) sets out which costs you can ask us for, and which should be funded through the Department of Health in England, or its equivalent in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. If you're based in the Republic of Ireland, we would expect you to adhere to the spirit of these principles.

    More information about our policy on clinical trials.

  • other costs

    Costs you may ask for (you will have to justify these costs in your application):

    • fieldwork costs, including survey and data collection and statistical analysis
    • specialist publications that are relevant to the research and not available in institutional libraries
    • consultancy fees
    • expenses for subjects and volunteers – includes recruitment of participants, their participatory fees and travel, as well as interviewee expenses
    • reasonable research-associated costs related to the feedback of health-related findings but not any healthcare-associated costs
    • costs associated with developing an outputs management plan
    • questionnaires, recruitment material, newsletters etc for clinical, epidemiological and qualitative research studies
    • public engagement materials where dissemination (including printing and publishing) is a key activity of the project
    • recruitment, advertising and interviewee travel costs for staff to be employed on the grant
    • purchase, hire and running costs of project-dedicated vehicles
    • PhD student fees for postgraduate research assistants employed on your grant
    • computing, including recurrent costs dedicated to the project (eg software licences)
    • formal transferable skills and personal development training, including the International Funders Award, in addition to what we'd expect your organisation to provide.

    Costs we won’t pay:

    • estates costs – such as building and premises costs, basic services and utilities. This also includes phone, postage, photocopying and stationery, unless you can justify these within a clinical or epidemiological study.*
    • page charges and the cost of colour prints
    • research, technical and administrative staff whose time is shared across several projects and isn’t supported by an audit record*
    • charge-out costs for major facilities* – departmental technical and administrative services, and use of existing equipment
    • cleaning, waste and other disposal costs*

    *We will fund these costs in the case of animal-related research.

    • indirect costs – this includes general administration costs such as personnel, finance, library, room hire and some departmental services
    • office furniture, such as chairs, desks, filing cabinets, etc.
    • clothing such as lab coats, shoes, protective clothing
    • non-research related activities, eg catering, room and venue hire for staff parties, team-building events and social activities
    • indemnity insurance (insurance cover against claims made by subjects or patients associated with a research programme)
    • ethics reviews, unless you are in a low- or middle-income country
    • radiation protection costs.

• research/teaching replacement

  You can ask for funds for research or teaching replacement to cover the cost of a temporary replacement lecturer. Costs:

  • can cover up to 40% of your contracted time and up to 40% of your coapplicant's contracted time
  • are usually for a person at a more junior level than the post-holder
  • can be spread across the full period of the grant.

• conference and meeting costs

  You can ask for a contribution towards the cost of hosting:

  • a conference
  • a session within a conference
  • a symposium
  • a seminar series.

  The meeting should either be:

  • for research purposes eg data gathering
  • to disseminate the findings from your research.

  Costs can include:

  • travel and accommodation for keynote speakers
  • room hire and catering
  • event publicity conference pack publication, including name badges
  • any associated expenses that you can justify.

You can also apply for Research Enrichment funding to increase the impact of your work through activities in public engagement and diversity and inclusion.

If you're awarded this grant

If you’re from outside the UK, and your host organisation is in the UK, you're guaranteed an endorsement of a Tier 1 Global Talent visa application.

If you have team member(s) who will spend at least 50% of their working time contributing to the award, they may be eligible to apply for a Tier 1 visa through the endorsed funder route.

What we don’t offer

This award does not include your salary costs. These must be provided by your host organisation.

We don't fund overheads unless they're included on this page.

Stages of application

This scheme has now closed.

1. Submit your preliminary application

   You must submit your application through Grant Tracker.

   View the Sample preliminary application form for Investigator Awards in Humanities and Social Science [PDF 146KB]

   Get some tips to help you write a Wellcome grant application.

   You don't need to contact us before you submit a preliminary application. We prefer to speak to applicants when we invite them to submit full applications.

   We'll assess your eligibility, suitability and competitiveness. 

   If suitable, we'll invite you to submit a full application. We'll contact you to give you feedback on your preliminary application and answer any questions you may have.

2. Submit your full application

   Complete your application on Grant Tracker. Submit it to the 'authorised organisational approver' at your host organisation for approval. Make sure you leave enough time for the approver to review and submit your application before the deadline. The approver may ask you to make changes to your application.

   View the Sample full application form for Investigator Awards in Humanities and Social Science [PDF 442KB] 

   If your proposal involves clinical research using NHS resources, check if you need to upload a SoECAT form with your full application.

3. Review and shortlisting

   Depending on the area of your proposed research, full applications are shortlisted by either the:

   • Medical Humanities Investigator and Collaborative Award Expert Review Group

   or

   • Social Science and Bioethics Investigator and Collaborative Award Expert Review Group

   If you are recommended for interview, we'll contact you with interview dates. We’ll offer you a meeting at our Wellcome offices in London to help you prepare for the interview.

4. External peer review

   If your proposal is shortlisted, we'll ask for written comments from other expert reviewers who specialise in areas relevant to the content of the application. Unattributed comments will be sent to you one week before your interview.

5. Funding decision

   Due to COVID-19, we are not holding interviews. Instead, shortlisted candidates will be asked to provide written responses to questions from the Humanities and Social Science Selection Panel. Guidance will be provided to all applicants who reach this stage.

Disabled applicants

If you are disabled or have a chronic health condition, we can support you with the application process.

Coronavirus (Covid-19)

What you need to know if you're a grant applicant or grantholder.

Dates

This scheme has now closed.