International Master’s Fellowships (Closed)

Who can apply

You can apply for an International Master's Fellowship if:

• you're a national of a low- or middle-income country
• your proposed research focuses on a health priority in a low- or middle-income country 
• you have sponsorship from an eligible host organisation in a low- or middle-income country apart from mainland China.

You must:

• hold a clinical or non-clinical undergraduate degree in a relevant subject 
• be at an early stage in your career with limited research experience (but you must have demonstrated interest in, or aptitude for, research).

Your research proposal

Your research proposal should be within our science remit and focus on a health priority in a low- or middle-income country.

When we consider your application, we'll look at the:

• quality and importance of your research question(s)
• feasibility of your approach to solving these problems
• suitability of your choice of research environments
• suitability of the taught Master of Science (MSc) course you select – it should take place at a recognised centre of excellence and provide you with training that will complement your research project.

Who can't apply

You can’t apply if you’re:

• intending to be based in the UK, Republic of Ireland or another high-income country (although your taught course can be anywhere in the world)
• planning to do a Master of Research (MRes)
• a researcher in India – instead see the Wellcome Trust/Department of Biotechnology India Alliance
• currently applying for another Wellcome Trust fellowship.

We wouldn't usually expect you to apply if you already have a Master's. Please contact us before you apply.

If you've already been unsuccessful with a full application for this scheme, please contact us before you apply again.

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

You must be based at an eligible host organisation in a low- or middle-income country for the research project. When your host organisation submits your application, they must agree to provide the space and resources you’ll need from the start date through to the end date of your award.

Sponsor

You must have a sponsor who is a head of department or equivalent (for example centre director or head of school) in your host organisation.

The sponsor must be able to guarantee that you’ll have a post for the duration of the fellowship. The sponsor should not expect you to spend more than eight hours a week on non-research activities (for example clinical duties, teaching or administration).

Your sponsor's support and mentorship should be part of a longer-term commitment to help you achieve your career aspirations.

Supervisor

You must have a supervisor who will be responsible for the day-to-day supervision of your research project.

You should also have additional supervisors for each period that you spend outside your host organisation, including your taught course. They must agree to provide the space and resources you’ll need.

You should give careful thought to your choice of supervisor(s). 

A supervisor should:

• have an ongoing research programme
• have a strong track record in research, training and mentorship
• provide you with guidance during the application process and fellowship.

You can nominate your sponsor as a supervisor, if appropriate.

An International Master's Fellowship is for 30 months, unless you want to hold it on a part-time basis. 

The first 12 months should be dedicated to doing a taught Master of Science (MSc) course at a recognised centre of excellence anywhere in the world. 

The following 18 months is for your research project at an eligible organisation in a low- or middle-income country.

An award of £120,000 provides support for:

Support during the Master's course

The support includes:

• a stipend

  If your taught course or training is in the UK, you can use £16,000 a year (outside London) or £18,000 a year (in London) to cover the cost of your stipend. If your course or training is outside the UK, you should check living costs with your prospective training organisation.

• travel costs (eg outward and return airfares)
• approved tuition fees, according to the rate charged by the training organisation.

We support distance learning taught Master's degrees.

If your stipend is liable for tax in the country you're based in, you can use the funds to cover the taxed amount.

Support during the fellowship

The support includes:

• a basic salary (determined by your host organisation)

  As this is a fellowship scheme, you must request your salary on the grant.

  We will fund the total cost of your salary for the full 30 months of the grant.

  You can only receive one salary during your grant. If you are already paid a salary, your host organisation may use it to pay the person who replaces you.

  You should ask your host organisation to calculate your salary during the grant. It should reflect the skills, responsibilities and expertise needed to carry out the role, and include:

  • your basic salary
  • employer’s contributions, including any statutory obligations (eg National Insurance contributions if you’re based in the UK) and pension scheme costs
  • any incremental progression up the salary scale
  • locally recognised allowances such as London allowance.

  For Year 1 include any known pay awards for this period or an assumed percentage equivalent to our current inflation rate of 2.0% if this hasn’t been confirmed. Your salary should automatically increase from Year 2 onwards, based on our current inflation allowance rates.

  Find out more about fellows working on a Wellcome grant.

  Visa and work permit costs

  If Wellcome is going to pay your salary on the grant, you can use your fellowship funds to pay for visa costs to help you take up the post at your host organisation. You can also use them for:

  • Immigration Health Surcharge costs.
  • Essential associated costs, such as travel to attend appointments at a visa application centre or embassy.

• personal removal expenses

  If you have to move to take up the post at your host organisation, you can use up to £1,000 to pay for these costs.

• overheads

  You can use your funds to cover 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 pay for overheads on any part of your grant that is sub-contracted to any of the organisations listed above.

  You cannot use your funds to cover overheads if your grant will be:

  • administered by a UK university and they will include the sub-contracted funding in its annual report to the UK Charity Research Support fund
  • based at one of our Africa and Asia Programmes.

  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 10% of the total amount awarded. These costs must directly support the activity funded by the grant.

• research expenses, directly related to your proposal

  • materials and consumables

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

    • laboratory chemicals and materials (eg reagents, isotopes, peptides, enzymes, antibodies, gases, proteins, cell/tissue/bacterial culture, plasticware and glassware)
    • associated charges for shipping, delivery and freight
    • project-specific personal protective equipment (PPE) that is above the standard expected for the setting.

  • animals

    The fellowship funds can cover the cost of buying animals if they’re essential to your project. We’ll also fund the charge-out rates for animal house facilities, but only if your organisation uses full economic costing methodology.

    These costs include:

    • running costs (including animal maintenance, any experimental procedures, licences and relevant staff training)
    • appropriate estates costs
    • cage and equipment depreciation costs, but not building depreciation costs.

    We may not pay the full charge-out rate for an animal house facility if we've provided significant funding towards the infrastructure and/or core support of the facility.

    If your organisation doesn’t use full economic costing methodology to establish charge-out rates for animal house facilities, funds may cover:

    • the cost of buying animals
    • running costs (including animal maintenance, any experimental procedures, licences and relevant staff training)
    • staff costs, eg contributions towards the salaries of animal house technicians.

    We don’t provide estates or depreciation costs.

  • equipment

    Equipment purchase

    Your chosen research environment(s) should have the necessary equipment for you to complete your work. The fellowship can be used to cover smaller items of equipment that are essential to your proposed research project. Costs may include purchase, delivery, installation, maintenance and training, where necessary.

    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 use some of your grant to cover 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 use the funds for access charges if:

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

  • travel and subsistence

    Travel costs

    Conference attendance

    You can use up to £1,500 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.

    You can also use your funds to cover caring responsibilities if you attend a conference. This includes childcare and any other caring responsibility you have, provided:

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

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

    Collaborative travel

    Your funds can cover travel and subsistence costs for visits to collaborators, and for collaborators to visit your laboratory. You’ll need to justify each visit and its duration.

    Other travel

    You can also use your funds to pay for other essential visits, for example to facilities, for sample collection and for fieldwork. You can include subsistence costs.

    Carbon offset costs

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

    You can use your funds 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.

    You can also use your funds to cover project-related infrastructure costs to minimise your travel. This is in line with our overheads policy. Examples 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 use your funds 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, you can use the funds for 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 use 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 cover 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.

  • fieldwork expenses

    We cover fieldwork costs if they’re essential. Costs can include:

    • survey and data collection, including communication and data collection services and any associated costs such as essential field materials, travel costs and language translation services
    • the purchase, hire and running costs of vehicles dedicated to your project
    • expenses for subjects and volunteers, including the recruitment of participants, their participatory fees and travel costs
    • statistical analysis.

  • 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.

  • other costs

    Costs the fellowship funds may be used for:

    • specialist publications that are relevant to the research and not available in institutional libraries
    • 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
    • purchase, hire and running costs of project-dedicated vehicles.

    Costs the funds won't cover:

    • 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.

    Costs grantholders can claim on biomedical science research grants.

What we don’t offer

• Major equipment. We only consider modest requests for equipment, so the place you choose to do your research project must have the necessary equipment and facilities.
• Research assistance.

We don't fund overheads unless they're included on this page (for example research management and support costs).

You must submit your application through the Wellcome Trust Grant Tracker (WTGT).

Start your application

Stages of application

1. Before you apply

   It's important to check that your application is competitive. Please read the advice in the ‘Eligibility and suitability’ section above before you apply.

   We encourage you to discuss your application with your sponsor and research supervisor. They will give you advice about the intellectual quality and importance of your project. They will also help you to decide whether it's the right time for you to apply.

   We also encourage you to contact your research office at your host organisation as early as possible in the application process. They should be able to advise you on:

   • how to structure your application, including the budget 
   • what information is needed to support your proposal 
   • how much time your host organisation will need to approve your application after you submit it. 

   You can also get some tips to help you write a Wellcome grant application and guidance on using Grant Tracker.

2. Complete your application

   Log in to our online application system Grant Tracker. Do this at an early stage so that you can familiarise yourself with the system.

   You can view a PDF version of the online form here: Sample full application form for International Master's Fellowships [PDF 353KB]

   You must complete every section of the form. Your sponsor and supervisor will need to complete some of the sections. 

3. Submit your application to your host organisation

   When you've completed the form, submit it to your host organisation. A person at your host organisation with the role of 'authorised organisational approver' will get an automated email from Wellcome asking them to review and submit the application.
    
   Make sure you leave enough time for the approver to do this before the deadline. The approver may ask you to make changes to your application.

4. Host organisation submits your application

   The approver at your host organisation must submit your application to us by 17:00 (GMT/BST) on the deadline day.
    
   We may take up to four months to consider your full application. We will let you know if you are not eligible. 

5. Scientific review

   The International Interview Committee will review your application and make the final decision. There are no interviews for these fellowships. If successful, you must take up the fellowship within one year of the award.

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

You must submit your application by 17:00 (GMT/BST) on the deadline day. We don't accept late applications.

April 2021 round

• Application deadline

  13 April 2021, 17:00 BST

• Decision

  June 2021

August 2021 round

This is the final round.

• Application deadline

  24 August 2021, 17:00 BST

• Decision

  November 2021