Wellcome Career Development Awards

Location eligibility for this funding scheme is changing

From 29 October 2026, we will only accept applications from lead applicants based at eligible administering organisations in the UK and low- and middle-income countries in Africa, South Asia and South-East Asia. Any applications submitted to Wellcome on or before 28 October 2026 will be assessed under the current location eligibility requirements.

Learn more about this change

Review a list of low- and middle-income countries in Africa, South Asia and South-East Asia

Who can apply

You can apply for a Wellcome Career Development Award if you are a mid-career researcher and you are ready to lead a substantial and innovative research programme. You must aim to make a key contribution to your field by:

• generating significant shifts in understanding

and/or

• developing methodologies, conceptual frameworks, tools or techniques that could benefit health-related research.

During the award, we expect you to:

• develop your research capabilities and leadership skills
• support others to undertake research responsibly and promote a positive and inclusive culture
• start training the next generation of researchers and develop their research skills and careers.

By the end of the award, you should have achieved international standing in your area of research.

You should also have the skills and experience to apply for permanent positions at research organisations.

Lead applicant career stage and experience

To be eligible, you will already be driving your own research.

You must have:

• completed one or two substantial periods of research after your initial research training
• made important contributions to your area of research.

You will probably have experience of working collaboratively. You may have directed, or closely guided, the work of others.

At the point of application, you may also have been appointed to:

• your first permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract, or to a tenure track contract. If this applies to you, you cannot ask for your own salary with this award unless you are based in a low- or middle-income country and have to get your salary from external grant funding. 
• a fixed term position with four years or less remaining on your contract at the point of application. If this applies to you, you can ask for your own salary with this award.
• a fixed term position with more than four years left on your contract at the point of application. If this applies to you, you cannot ask for your salary with this award and your host organisation must underwrite your salary costs for the duration of the award. 

For permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contracts, you must have been appointed within the last three years unless, during this time, you:

• spent time away from research due to personal circumstances (for example, for a career break, parental leave, long-term sick leave or a chronic illness)
• worked part-time and research was not part of the role, for example, if you have been employed as a healthcare professional
• have worked part-time and your cumulative research time is less than three years
• changed research discipline, for example, moving from astrophysics to computational neuroscience, or environmental chemistry to social anthropology. There may be some crossover, such as in research sites or techniques, but the shift should still be a significant change.
• were based in a low- or middle-income country where it is normal to be appointed to a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract early in your research career.

Previously, if the three-year limit fell between two deadlines for this scheme, and you would have benefitted from applying to the second deadline, we would have allowed you to do this.

We recognise that in light of this rule, applicants in this position may have been planning to apply for the November 2026 deadline rather than the July 2026 deadline. Applicants whose three years in a permanent post falls between 28 July 2026 and 17 November 2026 will be considered eligible to apply up to, and including, 17 November 2026.

If you hold a proleptic appointment, you can request your salary costs from Wellcome for the duration of the award.

If your contractual circumstances change between the point of application and your award activation you must tell us immediately as this may change your eligibility for salary. We will not normally supplement for salary funds after the award has been made (read our supplementary grant funding page for more information). If after two or more years of your Career Development Award activating your organisation awards you a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract that includes your salary, you will be able to keep the salary element of the award to use towards your remaining research costs.