Mental Health Award: looking backwards, moving forward – understanding how interventions for anxiety, depression, and psychosis work
Wellcome will fund teams of researchers investigating causal mechanisms underpinning effective interventions for anxiety, depression, and/or psychosis.
This call provides funding for teams of researchers working across any discipline of relevance to mental health science. They will investigate the causal mechanisms underpinning effective interventions for anxiety, depression, and/or psychosis, to inform the development of new and improved early interventions.
As part of our new strategic focus on mental health as a key global health challenge, Wellcome aims to develop new and improved early interventions for anxiety, depression and psychosis, in ways that reflect the priorities and needs of people experiencing these conditions. This work involves increasing scientific understanding of how brain, body and environment interact in the development and resolution of these problems.
This call focuses on investigating the causal mechanisms underpinning the active ingredients of effective interventions for anxiety, depression and/or psychosis. By active ingredients, we mean those aspects of an intervention that:
- drive resolution or reduction of symptoms
- are conceptually well defined
- link to specific hypothesised mechanisms of action.
Active ingredients are diverse and wide-ranging, including:
- biological (for example, sleep-wake cycles, reduced inflammation in the body, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors)
- cognitive (for example, emotion regulation, mental imagery, reduced repetitive negative thinking)
- behavioural (for example, behavioural activation, exposure, physical activity)
- relational (for example, peer support, social relationships, working alliance)
- societal (for example, social inclusion, urban access to green space).
Since 2020, Wellcome has been considering different routes to resolution. We commissioned 51 teams to identify and review the evidence for more than 40 active ingredients. Teams were asked to consider ‘what works, for whom, in what contexts, and why’, with a particular focus on youth anxiety and/or depression.
Looking across the reviews, a clear gap emerged: while there is evidence to show that many active ingredients are effective, we know much less about the biological, psychological, and social mechanisms of action underpinning how and why these ingredients work. It also became clear that there is currently not enough research being done across different disciplines and levels of explanation (for example, molecular, cellular, circuits, systems, behaviour, or societal levels) to provide the information we need to identify causal mechanisms. This is crucial because, just as the causes of mental health problems involve a tangle of biological, psychological, and social factors, so too do the solutions. Illuminating the relationship between these different aspects may be key. Without the mechanistic understanding of how and why active ingredients work, it is much more difficult to develop new and improved early interventions and to target them to the right people at the right time. This funding call proposes to address this gap in our understanding.
We strongly recommend applicants read the report summarising the first 30 commissioned reviews, to help them understand what we mean by the concept of active ingredients and the sort of evidence being considered. But please note that the present funding call has a broader scope. While the report focuses on anxiety and depression in 14-24-year-olds, the present funding call also considers psychosis and is not limited to a particular age group, provided the focus is on intervening as early as possible. We are aware this may vary by context, and so age will not be a cut-off in itself. We also acknowledge that research seeking to understand how interventions work in older groups may serve to improve options for early intervention further down the line. In all cases, applicants must justify the relevance of their proposal for improving prospects for prevention or intervention at an early stage.
For more information on Wellcome’s approach to active ingredients, including relevant publications by our team and the researchers we commissioned, please see the ‘Useful documents’ section on this page.
You can apply for this Mental Health Award if you are a team of researchers who propose to investigate the causal mechanisms underpinning the active ingredients of effective mental health interventions. An intervention may be:
- something that an individual can do themselves
- something provided by a healthcare professional
- something provided by communities and wider civil society.
By taking a back (or reverse) translation approach, we will fund projects that start with one (or more) effective active ingredient(s) and work backwards from the evidence to understand why/how the chosen ingredient(s) works. The insights gained through this work will (either directly or in time) inform the development of new and improved early interventions.
This should involve research projects that will advance knowledge in relation to any of the following:
- How a single putative mechanism at one or more levels of explanation (for example, molecular, cellular, systems, or societal levels) plays a causal role in the resolution of problems.
- How different mechanisms (for example, biological, psychological, or social) interact in the resolution of problems.
In addition to addressing the above, projects may also explore, for example:
- how different contexts impact on the efficacy and/or effectiveness of the active ingredient(s) under investigation
- identification and/or validation of markers (whether biological, psychological, social, or mixed) that can predict whether an individual will respond to a specific active ingredient(s).
What are we looking for?
- We are interested in understanding the causal mechanisms underpinning the active ingredients of effective early interventions for anxiety, depression, and/or psychosis.
- We take anxiety, depression, and psychotic disorders as broadly defined categorisations to include all types of anxiety and depressive disorders (including obsessive compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder) and all forms of psychotic disorders (including schizophrenia, postpartum psychosis, and bipolar disorder).
- We recognise that the current diagnostic categories are imperfect but removing all categories or creating new ones also presents difficulties. Therefore, we propose to keep using these as broadly defined constellations of features or symptoms. We take anxiety, depression, and psychosis to refer to constellations of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that have historically been classified as discrete conditions. Active ingredients of particular interventions are in scope if they are aimed either at the level of the diagnostic category, or if they address specific distressing and impairing symptoms, thoughts, feelings, or behaviours broadly defined as part of anxiety, depression, and/or psychosis. Whilst we do not specify any particular diagnostic or classificatory system, we expect applicants to utilise a framework and measurement approach that fits the aim of their study, and to provide a clear rationale for doing so.
- The research question proposed must have sufficient scope and ambition, such that the findings have the potential to transform early intervention options for people with anxiety, depression and/or psychosis (either directly or in time).
- You can choose to investigate one of our previously studied active ingredients or propose a new active ingredient. You must justify your choice.
- You can focus on a single active ingredient or on the interaction between multiple active ingredients, provided the focus of your proposal is on advancing understanding of how and why they work (what are their causal mechanisms, either in isolation or combination).
- The proposed active ingredient(s) must be clearly defined and grounded in evidence, meaning that it must already have been shown to be effective in people with anxiety, depression, and/or psychosis.
- By effective we mean: (i) the active ingredient, or (ii) the intervention of which the active ingredient is hypothesised to be a part, has been shown to cause a significant positive change on a validated measure relevant for anxiety, depression, or psychosis in a defined population. Ideally this should be shown in at least one peer-reviewed (and preferably pre-registered) randomised control trial. The applicant should justify their choice based on the strength of the evidence and discussion of effect size.
- You must suggest a potential mechanism (or mechanisms) of action for your chosen active ingredient(s) and use experimental approaches that will provide causal (rather than correlative) evidence to support/disprove that mechanism.
- Applications must demonstrate the involvement of lived experience expertise in the planning, design, and delivery of the research. We recognise that there are a range of ways that research teams can involve and collaborate with people with lived experience. For example, this may include, but not be limited to, expert advisors, co-applicants, collaborators, or advisory group members. We are open to any methods of involvement that teams choose but expect lived experience experts to be involved in the most appropriate ways to inform multiple aspects and stages of the research project. Key for us is that this is not tokenistic or a tick box exercise.
- For further information on what we mean by ‘people with lived experience’, including guidance for meaningful involvement, see the supplementary material provided.
- You should use the most appropriate methodologies to address your research question. These may include (but is not limited to) experimental, computational modelling, and/or trials approaches, and may involve human and/or model systems (for example animal, cellular) as appropriate.
- Where projects explore active ingredients targeting anxiety and/or depression, teams conducting research projects with human participants must use (as a minimum) one or more of our recommended common measures for anxiety and depression. This means using a version of one or more of the following (preferred version in brackets), where possible:
- For depression, the Patient Health Questionnaire for Depression (PHQ-9)
- For anxiety, the General Anxiety Disorder Assessment for Anxiety (GAD-7)
- For youth anxiety or depression, the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS-25)
- For general health and impairment, The WHO Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0)
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In exceptional circumstances when these measures are not feasible (for example, due to length), we may agree to the use of shorter versions (for example, PHQ-2, GAD-2, RCADS-10). However, the reasoning for this must be clearly justified.
In addition to using the recommended measures, we strongly encourage applicants to supplement these measures with other data collection tools, as appropriate.
Please note that we do not currently have an agreed measure for psychosis, therefore, applicants should use the measure(s) that is most appropriate to address their research question.
- Where projects explore active ingredients targeting anxiety and/or depression, teams conducting research projects with human participants must use (as a minimum) one or more of our recommended common measures for anxiety and depression. This means using a version of one or more of the following (preferred version in brackets), where possible:
What are we not looking for?
The following are out of scope for this Mental Health Award:
- Studies exploring neurodevelopmental conditions, neurodegenerative diseases, or mental health problems outside of anxiety, depression, and/or psychosis (for example eating disorders, substance abuse).
- Universal (population-level) preventative interventions and/or interventions focused on managing chronic mental health problems.
- Suicide, self-harm and reducing stigma are out of scope as broad outcomes in themselves. However, interventions that target suicide/suicidal ideation, self-harm and reducing stigma as a means of reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety or psychosis as primary outcomes would be in scope.
- Projects studying the mechanisms of interventions for which there is no or limited evidence, and by extension proposals to develop and test new interventions.
- ‘Blue-skies’ or curiosity-driven research.
- Research into the effectiveness and/or efficacy of untested active ingredients.
- Projects that do not include the involvement of lived experience experts in the proposed project unless justified.
We are interested in receiving applications from a range of geographies, including low- and middle-income countries.
We also want to see applications from the full breadth of mental health science, and we especially encourage those from diverse and multidisciplinary teams. Our definition of mental health science includes, but is not limited to:
- cellular and molecular sciences
- circuit, systems, and cognitive neurosciences
- psychology
- psychiatry
- pharmacology
- neurology
- disciplines within the humanities, social sciences, and computer sciences (for example, anthropology, sociology, geography, law, political science, economics, informatics)
- lived experience expertise, which is explicitly recognised as central to mental health science.
About you (Lead applicant)
You must:
- have experience directly relevant to the proposed project, as evidenced through research outputs and/or preliminary data (as appropriate for your career stage)
- be able to drive and lead a collaborative, multi-stranded health-based research project (as appropriate for your career stage)
- be able to contribute at least 20% of your research time to this project.
As the lead applicant you will have a PhD (or equivalent) with significant postdoctoral research experience and will already be leading your own independent research programme.
You can only submit one application as ‘lead applicant’ to this call. You can be included as a co-applicant on other applications to Wellcome or hold other Wellcome awards but must demonstrate that you have sufficient capacity for the project if funded. See 'who can’t apply' below for more detail.
You must be based at an eligible host organisation that can sign up to our grant conditions.
It can be a:
- higher education institution
- research institute
- non-academic healthcare organisation
- not-for-profit organisation
- Examples of not-for-profit organisations include universities, research institutions and product development partnerships. Any not-for-profit research organisation based anywhere in the world (apart from mainland China) can apply. These organisations must be able to sign up to Wellcome’s grant conditions.
- company.
- Examples of commercial organisations include spin-outs, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and listed companies. Any commercial organisation based anywhere in the world (apart from mainland China) can apply, provided they can sign up to our funding terms and conditions. You are not eligible for this call if your company is not established and/or doesn't have working capital. Funding to a company may need to occur through a contract to ensure public benefit. Please contact us to discuss further.
At the point of application, you should have a permanent, open-ended, or long-term rolling contract, or the guarantee of one. The contract should not be conditional on receiving this award.
Your salary should be paid by your host organisation for the duration of the award, however if this is a condition of your employment contract, salary may be requested.
If you have less than three years remaining on your contract at the point of application (and your contract will finish before the proposed project end date), you must have secured your next position at an eligible organisation and provide a letter of support from them.
In alignment with Wellcome’s grant conditions, foreground intellectual property (IP) is owned by the lead applicants’ host organisation. In addition, the awardee must commit to publishing the data generated on the active ingredient(s), or otherwise using such data for public (rather than private) benefit. So, if working in collaboration with a company (especially a company owning a specific relevant intervention, compound, or technique), you should discuss and agree these principles with them before applying and you will need to provide us with a copy of your collaboration agreement in due course.
About your co-applicants
Each co-applicant:
- Must have expertise that is essential for the delivery of the project, with their contribution to the project clearly justified.
- Must have the appropriate time and necessary resources available to deliver the project.
- Can be at any career stage and based anywhere in the world (apart from mainland China).
- Must be based at an eligible organisation that can sign up to our grant conditions. The organisation can be a:
- higher education institution
- research institute
- non-academic healthcare organisation
- not-for-profit organisation
- company.
- Does not need to have a permanent, open-ended, or long-term rolling contract. They may be employed on another grant or ask for their salary on this application. However, their employing host organisation must guarantee space and salary support (if they can’t get it from other sources) for the period of time that the co-applicant is working on the grant.
- Can be based in the same or in different organisations, and come from any discipline, but the added value of their contribution to the project must be clear.
You may also want to consider involving people with lived experience of anxiety, depression, and/or psychosis (as appropriate) to be included in the project team, as co-applicants or collaborators. There are other ways of involving people with lived experience, and we would encourage you to review the supplementary material.
Collaborators are distinct from co-applicants in that they will support the delivery of the project (for example, providing technical or knowledge area expertise, access to tools or resources) but are not leading on a specific work-package or research aim of the project.
Your team
Your team should be comprised of all the necessary expertise to support the research project. This must include the necessary expertise to effectively involve and collaborate with people with lived experience of anxiety, depression and/or psychosis in the proposed project.
We encourage lead applicants to put together diverse and multidisciplinary teams.
You will be expected to actively promote a diverse, inclusive, and supportive research environment within your team and across your organisation.
Team size will depend on the proposed research. It will usually range from two to eight applicants, including the lead applicant, but we can be flexible if larger teams are required and justified. Team composition, including who the lead applicant is, cannot change between the preliminary and full application stage, unless this has been agreed with Wellcome in advance.
Time spent away from research
You can apply if you've been away from research (for example, career break, maternity leave, long-term sick leave). We'll take this into consideration when we review your application.
If you have retired, please contact us before applying.
Lead and co-applicants can be part-time. There is no formal minimum, but part-time working needs to be compatible with delivering the project successfully.
What's expected of your host organisation
You must be based at an eligible host organisation that can sign up to our grant conditions.
We expect organisations based in the UK to meet the responsibilities required by the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers for institutions, managers and researchers.
Any organisation with Wellcome funding that is based outside the UK is expected, at a minimum, to follow the principles of the Concordat.
We also expect your host organisation to:
- Guarantee that the space and resources you need have been agreed and will be made available to you from the start date through to the end date of your award.
- Explain how your research fits with the strategic aims of the organisation.
- Give you, and any staff employed on the grant, 10 days a year (pro rata if part-time) to undertake training and continuing professional development (CPD) in line with the Concordat. This should include the responsible conduct of research, research leadership, people management, diversity and inclusion, and the promotion of a healthy research culture.
- Provide a system of onboarding, embedding, and planning for you when you join the organisation and/or start the award.
- Provide you with the status and benefits of other staff of similar seniority.
If your host organisation is a core-funded research organisation (that is, if your organisation receives funding for its core facilities such as communications, governance, senior management salaries, etc.) a Mental Health Award should not replace or lead to your organisation receiving less from the core funds on those activities.
Who can’t apply?
You cannot apply if you intend to carry out activities that involve the transfer of grant funds into mainland China or a country that is the target of international sanctions.
You can only be an applicant on a maximum of two applications to this funding call:
- You can only be lead applicant on one application (but can be a co-applicant on another).
- You must be able to demonstrate that you can dedicate enough time and resources to both projects, if funded.
Other Wellcome awards
- An early-career researcher can be a lead applicant on one Wellcome award and a co-applicant on one other Wellcome award.
- A mid-career researcher can be a lead applicant on one Wellcome award and a co-applicant on two other Wellcome awards.
- An established researcher can be a lead applicant on two Wellcome awards, one as the sole applicant and one as lead applicant for a team, or both as the lead applicant for a team. They can also be a co-applicant on two other Wellcome awards.
The awards should be for different research projects, with no overlap in work packages. The researcher must be able to dedicate the required time to all projects. Information on other open calls from the Mental Health team can be found on the team’s webpage.
For completeness and for applicants’ planning purposes we provide below the full assessment criteria and weightings that will be used at the full application stage. At the preliminary application stage, a simplified rubric will be used. For guidance on how to write your preliminary application, please see the ‘how to apply’ section.
The full assessment criteria is as follows:
- Research question(s) and strength of proposed methodology (40%)
- Suitability and expertise of the team (20%)
- Lived experience involvement (20%)
- Suitability of research location, environment, and culture (20%)
Alongside the individual assessment criteria set out below, we will also consider portfolio-level criteria. This will ensure that we build a diverse portfolio of funded projects, maximising the impact of this Mental Health Award. For example, ensuring we have a breadth of active ingredients and methodological approaches represented.
Research question(s) and strength of proposed methodology (40%)
Potential and impact:
- The proposed research project must lead to insights into the causal mechanisms underpinning the impact of the active ingredient(s) under investigation, which could (either directly or in time) inform the development of new and improved early interventions for anxiety, depression and/or psychosis.
- The research question must have sufficient scope and ambition, such that the findings have the potential to transform early intervention options for people with anxiety, depression and/or psychosis. To elaborate on what this could involve, the research project will advance knowledge in relation to any of the following:
- How a single putative mechanism at one or more levels of explanation (for example, molecular, cellular, systems, or societal levels) plays a causal role in the resolution of problems.
- How different mechanisms (for example, biological, psychological, or social) interact in the resolution of problems.
In addition to addressing the above, projects may also explore, for example:
- How different contexts impact on the efficacy and/or effectiveness of the active ingredient(s) under investigation .
- Identification and/or validation of markers (whether biological, psychological, social, or mixed) that can predict whether an individual will respond to a specific active ingredient(s).
Rationale and strength of evidence:
- The proposed active ingredient(s) is clearly defined and grounded in strong evidence, supporting its effectiveness and/or efficacy and applicability in people with anxiety, depression, and/or psychosis.
- A mechanism of action for the selected active ingredient(s) is clearly hypothesised and supported by evidence (for example, preliminary data, published literature).
Strength of proposed methodology:
- There is a clear project plan that addresses the hypothesis/research question, seeking to gain causal (rather than correlative) insights.
- In projects where a clinical trial/experimental medicine approach is used, the outcomes must primarily inform our understanding of causal mechanisms underpinning the impact of the active ingredient(s).
- The proposed methodological approach is appropriate, well-designed, feasible, and supported by relevant evidence or expertise (for example, the choice of model system is justified, the sample is adequately powered, for human studies a recruitment plan is in place, participant heterogeneity is being harnessed and/or considered in the study design).
- The project is achievable in the timelines proposed.
- The resources requested are appropriate and well justified.
Suitability and expertise of the team (20%)
Lead applicant:
- Has research experience relevant to the project, as evidenced through research outputs and/or preliminary data (as appropriate for their career stage).
- Has the ability (or potential) to drive and lead a collaborative, multi-stranded health-based research project (as appropriate for their career stage).
- Can contribute at least 20% of their research time to this project.
Co-applicants:
- The co-applicants’ expertise is essential for the delivery of the project and their contribution to the project is justified.
- The co-applicants have the appropriate time and necessary resources available to deliver the project.
Team:
- The team has the necessary expertise and technical skills to deliver the proposed research project.
- There is a justified team approach whereby all applicants are necessary to deliver the proposed research, and there is proof of concept that the proposed collaboration would be feasible and fruitful (for example, the team has appropriate management plans in place, describing how the collaboration will be organised and run day-to-day).
- The team has the necessary expertise and skills to effectively involve and collaborate with people with lived experience of anxiety, depression and/or psychosis in the proposed project.
- Applicants have contributed and are committed to fostering a positive and inclusive research culture.
Lived experience involvement (20%)
- People with lived experience of anxiety, depression and/or psychosis (as relevant) are involved in multiple stages of the design, delivery, and dissemination of the project.
- Approaches to involvement (or lack of involvement) at each stage of the project should be explained in detail.
- People with lived experience are appropriately compensated or paid for their time.
- The involvement of people with lived experience is appropriately costed and budgeted.
Suitability of research location, environment, and culture (20%)
Taking into consideration the local context and setting we will review:
Research location and environment
- The research environment is suitable to support and develop the applicants and their proposed research.
- The host organisation is supportive of the research project (for example, it aligns with their strategy, they may provide in-kind or financial support in the form of PhD students, refurbed lab space, administrative/technical support, training opportunities).
- The applicants have access to the necessary research infrastructure.
Research culture
- Detailed description of how the team will contribute to and develop a positive and inclusive research culture. This may (but is not limited to) include:
- Project management plans, including how project priorities and decisions will be determined.
- Equitable plans for collaborating with researchers in low resource settings.
- Plans for how contributions to research outputs will be credited as appropriate.
- Plans for leadership and people management or development, supporting collaborations, research integrity and contributions to the wider research community.
Open research and data management plans
- Detailed description of a suitable outputs management plan (for example, depositing, sharing and storing data, open access publishing).
- Duration of award: projects of any duration up to 8 years.
- Level of funding: projects of any budget up to £5 million.
There is no average award amount for this call. You should ask for the level and duration of funding that is required to address your research question. You must justify all costs within the costs section of your application.
This award includes:
Lead applicant
You usually cannot ask for your salary. However, you can ask for a contribution to your salary if you hold a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract that states that you have to get your salary from external grant funding.
The amount we pay will be proportionate to the time you contribute to the award, for example if you contribute 30% of your time to the award we will fund 30% of your salary.
You will have to contribute at least 20% of your research time to this award.
Your host organisation must confirm:
- that your employment contract states you must get salary recovery from external grant funding
- that they will underwrite the salary and post for the period of time that you will be working on the grant.
Co-applicants
You can ask us for a contribution to their salary in your application.
The amount we pay will be proportionate to the time they contribute to the award, for example if they contribute 30% of their time to the award we will fund 30% of their salary.
They will have to contribute at least 10% of their research time to this programme.
Your host organisation must confirm:
- that the co-applicant’s employment contract states they must get salary recovery from external grant funding
- that they will underwrite the salary and post for the period of time that the person will be working on the grant.
Staff working on your programme
We will cover the salary costs of all staff, full or part-time, who will work on your grant.
Staff members may include:
- research assistants or technicians employed on your grant
- experts with lived experience
- specialist service staff, for example data analysis, fieldwork and clinical studies
- project manager, if you have multiple applicants on your programme
- support if you or a member of staff employed on your grant is disabled or has a long-term health condition – see 'Disability-related adjustment support'.
Teaching buyout
If you’re a humanities and social science researcher, you can ask for funds for research or teaching replacement to cover the cost of a temporary replacement lecturer. You must retain at least a 10% commitment to teaching.
Costs:
- can cover up to 33% FTE of your contracted time
- are usually for a person at a more junior level than the postholder
- can be spread across the full period of the grant.
If you already get buyout costs from another grant (funded by Wellcome or elsewhere), you can ask us for this cost, but only for the period of time on your Mental Health Award when you won't receive buyout costs from another grant.
You must provide a letter from your employing organisation, confirming that your contract includes a teaching commitment. You should include this in your grant application.
PhD fees
We do not provide studentships on this award. But if applicants employ a research assistant on the grant, they can ask for the costs to cover their PhD fees. Each applicant can ask for PhD fees for one research assistant at a time on the grant.
We will only pay the international student fee rate for low- and middle-income nationals who are registered to study for a PhD in a high-income country. In all other situations, we will pay home student fees.
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 (for example, 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. If the pay award is not yet known, applicants should use the International Monetary Fund inflation rate, selecting the ‘inflation, average consumer price’ option as an indicator.
From Year 2 onwards, you should use your organisation’s current pay rates. We’ll provide a separate inflation allowance for salary inflation costs.
Read about the responsibilities of grantholders and host organisations for people working on a Wellcome grant.
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
- where applicable, Immigration Health Surcharge costs for the person, their partner and dependent children if they will be in the UK for six months or more.
If you or a member of staff working on your grant is disabled or has a long-term health condition, you can ask for adjustment support to help you carry out your project.
Costs can include, but are not limited to:
- additional costs for staff to help with day-to-day activities related to your project
- assistive technology to help use computers, research equipment or materials – for example, text to audio software
- care costs for assistance animals if you need to travel.
We will not pay for capital or building costs, such as access ramps.
You can ask for these costs if your government and/or employer:
- does not cover any of the costs
- only covers some of the costs (if they do, we will only meet the shortfall).
The costs we provide must not replace the support you may get from the government or your organisation, who are responsible for providing these costs.
If you don't know what these costs are now, you can ask for them after we've awarded your grant.
You can ask for these costs if you are applying from a university, a not-for-profit organisation or a small company.
You can ask for costs to cover the following types of training.
Continuing professional development and professional skills training
You can ask for a contribution towards these costs.
Types of training can include:
- research leadership, professional and people management skills
- career development support
- responsible conduct of research
- diversity and inclusion
- promotion of a healthy research culture.
We expect your host organisation to provide and fund this training. However, if these types of training are not available, or the quality is inadequate, you can ask for up to £500 a year for you and each member of staff employed on your grant who will be:
- in post for 12 months or more, and
- working on the grant for at least 50% of their time.
You will need to justify these costs in your application.
Research skills training
You can ask for costs to cover training for the technical and research skills you need to deliver your proposed research.
You can ask for whatever research skills training you need for you, and each member of staff employed on your grant, who will be:
- in post for 12 months or more, and
- working on the grant for at least 50% of their time.
You will need to justify these costs in your application.
We will pay for the materials and consumables you need to carry out your project, including:
- laboratory chemicals and materials (for example reagents, isotopes, peptides, enzymes, antibodies, gases, proteins, cell/tissue/bacterial culture, plasticware and glassware)
- project-specific personal protective equipment (PPE) that is above the standard expected for the setting
- printing associated with fieldwork and empirical research
- associated charges for shipping, delivery and freight.
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 does not 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, for example, contributions towards the salaries of animal house technicians.
We will not provide estates or depreciation costs.
Equipment purchase
You can ask for basic items of equipment that are essential to your 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 also ask for specialised equipment if:
- it is essential to the success of the proposed research project
- it is not available at your host organisation or through collaboration, and
- you’ll be the main user and have priority access to the equipment.
If a complete piece of specialised equipment costs £100,000 or more, we expect a contribution of at least 25% of the total costs, including maintenance, 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.
Multi-component items must not be broken down into component parts to avoid this contribution.
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
- cost effective and environmentally sustainable 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.
You can ask for the cost of access to shared equipment, facilities or services if they’re essential to your 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, for example, contributions towards departmental technical, administrative and management staff time.
We do cover these costs if related to animal housing facilities.
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.
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.
You can ask for these costs if you are applying from a university, a not-for-profit organisation or a small company.
Travel costs
Conference attendance
You can ask for a contribution towards the costs of attending scientific and academic meetings and conferences, including registration fees and the costs to offset the carbon emissions of your travel. The limits are:
- Lead applicant – £2,000 a year
- Co-applicants on your grant – £2,000 each a year
- Staff employed on your grant – £1,000 each a year.
We provide costs to cover caring responsibilities for any staff employed on your grant attend a conference. This includes childcare and any other caring responsibility they have. We will pay these if:
- Wellcome is providing the salary
- the conference is directly related to the research
- the caring costs are over and above what they would normally pay for care
- the conference organiser and their employing organisation are unable to cover the costs.
You can ask for up to £1,000 per person for each conference.
Collaborative travel
You can ask for travel and subsistence costs for collaborative visits for you and any staff employed on your grant. You’ll need to justify each visit and its duration.
Other travel
We will pay for other essential visits, for example to facilities, libraries, archives, sample collection and for fieldwork. You can include subsistence costs.
Carbon offset costs
This 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 (for example, 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.
You can ask for these costs if you are applying from a university, a not-for-profit organisation or a small company. You can only ask for these costs if you or any staff employed on your grant will be spending time in another country as part of this project.
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. If carbon offsetting for travel is not part of your organisational sustainability strategy, you can ask us for a similar level of support for other sustainability initiatives. Your organisation must get our approval for other sustainability initiatives to be included in applications.
See our carbon offset policy for travel for information on what you and your organisation need to do.
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, such as 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.
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.
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.
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.
We will pay the costs of visas, vaccinations and anti-malaria treatment.
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.
If you’re away for up to one month you can ask for subsistence costs. These include accommodation, meals and incidentals (for example, 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 us.
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.
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.
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
- 73-84 months – 6 annual leave trips
- 85-96 months – 7 annual leave trips.
All fares should be:
- in line with our carbon offset policy
- booked in advance where possible.
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.
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.
If you are applying from a university 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% |
| 85-96 | 7.2% |
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.
If your organisation receives open access block grant funding, you can ask them to cover your open access article processing charges.
If you're at an organisation that does not receive block grant funding, we’ll supplement your grant when your paper has been accepted for publication.
You cannot ask for these charges in your grant application.
If you need to carry out clinical 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 and Social Care 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.
Read more information on our clinical trials policy.
If your proposal involves clinical research using NHS resources, check if you need to upload a SoECAT form with your full application.
You can ask for costs that are essential to the project. These can include:
- materials, including printing and publishing
- other costs relating to engagement activities that are essential to carry out your research, such as collaborating with persons with lived experience, patient involvement (including under-served groups) and community engagement
- dissemination of research results and findings arising from Wellcome funded research and workshops.
We will provide funds if you need to outsource project work to:
- contract research organisations
- other fee-for-service providers.
Allowed costs
You may ask for the following costs (you will have to justify them 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, including for lived experience experts
- expenses for subjects and volunteers – includes recruitment of participants, their participatory fees and travel, as well as interviewee expenses
- reasonable research-associated costs related to the feedback of health-related findings but not any healthcare-associated costs
- costs associated with developing an outputs management plan
- questionnaires, recruitment material, newsletters etc for clinical, epidemiological and qualitative research studies
- public engagement materials where dissemination (including printing and publishing) is a key activity of the project
- recruitment, advertising and interviewee travel costs for staff to be employed on the grant
- purchase, hire and running costs of project-dedicated vehicles
- project-specific personal protective equipment (PPE) that is above the standard expected for the setting
- costs to host/a contribution towards the cost of hosting:
- a conference
- a session within a conference
- a symposium
- a seminar series
- advisory board meetings, if appropriate. The meeting should either be:
- for research purposes, for example data gathering
- to disseminate your research findings, for example to policy makers. Costs can include:
- travel and accommodation for keynote speakers
- external room hire and catering
- event publicity and conference materials
- childcare and other caring responsibility costs for delegates
- any costs related to accessibility and inclusion.
Disallowed costs
We will not pay for:
- 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 and filing cabinets
- clothing such as lab coats and shoes
- non-research related activities such as 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
- contingency funds
- organisation insurance
- clinical examination or course fees
- working capital costs of commercial organisations.
What we don’t offer
See 'Other costs' for the costs we will and will not provide.
1. Before you apply
- Make sure you read everything on this page, including the preliminary application guidance in the dropdown below and the material linked in the 'Useful documents' section.
Writing your preliminary application
Under ‘Details of proposal’ section
In this section, you should set out how the proposed research fits the specification for this funding call.
This should include your scientific proposal, details of the research, and your plans to involve lived experience experts in your research. All points listed below must be addressed for your application to be considered eligible. We provide guidance on approximate word count per section. Provide all relevant information within the application form; do not refer to additional unpublished information on personal websites.
Please use the following headings within the ‘Details of proposal’ section:
Research question(s) and proposed methodology (800 words max.)
Describe the aims and objectives of your proposal and the research approaches you will take to achieve them. As part of this outline please:
- Justify your choice of active ingredient(s), including an overview of the evidence supporting its effectiveness and/or efficacy and its applicability to people with anxiety, depression, and/or psychosis (as appropriate).
- Provide a rationale for the proposed mechanism(s) of action you are looking to explore, including a brief overview of supporting evidence.
- Describe how the outcomes from this proposal could potentially transform early intervention options for people with anxiety, depression, and/or psychosis (as appropriate).
- Describe your proposed methodological approach.
- Describe your aims and key deliverables, including a high-level project plan (this could include a Gantt chart/timetable of milestones, as appropriate).
Lived experience involvement (200 words max.)
- Explain how you will approach including people with lived experience in your project, who you are planning to involve, and what you think the added value of doing this is.
- Describe how people with lived experience will be meaningfully involved throughout the project (for example, during project design, data collection, analysis, and dissemination). If people with lived experience are excluded at any stage of the project, please briefly justify why.
You may provide your answer in text entry format or as a PDF attachment. If you are uploading your answer, the uploaded document must be in 11-point Arial font and portrait format. References are not required in this section, but you may provide them. Citations embedded in the text will count towards your word limit (note a list of references at the end will not count towards the word limit but please keep this as brief as possible). Only include figures/tables that are directly relevant to your proposed research (for example, one figure of preliminary data, Gantt chart of project plan). These will not count towards the word count but if you want to include them you will need to upload your answer rather than using the text box.
Under ‘Additional information in support of your application’ section
Please upload this information separately, using the template for additional information.
Please use the following headings and guidance to complete this additional information.
Under ‘Additional information about the lead applicant’ section
Please list the top 10 research outputs that you have contributed to and that are of relevance to this proposal.
- By research output, we mean any output from a research project that you were involved in, which could include (but is not limited to) a peer-reviewed primary research publication, preprint, dataset, code, software, commercial or interventional product or tool, clinical practice development, policy publication or patent.
Please address the following questions (800 words max. in total):
- How have you contributed to the generation of knowledge?
- Describe how you have contributed to the generation of new ideas, tools, or techniques, drawing on the 10 research outputs listed above.
- Describe why these outputs are relevant to this research proposal, what difference they made, and your contribution to each.
- How have you managed a collaborative research project?
- This may include, for example, how you shaped the direction of a team, organisation, company, or institution (i.e., strategic leadership) and how you were involved in establishing and/or managing research collaborations.
- How have you contributed to the development of others?
- This may include, for example, mentoring and supervising students and colleagues, or mentoring others in your field.
- What has been your approach to collaborating with people with lived experience and how will you continue to develop your practice?
- This may include, for example, working in a team alongside a lived experience expert; recruiting a diverse range of lived experience experts to work as collaborators on a research project; co-producing outputs with lived experience experts such as research proposals and publications; organising workshops to facilitate lived experience involvement in research design, governance, and dissemination; and supporting the professional development of lived experience experts within a team.
Please confirm how much of your research time you can dedicate to this project.
Career breaks: have you taken a break from research or have had any periods of part-time work? (100 words max.)
- We take breaks from research into account when we consider your track record, so please state when and for what period you took a break or were working part-time. We are not asking for the reasons for this break so please do not provide these here, including sharing any sensitive personal health information.
- Career breaks could include (but are not limited to) periods of parental or long-term sick leave, or if you have had caring responsibilities. You can also include any periods where you were unable to work because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under ‘Additional information about research location, environment, and culture’ section
Please address the following points (200 words max.):
- Explain your choice of research location(s).
- Describe how the team will contribute to/develop a positive and inclusive research culture during this project.
Under ‘Outputs management plan’ section
Please address the following questions:
- How do you propose to use the data sets (and any arising intellectual property) generated by studying the chosen active ingredient(s), to deliver public benefit? (100 words max.)
- Do any co-applicants or collaborators have proprietary rights to the active ingredient(s) which will be the focus of your research? (Yes/No)
- If a co-applicant or collaborator has proprietary rights to the active ingredient(s) which will be the focus of your research, or if the owners of the active ingredient(s) will be asked to supply (or donate) them to your project, have they expressly agreed to your proposed approach above on handling data? (Yes/No/Not applicable)
Under ‘Other participants’ section
‘Other participants’ refers to any individual who will be making a significant contribution to the proposed research project. Use this section to provide information on your co-applicants, collaborators (if you have any, otherwise just enter N/A), and on the suitability and expertise of your team. Please include information on:
Co-applicants
For each co-applicant (150 words max. per co-applicant):
- List the name of the co-applicant and their host organisation.
- Describe the role that each co-applicant will have in this project and the relevant experience they bring to this proposal.
- Describe their contributions to fostering a positive and inclusive research culture and/or their experience collaborating with people with lived experience.
- Confirm how much time each co-applicant can dedicate to the project.
Collaborators
For any additional collaborators required to deliver the project (200 words max. for all collaborators):
- List their name and host organisation
- Provide a very brief description of their role.
Collaborators may include individuals that support the delivery of the project (for instance by providing technical or knowledge area expertise, access to tools or resources) but are not leading on a specific work-package/research aim.
Suitability and expertise of the team (200 words max.)
- Explain why you need a collaborative approach to deliver the project.
- Describe how the proposed collaboration will be managed.
- If you were unable to attend our webinar on Thursday 31 March 2022, where we introduced this call and answered questions put forward by the attendees, please consider watching the recording of the webinar, which is linked in the ‘Useful documents’ section on this page.
- Get some tips to help you write your grant application.
- You do not need to contact us before you write and submit your application. However, if you do have questions, please do contact us.
2. Submit your preliminary application
- Complete your preliminary application on Grant Tracker. If you have not previously applied for funding using this online system, then please register as soon as possible. As part of your submission, please remember to upload your completed additional information, using the template provided.
- Get some guidance on using Grant Tracker.
- View the sample preliminary application form.
- Your application must be submitted by 17:00 BST on Tuesday 24 May 2022.
- We will not be limiting application numbers by institution, meaning that any given institution can submit as many preliminary applications as they would like.
3. Shortlisting
- At the shortlisting stage, a committee comprised of subject matter experts and lived experience advisors will review your preliminary application.
- If shortlisted, we will contact you the week commencing 27 June 2022 and invite you to submit a full application.
- Specific feedback on applications will be provided to all shortlisted applicants in early July. No feedback will be offered if your preliminary application is not shortlisted, due to the quantity of applications that we expect to receive.
4. If invited to submit a full application, submit your application to your host organisation for approval
- Complete your full application on Grant Tracker.
- Get some guidance on using Grant Tracker.
- View the sample full application form.
- Submit your application 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.
5. Host organisation reviews your application and submits it to Wellcome
- Your application must be submitted by 17:00 BST on Tuesday 13 September 2022.
6. Written expert review
- We'll seek external written expert review on invited full applications. Only the proposed research and lived experience involvement will be reviewed.
- Reviewers will be chosen based on their expertise within the relevant research field and not on their level of seniority.
- Unattributed comments will be sent to you before your interview.
7. Interviews
- A committee will interview shortlisted candidates at the Wellcome offices in London or online. Accessibility requirements will be accommodated. Those who cannot attend in person can participate remotely.
- We will provide information on the structure of the interview, layout of the room, and interview committee membership closer to the time of the interview.
- The focus of the interview will be on questions and answers. The committee will assess across a set of criteria rather than one specific aspect of the proposal. They will consider your proposal, expert peer review comments and interview responses, and will make funding recommendations to Wellcome.
- The ‘Looking Backwards, Moving Forward’ Mental Health Committee will be comprised of a diverse range of international experts and lived experience advisors, taking into consideration Wellcome’s diversity and inclusion priorities. We will publish committee membership details in the autumn.
8. Funding decision
- Final funding decisions will be made by Wellcome’s Mental Health Team.
- You will receive an email notification of the funding decision soon after the decision has been made.
9. Feedback
- Written feedback will be provided to all applicants who submitted a full application but were unsuccessful at the final decision stage.
- Due to demand, we are unable to provide personalised feedback on unsuccessful preliminary applications.
Details of how we will handle any personal or confidential information contained in your application are available in our Grants Privacy and Confidentiality Statement.
Disabled applicants
If you are disabled or have a long-term health condition, we can support you with the application process.
You must submit your application by 17:00 BST on the deadline day. We don’t accept late applications.
If you have a question about how to complete the application form using Wellcome Grant Tracker, please contact our Grant Information Advisers:
If you have a question about eligibility, what we offer, or our funding remit more generally, please contact the mental health team at mentalhealth@wellcome.org and include the title of the call ‘Looking Backwards, Moving Forward’ in the subject line.
We do not answer specific questions on the scope or competitiveness of proposals.
Up to £5 million
- You should ask for the resources that you need and are appropriate for your proposed research project, justifying these costs in your full application. See the 'What we offer' section on this page.
Up to 8 years but can be much shorter