Research Fellowships in Humanities and Social Science (Closed)

Who can apply

You can apply for a Research Fellowship if you’re a postdoctoral researcher who wants to carry out an extended period of research on your own project.

You must not have a permanent contract, or a contract that will last longer than this fellowship.

You should also:

• be based (or planning to be based) in the UK, Republic of Ireland or a low- or middle-income country (apart from mainland China)
• have sponsorship from an eligible host organisation.

In most cases, applicants should have been awarded a PhD before they apply.

Who can't apply

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

What we're looking for

We will assess:

• the significance and originality of your proposed research
• the suitability and relevance of your approach to your research topic
• your previous research contributions eg publications, conference papers, public engagement and policy-related work
• the suitability of the host organisation for your research and for developing your independent career.

We consider applications from researchers in the early stages of their careers as well as more established researchers. We’ll consider the suitability of your previous research contributions according to your career stage and experience.

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

Most successful applicants will be pursuing university research careers. But we also encourage researchers who want to follow health-related research careers elsewhere. 

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

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.

Your supervisor and other researchers

Your supervisor and other researchers 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.

Your research office

Contact your research office as early as possible in the application process. The research office at your host organisation should give you advice about how to design your project, including the budget. The research office should also tell you what information your host organisation needs from you to support your proposal.

What's expected of your host organisation

You must have an eligible sponsoring organisation that will administer your fellowship for the full duration of the award.

You should give careful thought to your choice of sponsor and supervisor or mentor; they should have strong track records in research, training and mentorship.

If you have a multi-site or multi-method project, you may need more than one supervisor or mentor. You should make it clear on your application form how you will all work together.

Your sponsor can also be your supervisor or mentor.

Sponsor

Your sponsor 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. The sponsor must:

• be based at an eligible sponsoring organisation that will administer your fellowship for the full duration of the award
• hold an established post.

Supervisor or mentor

Your supervisor or mentor should:

• provide support and advice during the application process and the period of the award
• be committed to helping you achieve your career aspirations.

A Research Fellowship is for up to three years, or you can hold it part-time over a longer period.

An award will not usually be above £275,000. Support includes:

• 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.

  From Year 2 onwards, we will automatically increase your salary, 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 ask for visa and work permit 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

  • staff

    In exceptional circumstances, you can ask for funding for a research assistant or technician to work full-time or part-time on your project. 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.

    • 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:

    • 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 research 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

    You can ask for travel and subsistence costs to cover:

    • any fieldwork you carry out during the grant
    • essential visits to archives and libraries
    • any collaborative visits for you and any staff employed on your grant.

    Conference attendance

    You can ask for a contribution of up to £2,000 a year 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 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.

    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.

  • 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):

    • 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
    • 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
    • charge-out costs for major facilities – departmental technical and administrative services, and use of existing equipment
    • indirect costs – this includes general administration costs such as personnel, finance, library, room hire and some departmental services
    • office furniture, such as chairs, desks, filin 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
    • cleaning, waste and other disposal costs
    • radiation protection costs.

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 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.

What we don’t offer

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

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.

   Find out about the advice you can get from these people in the ‘Eligibility and suitability’ section on this page.

   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.

   Get some tips to help you write a Wellcome grant application and guidance on using Grant Tracker.

2. Submit your preliminary application

   The deadline for submitting your preliminary application for the next round is 5 January 2021. You should only submit an application if you’re also able to meet the full application deadline of 18 March 2021. This is because you won’t be able to defer a full application to 24 August 2021, which is the final full application deadline for this scheme.

   You can view, fill in and submit your application through the Wellcome Trust Grant Tracker.

   View the Sample preliminary application form for Research Fellowships in Humanities and Social Science [PDF 131KB].

   We'll assess your eligibility and competitiveness. If suitable, we'll invite you to submit a full application.

3. 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 Research Fellowships in Humanities and Social Science [PDF 281KB].

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

4. Review and shortlisting

   Full applications are considered by either the Medical Humanities Early Career Expert Review Group or the Social Science and Bioethics Early Career Award Expert Review Group, depending on the area of the proposed research. If your full application is successful at this stage, you'll be invited for interview. 

5. Peer review

   We’ll seek written comments from external expert reviewers – we encourage you to suggest appropriate people. Unattributed comments will be sent to you before your interview.

6. Funding decision

   Due to Covid-19, we are not holding interviews at the moment. Instead, shortlisted candidates will be asked to provide written responses to questions from the Medical Humanities Interview Committee or the Social Science and Bioethics Interview Committee. 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

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

July 2020 round

• Preliminary application deadline

  30 June 2020, 17:00 BST

• Full application deadline

  10 September 2020, 17:00 BST

• Shortlisting

  Nov 2020

• Interviews

  Jan 2021

January 2021 round

• Preliminary application deadline

  5 January 2021, 17:00 GMT

• Full application deadline

  18 March 2021, 17:00 GMT

• Shortlisting

  May 2021

• Interviews

  July 2021

June 2021 round

This is the final round.

• Preliminary application deadline

  16 June 2021, 17:00 BST

• Full application deadline

  24 August 2021, 17:00 BST

• Shortlisting

  November 2021

• Interviews

  January 2022