Advancing climate mitigation policy solutions with health co-benefits in G7 countries
This award will fund collaborations between researchers and policy actors who have a clear opportunity to influence climate mitigation policies with substantial health effects. Successful applicants will generate evidence that will support policymakers in G7 countries to advance transformative health-centred changes in the food systems, transport, energy or housing sectors.
This call is focused on G7 countries as a group of states with high levels of historical emissions and large economies.
About you
You can apply to this scheme if you are a transdisciplinary research team that:
-
is from climate, health and relevant disciplines (for example: social sciences, economics, food, transport, energy or housing sectors) with the necessary skills to evaluate the effects that mitigation policy interventions to reduce emissions have on health and associated wider socioeconomic outcomes
-
is led or co-led by an applicant that is hosted at an institution based in the G7 country where there is an identified policy opportunity. Note that if the proposal has a co-lead, this should be stated in the narrative part of the proposal but only one institution will receive the funds for onward distribution
-
involve relevant co-applicants or collaborating partners that are central to the policy’s adoption or implementation in a process of co-production across all stages of the research project. By policy or implementation partner, we mean those who can influence policy. This includes but is not limited to policymakers from national or local government, NGOs, advocates, affected communities or the wider public, and industry
-
promote a diverse, inclusive and supportive research environment.
Read an explanation of transdisciplinary research on sciencedirect.com.
Career stage and experience
Lead applicant
At the point you submit your application, you must:
-
be a leader in your field who can demonstrate you can drive and lead a collaborative research programme; and that you have a permanent, open-ended, or long-term rolling contract for the duration of the award
-
have experience of leading large-scale projects
-
be able to contribute at least 20% of your research time to this project
-
be based at an eligible host organisation that can sign up to our grant conditions.
Coapplicants
It would be desirable for teams to include in-country policy or implementation partners. These partners can either be involved as co-applicants who as core members of the team and can contribute at least 10% of their time or collaborators who are essential to the delivery of the project (there is no minimum time-commitment for collaborators).
At the point of submitting the application, coapplicants:
-
Must be able to contribute at least 10% of their time to this project
-
Must be actively involved in delivering the proposed project and provide added value to the team, for example designing the research, writing the application, providing training, knowledge brokering or managing the programme
-
Must be based at an eligible organisation that can sign up to our grant conditions
- Do 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 coapplicant is working on the grant
-
Can be at any career stage.
Researchers can only be listed as Lead Applicant on one open application for this call. Lead applicants can be included as a coapplicant on one other application, but they must be able to demonstrate that they have sufficient capacity for both projects if funded. Coapplicants can be listed on a maximum of two applications.
Time spent away from research and part-time working
You can apply if you've been away from research (for example a career break, maternity leave, or long-term sick leave). We'll allow for this when we consider your application.
Lead and co-applicants can be part-time. There is no formal minimum, but part-time working needs to be compatible with delivering the proposal successfully.
The skills and experiences of your team
Your team or consortia should be able to demonstrate:
-
A strong track record of research in climate change mitigation and health, including experience of using research to influence policy
-
A strong track record of working in collaboration with and co-designing research projects with policy or implementation partners
-
Inclusion of relevant in-country policy or implementation partners who work on the food systems, transport, energy and/or housing policies that are the focus of the proposal.
Host organisation
Your host organisation can be a:
-
Higher education institution
-
Research institute
-
Non-academic healthcare organisation
-
Not-for-profit organisation
About your proposal
This funding call will support research proposals that:
-
Support policies with the potential to lead to transformational advances towards health-centred, net zero-aligned mitigation solutions in the food systems, transport, energy or housing sectors at the national or subnational level in G7 countries.
-
Generate actionable evidence on the measured or modelled health effects and wider socioeconomic outcomes of climate mitigation solutions.
-
Ensure the evidence generated is linked to an existing or anticipated policy opportunity with the potential for transformational change. The nature of the transformation will depend on the policy opportunity. As a minimum, transformational changes will reduce emissions and promote positive health effects at scale. Other examples of the changes they could support include divergence from the status quo, reorientation of incentives, redistribution of power and/or a just transition.
-
Provide evidence of sufficient demand for the proposed research from policy or implementation.
-
Undertake integrated analyses of one or more of the following sectors: food systems, transport, energy or housing.
-
Adopt best practice approaches in their design.
What is in and out of scope
In scope research:
-
Studies that include researchers from a broad range of disciplines to measure or model the health and related socio-economic outcomes of national or sub-national public sector climate mitigation policy lever(s). For example: a strategy, action plan or large-scale intervention(s) that can lead to transformational change.
-
Studies for which there is evidence of a clear demand from policy actors (government, NGOs, advocates, affected communities, industry) and that are linked to an opportunity to influence a national or sub-national policy that is being planned or implemented within the duration of the study.
-
Studies that are co-created with research users from policy and/or practice to prioritise generating evidence that is relevant, accessible, and useful to policymakers.
-
Studies of mitigation solutions that focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
-
Health effects and trade offs of mitigation solutions in the sectors that account for the majority of global emissions: food systems transport, energy and housing.
-
Institutions that focus on the health effects of mitigation solutions to address emissions in the priority sectors above are in-scope. For example, hospital or school energy policies.
-
Studies that respond to the urgency for mitigation action, for example, through their potential to advance transformative (rather than incremental) change, be scalable, support reductions in short-lived pollutants, and achieve tangible outcomes on the pathway to transformative change in the next 3 years.
-
The primary focus of policy influence for studies must be a G7 country. However, studies where the evidence has an extra opportunity to influence a related policy, such as in the EU, will also be in scope.
The transdisciplinary research programmes funded by this call may include studies that assess or model health impacts of anticipated mitigation policies or take the form of action-oriented or living-lab studies to assess and advance the implementation of existing mitigation policies to enhance effects on health. We are particularly interested in studies that develop and advance innovative methodologies such as co-design of interventions or participatory approaches.
We expect proposals to answer a number of research questions and include activities to support policy engagement and research uptake. Examples of research questions and activities could include, but are not limited to:
-
Studies that generate new data on the positive and/or negative effects on health of climate change mitigation actions.
-
Research to assess which policy interventions or levers are effective in advancing health and economic outcomes and other social dimensions such as affordability, accessibility, equitability, and inclusion.
-
Studies to explore the nature of transformational, systems-wide change - particularly those that explore the relationship between transformational change and policy uptake.
-
Qualitative research approaches, for example, behaviour change, framing or narrative-focused research to increase support for health-centred mitigation policy interventions.
-
Political economy or policy studies to understand how barriers and obstacles to advancing health-centred mitigation policies, including those from opposing interests, can be overcome.
-
The development of decision-support tools to help policymakers decide on which policy solutions to adopt may be included as part of proposals but may not be the sole focus of a proposal.
Out of scope research:
-
Systematic reviews, evidence syntheses and studies focused solely on the development of methods, models, tools or guidance.
-
Studies that are not linked to a particular ‘live’ policy opportunity or demand from policy or implementation partners.
-
Studies that do not integrate research users from policy or implementation.
-
Studies of mitigation solutions that address greenhouse gas emissions through carbon sinks (for example, nature-based solutions).
-
Mitigation solutions that do not reduce emissions in one of the priority sectors of food systems, transport, energy, or housing.
-
Studies of interventions that do not address urgency and scale and are unlikely to lead to transformative change.
-
Studies outside of G7 countries. We expect to issue a research call on mitigation solutions in low- and middle-income economies during 2023.
Outcomes we expect you to evaluate
Health outcomes
-
Changes in intermediate health-related risk factors. For example: diet, physical activity, air quality
-
Changes in health conditions. For example: birthweight, cognitive and lung development in children, non-communicable diseases, for example: obesity, heart disease, diabetes
Climate outcomes
-
Changes in greenhouse gas emissions
Wider socio-economic outcomes
-
Associated wider outcomes including socio-economic outcomes. For example: equity and social distribution, productivity, economic costs, healthcare costs, and unintended consequences
We are particularly interested in analyses that explore new ways of looking at the issue, for example: by focusing on outcomes in children or other under-explored groups.
Note the above examples are illustrative only and you may wish to include others that are not listed here.
Approach to co-production
Wellcome expects research supported by this funding opportunity to be designed and planned with policy actors in order to be responsive to needs and increase the likelihood of policy influence and research uptake. The policy actors can either be involved as co-applicants who are core members of the research team and commit a minimum of 10% of their time (see criteria for co-applicants above), or collaborators that are essential to the delivery of the project (there is no minimum time-commitment for collaborators). The transdisciplinary partnerships should be underpinned by equitable partnership principles. Learn more about equitable partnership principles from the UK Collaborative on Development Research (UKCDR).
Criteria by which applications will be reviewed:
For this call, we are trialling a set of criteria that are an adaptation of those developed by the Canadian Government’s New Frontiers in Research Fund.
Methods, transdisciplinary approach and co-production (30%)
-
The proposal must adopt appropriate methods to answer the research questions.
-
The proposed research must present a transdisciplinary approach, incorporating different disciplinary approaches to bring a new perspective to the policy challenge in question.
-
The approach should involve effective co-production with policy or implementation partners.
-
Proposals must explain how the disciplinary and policy perspectives, methodologies and techniques will be integrated, and must demonstrate that the team has the required expertise to execute the approach.
-
The proposal must outline plans to take into consideration the policy context and implementation considerations. For example:
-
barriers and opportunities to the adoption or implementation of the policy,
-
which actors will stand to lose or gain from the intervention,
-
how barriers might be overcome,
-
the intervention’s acceptability, adoption, scalability, affordability and feasibility.
-
Equity, diversity and inclusion and the research environment (10%)
Applicants must clearly demonstrate their commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), and professional development in their research teams, including among students, postdoctoral fellows, co-PIs, co-applicants and/or policy collaborators, as applicable. Teams should also consider diversity as it applies to career stages, sectors, institutions, regions and countries. They must explain what actions they will take, the outcomes expected, and the assessment planned for each of the following three key areas:
-
team composition and recruitment processes;
-
training and development opportunities for both researchers and policy collaborators;
-
and inclusion.
Actions taken are expected to remove barriers and provide opportunities for the meaningful integration of individuals from all groups (including women, members of minorities and disabled people).
An application must not include any personal information about members of the research team in the EDI section; the focus is on the team’s commitment to EDI, not its EDI profile.
Novelty of approach (20%)
Proposals must explain:
-
how the proposal responds to a clear opportunity to influence climate mitigation and health policy in a G7 country,
-
how the project is novel, as it relates to the latest methods, concepts, information and techniques; and
-
why the approach is expected to lead to transformational change in health-centred mitigation policy in the food systems, transport, energy or housing sectors (a theoretical or conceptual research framework should be included).
Anticipated impact (20%)
Funded proposals must have the potential to create a significant and real change or impact in the food systems, transport, energy or housing sectors. Applications must explain the anticipated change or impact that is likely to result and its significance for climate mitigation and health (See additional information form). Proposals must also outline the major short-, medium- and long-term changes that are expected, the likelihood of their achievement, and who (or what) will be affected by the changes. Transformational change can be defined by elements such as, but not limited to:
-
having a health and climate impact, plus an economic, social, cultural, and/or technological impact at scale;
-
impacting and/or affecting large communities, or unique communities or subpopulations with the potential to provide lessons for other contexts;
-
significantly advancing food systems, transport, energy or housing system mitigation policies in ways that advance health objectives.
Feasibility – capacity to execute the project (20%)
Feasibility considers the plan and the ability to execute the activities while promoting a positive and inclusive research culture. It includes elements such as:
-
the research challenge and policy opportunity being addressed;
-
knowledge, expertise and capacity of the team;
-
workplan and timeline;
-
your plan for how you will ensure the research has policy and/or practice impact through engagement with policy actors end users, including why it is an appropriate approach;
-
the proposed approach, including Equity Diversity and Inclusion considerations in research design where appropriate;
-
the project’s partnership management and governance plan illustrating the structures and processes to facilitate equitable participation, co-production and open and active communication;
-
environmental suitability of the research environment; and
-
management plans which include how project priorities and decisions will be determined.
The maximum word count for full applications is 3,000 words.
Who can’t apply?
You cannot apply if you intend to carry out activities that involve the transfer of grant funds into mainland China.
Restrictions if you are applying for/hold other Wellcome awards
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 coapplicant 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 coapplicant on one other Wellcome award.
- A mid-career researcher can be a lead applicant on one Wellcome award and a coapplicant 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 coapplicant on two other Wellcome awards.
What’s expected of the host organisation?
You must be based at an eligible organisation that can sign up to our grant conditions and grant funding policies.
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:
-
Give you, and any staff employed on the grant, at least 10 days a year (pro rata if part-time) to undertake training and continuing professional development 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 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, this Award should not replace or lead to a reduction in existing or planned core support.
The Mitigation Solutions funding call provides up to a maximum of £2m per award to cover research expenses, costs of small-scale pilot interventions, costs associated with capacity strengthening, co-production and research uptake activities.
The award lasts for up to 3 years but may be shorter at the applicant’s discretion.
You should ask for a level and duration of funding that is justifiable for your proposed research. You must justify all costs within the costs section of your application.
The award includes:
-
Allowed costs
-
You should be able to request salary recovery if this is a condition of your employment contract (your host organisation must guarantee space and resources)
-
Activities in your capacity strengthening plan
-
Funding to enable co-production in-terms of active participation and contributions of collaborators including policymakers and implementing partners e.g. payment of salaries or time, translation activities
-
If you do not have a permanent post, we will provide your salary.
If you have a permanent post, you can only ask for your salary if you are based in a low- or middle-income country and you hold a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract that states that you have to get your salary from external grant funding.
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.
- We will fund the total cost of your salary for the entire period of the grant.
- You can only receive one salary.
Your salary should be based on the pay scales of the host organisation that will be employing you. It should include:
- your 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
- any incremental progression up the salary scale
- locally recognised allowances such as London allowance.
You should not include:
- any potential promotion costs
- any Wellcome fellowship supplement that was part of a previous grant.
- If your host organisation is in a low- or middle-income country and you will be working in a high-income country for four weeks or more, you should be paid at an appropriate rate for that country, according to your age and experience.
You should only 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 of 2.0%.
From Year 2 onwards, we will automatically increase your salary, based on our current inflation allowance rates.
If you are a clinical academic, your salary should be appropriate to your clinical status and within the salary scale for academic and senior clinical lecturers.
If you're paid on a non-clinical salary scale, your basic salary should be in line with academics of a similar seniority.
Read about the responsibilities of grantholders and host organisations for people working on a Wellcome grant.
Research/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 Career Development 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.
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.
If you have to move to take up the post at your host organisation, you can ask for up to £1,000. This is to cover personal removal costs only.
Lead applicant
If you are based in the UK or Republic of Ireland, you cannot ask for your salary.
If you are based in a low- or middle-income country, 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.
Coapplicants
If any coapplicant employed on your grant holds a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract that states that they have to get their salary from external grant funding, 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 20% of their research time to this programme.
Your host organisation must confirm:
that the coapplicant’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
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 Discovery 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. 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.
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
- 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 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 a post of 12 months duration or more only and
- working on Wellcome-funded awards for at least 50% full-time equivalent.
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 a post of 12 months duration or more only and
- working on Wellcome-funded awards for at least 50% full-time equivalent.
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 per cent from the host organisation or another source. In some cases, we may expect a larger contribution. We’ll discuss this with you after we’ve assessed your application. Contributions can include benefits in kind, such as refurbishment or the underwriting of a key support post.
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
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
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.
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.
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:
- Grantholder – £2,000 a year
- Staff employed on your grant – £1,000 each a year
We provide 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. 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'd normally pay for care
- the conference organiser and their employing organisation are unable to cover the costs.
You can ask for up to £1,000 per person for each conference.
Collaborative travel
You can ask for travel and subsistence costs for collaborative visits for you and any staff employed on your grant. You’ll need to justify each visit and its duration.
Other travel
We will pay for other essential visits, for example to facilities, for sample collection and for fieldwork. You can include subsistence costs.
- Carbon offset costs
This applies to all types of travel costs Wellcome provides.
You can ask for:
- essential travel costs, even if the low carbon option is 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 generated by the essential travel. 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 before submitting an application.
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.
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. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
You can ask for costs associated with proposed outputs managements and sharing plans, including reports and dissemination. This could include language translations.
What we don’t offer
-
See ‘Other costs’ for costs we will and will not provide
1. Before you apply
- Make sure you read everything on this page and watch this webinar
- Get some tips to help you write your grant application
- You do not need to contact us before you write and submit your application
2. Submit your full application to the host organisation
- Complete your application form on grant tracker
- View the sample
- 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
- Get some guidance on using Grant Tracker
3. Host organisation reviews your full application and submits to Wellcome
- Your application must be submitted by 5pm GMT on 31 October 2022
4. Panel
-
A panel will be chosen based on their expertise within the relevant research field and will assess the proposals
-
The panel will review proposals and make funding recommendations to Wellcome
-
Unattributed comments will be sent to you after the final funding decisions are made
-
Committee membership will be comprised of a diverse range of international members and will take into account Wellcome’s diversity and inclusion priorities
5. Funding Decision
- You will receive an email notification of the funding decision soon after the decision has been made
6. Feedback
- We will provide written feedback to all applicants who are shortlisted but are unsuccessful at the final decision stage
Log in to our online grants system (Grant Tracker). You can save your application and return to it any time.
You must submit your application by 17:00 GMT on the deadline day. We don’t accept late applications.
If you have a question about eligibility, what we offer or our funding remit, contact us at mitigationandhealth@wellcome.org
We do not answer questions about the scope or competitiveness of proposals.
If you have a question about how to complete the application form within the Grant Tracker System please contact our Funding Information Advisers:
up to £2 million per award
up to 3 years