Wellcome Early-Career Awards
The Wellcome Trust
Who can apply: Nationality is not restricted. The restriction is on where your administering organisation sits, and it is about to narrow. Today that is the UK, the Republic of Ireland, or a low- or middle-income country apart from India and mainland China; from 29 October 2026 it becomes the UK plus low- and middle-income countries… What is funded: Your salary plus up to 400,000 pounds for research expenses, usually over five years, shorter in some disciplines and longer only if held part-time. Co-applicants are not accepted, so this funds one named early-career researcher building towards an independent programme. The award is held at an administering… Deadline: Rolling.
Read the full call and apply on the official page: The Wellcome Trust, official page.
Who can apply
- Nationality is not restricted. The restriction is on where your administering organisation sits, and it is about to narrow. Today that is the UK, the Republic of Ireland, or a low- or middle-income country apart from India and mainland China; from 29 October 2026 it becomes the UK plus low- and middle-income countries in Africa, South Asia and South-East Asia. India is excluded as a host location under both the current and the future rules, so a reader in India would have to be hosted elsewhere. You must have passed your PhD viva by the date you submit, or have at least four years of research experience equivalent to a PhD without having started one; research done during a bachelor's or master's does not count. You may have no more than three years of postdoctoral experience at submission, with allowance for part-time work, career breaks and a genuine change of discipline. You must commit at least 80 per cent of your research time to the project and spend no more than 20 per cent on teaching, administration or clinical duties, or 40 per cent for clinical craft specialties. You need a sponsor holding an established post at the administering organisation, and a mentor. Neither is paid.
Stage dates
No scheme deadline, but a hard eligibility cliff that behaves like one for some applicants. Wellcome states that from 29 October 2026 it will accept lead applicants only from eligible administering organisations in the UK and in low- and middle-income countries in Africa, South Asia and South-East Asia. Applications submitted on or before 28 October 2026 are assessed under the current, wider location rules. For anyone based in the Republic of Ireland, or in a low- or middle-income country outside those regions, 28 October 2026 is the date that matters. No date is stored against this stage because it is a policy change and not an application cut-off, and printing it as a deadline would mislead every applicant it does not bind.See the official page
Dates come from the funder's page for this round. When a round closes, the next round's dates replace these once the funder publishes them.