Clinical Research Career Development Fellowships (Closed)

Who can apply

You can apply for a Clinical Research Career Development Fellowship if you’re a healthcare professional and you want to balance clinical work with a research career.

You must hold, or be due to receive, a higher research degree (preferably a PhD). If you have not yet completed your higher research degree, you must have submitted your thesis at the point of application.

You must have sponsorship from an eligible host organisation in the UK or Republic of Ireland.

All applicants, including those based outside the UK, must have the following at the point when they apply:

• medical and dental candidates must be registered with the General Medical Council (GMC) with a licence to practise
• veterinary candidates must have a degree in veterinary medicine (for example BVSc, BVM&S, BVMS, BVetMed or VetMB), be registered with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and have some experience in clinical practice
• clinical psychology candidates must have a professional doctorate-level qualification in clinical psychology accredited by the British Psychological Society and be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council
• all other healthcare professionals (for example, nurses, midwives, non-medical public health candidates and allied health professionals) must have a relevant degree, and be registered with their relevant professional regulator.

If you're applying to work in the Republic of Ireland, you must be registered with the relevant Irish regulatory bodies.

Honorary clinical contract

When you apply, you should have an honorary clinical contract with a healthcare organisation so that you can maintain your clinical skills during the proposed fellowship. This also applies to applicants based outside the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

If you don't have an honorary clinical contract, you must tell us in your application how you will get this by the time you take up the fellowship. You must also provide a letter of guarantee when you apply.

If you have a question about this, please contact us.

Medical and dental training

At the time of application, medical and dental candidates should have:

• a national training number (NTN) and be enrolled on a recognised UK training programme

or

• a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT), or the equivalent.

If you don't have these, you must tell us in your application how you'll get them by the time you take up the fellowship. You must provide us with letters of guarantee when you apply.

Currently doing clinical training

You can tailor your fellowship to combine clinical training with your research. If you want to start this fellowship before you've completed clinical training, you must tell us in your application how you’ll manage both commitments.

If you're currently in clinical training outside the UK, and will not have completed your training by the time your fellowship begins, please contact us before you apply to discuss your plans.

Your fellowship proposal

We will review:

• the strength of your track record in research relative to your career stage, for example publications, patents, software development or an impact on policy.
• the quality and importance of your research question(s)
• how your research question and project will take you to the next stage in your career
• your knowledge of the scientific area
• the feasibility of your proposal, including any preliminary data
• the suitability of your research environment(s) and sponsor(s), where relevant
• your vision of how this fellowship will contribute to your career development
• your potential to become a research leader in your field.

Time spent away from research

If you've been away from research (for example a career break, maternity leave, or long-term sick leave), we'll allow for this when we consider your application. We also allow for time spent doing clinical speciality training.

More information

For more information, read our FAQs for Clinical Research Careers Development Fellowships [PDF 523KB]

If you're based outside the UK, please discuss your plans with us when developing your application.

Stage 1 and Stage 2

A Clinical Research Career Development Fellowship is split into two stages, related to your experience.

See the 'What we offer' section on this page for an update on stage 2 funding beyond 2021.

Stage 1. Exploration and consolidation

If you're an early postdoctoral researcher, you can apply for an initial phase of funding that provides research expenses and salary support. This will help you to:

• learn new skills
• consolidate your research skills and experience
• explore new areas of research
• develop your long-term career aims.

At the end of stage 1, you should be able to show that you have:

• the research maturity to lead a creative, independent research programme
• the potential to be an independent leader in your area of research.

Stage 2. Early independence

To apply for a stage 2 fellowship, you must show that you are ready to lead a creative, independent research programme.

Stage 2 funding can include support for a postdoctoral research assistant, nurse or technician.

At the end of stage 2, you should:

• have achieved international standing in your area of research
• be leading your own research programme.

See the 'What we offer' section on this page for an update on stage 2 funding beyond 2021.

Progression from stage 1 to stage 2

Progression from stage 1 to stage 2 involves a formal application and competitive interview. This process is flexible because there is no set duration for each stage.

The last application deadline for stage 2 funding is 6 July 2021 (see the 'key dates' section on this page).

For those holding the fellowship full time:

• neither stage can be held for longer than 5 years
• the total length of the fellowship can’t exceed 8 years.

Candidates who are ready to lead an independent research programme can apply for stage 2 without doing stage 1 first.

Who can't apply

You can’t usually apply if you:

• hold, or have held a nationally competitive fellowship at an equivalent level, supported by another UK funding body
• have a permanent or rolling employment contract, although we're willing to consider an application if you can justify moving to a different organisation or a change in research direction
• are currently applying for another Wellcome fellowship.

If you’ve already been unsuccessful with a full application to this scheme, please contact us before you apply again. You can submit two applications to each stage.

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

Your fellowship must be held at an eligible host organisation in the UK or Republic of Ireland.

If you are still in clinical training, it's important that the dean of your medical school, postgraduate medical dean and clinical academic training lead are all in agreement with your proposed fellowship plan, particularly the integration of the clinical training and research elements. 

You should identify a sponsor at the host organisation who:

• holds an established post (or an honorary academic appointment) for the duration of the fellowship
• possesses a strong track record in research, training and mentoring, and is committed to supporting your development as an independent researcher
• is willing to provide guidance during the application process as well as support throughout the fellowship.

You should also identify an additional sponsor at every other research organisation you propose to work in. They must be able to provide relevant research guidance during the award relevant to your career stage.

Your sponsor(s) and host organisation must guarantee that you'll get the space and resources you need. This must be agreed at the application stage and made available from the start date through to the end date of your award.

Find out about how we've worked with the funding community to develop principles and obligations setting out what we expect from those responsible for clinical training, trainees and funders across the UK.

The Clinical Research Career Development Fellowship provides funding for up to eight years in total.

New applicants, including those who have already applied but not yet been notified of a decision, who are awarded a stage 1 fellowship, will no longer be able to apply for stage 2 at the end of their award. They may be eligible to apply for one of our new schemes.

Current stage 1 Fellows can apply for stage 2 funding if they are ready to do this (see ‘Stage 2 Early independence’ in the ‘Eligibility and suitability’ section on this page). They must submit their application by 6 July 2021 (see the ‘Key dates’ section on this page).

Current stage 1 Fellows, who will not be ready to apply for stage 2 funding in 2021, will no longer be able to apply for this funding at the end of their award. They may be eligible to apply for one of our new schemes.

Support can include:

• a basic salary, determined by your host organisation

  We will fund the total cost of your salary for the entire period of the grant.

  You should ask your host organisation to calculate this. 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.

  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. 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.

  The relevant training authority will be expected to fund your salary during any formal clinical training you do. If you hold - or are awarded - an Honorary Clinical Contract, we'll consider a salary at consultant level.

  From Year 2 onwards, we will automatically increase your salary, based on our current inflation allowance rates.

  We will also provide:

  • a fellowship supplement of £7,500 a year if you are on a non-clinical salary scale
  • the extra employer's contributions needed to cover the supplement.

  The supplement is fixed. It won’t be increased each year.

  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 ask for visa costs to help you take up the post at your host organisation. You can also ask for:

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

• personal removal expenses

  If you have to move to take up the post at your host organisation, you can ask for £1,000. You'll need to justify this.

• research expenses directly related to your proposal

  • staff

    Stage 1

    We don't provide funding for a full-time research post at stage 1, but we can consider requests to buy out the time of staff needed to deliver the proposed research project, on a case-by-case basis. We will only pay for the time they will spend on your project. You must provide a very strong justification.

    Stage 2

    You can ask for funding for one research post (postdoc RA, graduate RA, research nurse or technician) at stage 2. This will usually be one post, but if you’re doing fieldwork or clinical studies in a low- or middle-income country, we’ll consider requests for more research staff.

    We don't provide studentship stipends.

    • 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, including any statutory obligations (eg National Insurance contributions if you’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.

      Find out more about people working on a Wellcome grant.

      We may make a contribution towards the salary of departmental technicians funded by Research England and its equivalents in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. You will need to provide a full audit record of their time on your project.

    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:

    • 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.

    The costs you need will depend on the nature of your research. We expect web lab costs to be around £17,000 a year for each person employed on your grant.

  • animals

    You can ask for funds to buy animals if they are essential to your project. We will also fund the charge-out rates for animal house facilities 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, you can ask for funds to 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 won’t provide estates or depreciation costs.

  • equipment

    Equipment purchase

    You can ask for 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.

    You can ask for larger items of equipment if they're not available at your host organisation.

    If a complete piece of equipment costs £100,000 or more, we expect a contribution of at least 25 per cent from the host organisation or another source.

    In some cases we may expect a larger contribution. We’ll discuss this with you after we’ve assessed your application.

    Contributions can include benefits in kind, such as refurbishment or the underwriting of a key support post.

    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.

  • 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:

    • Fellow – £2,000 a year
    • Research staff employed on your grant – £1,000 each a year.

    You’ll need to specify the amount you’re requesting for each person.

    You can also ask for costs to cover caring responsibilities if you or any staff employed on your grant 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 ask for up to £1,000 per person for each conference.

    Collaborative travel

    We provide travel and subsistence costs for you and any research staff employed on your grant for UK and overseas visits to collaborators, and for collaborators to visit your laboratory. You’ll need to justify each visit and its duration.

    Other travel

    We will 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 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 home laboratory, 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.

  • fieldwork expenses

    We cover fieldwork costs if they’re essential and you can justify them. 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.

    You can ask for other fieldwork costs that aren’t listed here, but you’ll need to justify them.

  • 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 following 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 for non-clinical/basic science PhD studentships 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 clinical trials or research using NHS patients or facilities, we will cover some of the research costs.

    Annex A of the guidelines for attributing the costs of health and social care research and development (AcoRD) sets out the costs we cover, and which costs 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.

    Further information on our clinical trials policy.

  • other costs

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

    • 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
    • formal transferable skills and personal development training, including the International Funders Award
    • purchase, hire and running costs of project-dedicated vehicles.

    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*
    • PhD stipends
    • 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.

• funding for one research post (postdoc RA, graduate RA, research nurse or technician) at stage 2.

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

Fellowships may be held on a part-time basis.

If you’re awarded this fellowship

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.

Each year we award Wellcome-Beit Prizes to our most promising fellows who are starting to lead their own independent research programmes. We provide £25,000 to each fellow, to use in their research.

What we don’t offer

We don’t provide funding for clinical examination or course fees.

We don't fund overheads.

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

Start your application

Stages of application

1. Before you apply

   We encourage you to check that your application is competitive by discussing your project with:

   • your intended supervisor
   • researchers in relevant health-related fields
   • the research office at your host organisation.

   You don't need to contact us before you submit your application.

   Read our FAQs for Clinical Research Careers Development Fellowships [PDF 523KB]

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

   Find out about some of the people and projects we've funded for this scheme.

2. Submit your full application to your host organisation for approval

   Complete the full application form 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 Clinical Research Career Development Fellowships [PDF 316KB]

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

3. Host organisation reviews your application and submits it to us

   Your application must be submitted by 17:00 (GMT/BST) on the deadline day.

4. Scientific review and shortlisting

   The Clinical Interview Committee will review your application. We’ll let you know within two weeks of the committee meeting if you’ve been selected for an interview.

5. External peer review

   We’ll seek written comments from external expert reviewers. If successful, we will invite you for an interview. We'll give you at least two weeks' notice and send you unattributed comments from the external peer review.

6. Funding decision

   Due to Covid-19, we are not holding interviews at the moment. Candidates will be contacted with further details about the decision-making process.

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.

February 2021 round

• Full application deadline (extended by 1 week due to Covid-19)

  5 February 2021, 17:00 GMT (was 28 January)

• Shortlisting

  March 2021

• Funding decision

  Due to Covid-19, we may not be able to hold interviews. Candidates will be contacted with further details.

July 2021 round

This is the final round.

• Full application deadline

  6 July 2021, 17:00 BST

• Shortlisting

  September 2021

• Funding decision

  Due to Covid-19, we may not be able to hold interviews. Candidates will be contacted with further details.

More information

Find out about how we've worked with the funding community to develop principles and obligations setting out what we expect from those responsible for clinical training, trainees and funders across the UK.