Career Development Awards (2025)

Career Development Awards (2025) is sponsored by Wellcome. Supports researchers in developing their independent research careers in biomedical science.

Lead applicant career stage:Administering organisation location:Frequency: Apply anytime - Applications are accepted year-round You should ask for the resources you need for your research programme – see the 'Research costs we'll cover' section on this page. You will need to work with your organisation to justify your request in the context of the support they will provide.

The annual expenditure for a Career Development Award is usually below £250,000 excluding the applicant’s salary. Applications above this value will be subject to additional scrutiny. Usually 8 years, but may be less for some disciplines and may only be longer if held on a part-time basis.

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 * 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. * 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 oursupplementary grant funding pagefor 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. #### How much time you must contribute You must be able to contribute at least 80% of your research time to the award.

If you are requesting your salary on the award, you should not spend more than 20% of your time on non-research related activities, for example clinical duties, teaching or administration. If you're in a clinical craft speciality, you may spend up to 40% of your time on clinical duties.

If you are not requesting your salary on the award, you should be spending sufficient time on research to support your research team and achieve the aims of the proposed work. #### If you are a health professional If you are a health professional, you will have completed your clinical training.

If you want to continue with clinical activities, you must be registered with, and licensed by, the relevant professional regulator in the country you intend to work in. Read ourQ&As for health professionals. #### If you’ve spent time spent away from research You can apply if you've been away from research (for example a career break, parental leave, or long-term sick leave).

We'll allow for this when we consider your application. Depending on your previous career stage and the level of supervision and retraining you need now, you may also want to consider anEarly-Career Award. ### Other people involved in the application and award Your sponsor must be an individual at your administering organisation.

Your sponsor must hold an established post (or an honorary academic appointment) at the administering organisation for the duration of the award. They will be expected to: * Guarantee the space and resources you’ll need from the start date to the end date of your award. * Ensure the research environment will support you to complete your programme.

* Confirm workload expectations with you, If you are requesting your salary on the award, you should not spend more than 20% of your time on non-research related activities, for example clinical duties, teaching or administration. If you're in a clinical craft speciality, you may spend up to 40% of your time on clinical duties.

If you are not requesting your salary on the award,you should be spending sufficient time on research to support your research team and achieve the aims of the proposed work. * Organise a discussion about your future at the organisation, for example an appointment to a permanent position.

If you plan to work for more than three months outside your host organisation, you must also have an additional sponsor at that location who will guarantee the space and resources you'll need during your visit. Sponsors are not paid for their input. You should also identify a mentor for the period of your award.

They should have a track record in training and mentorship, and support and guide you on how to: * manage your application * develop your research career * progress with your personal development * manage the processes and regulations at your host organisation (although they do not need to be based at your organisation). Your sponsor can also be your mentor. Mentors are not paid for their input.

Collaborators support the delivery of the project but don't lead on a specific component of the research.

For example, collaborators could support by: * providing access to tools or resources such as datasets or clinical records * providing access to organisations led by or working in collaboration with lived experience experts * providing expertise on working in different countries * sharing subject-specific knowledge and guidance, for example, expertise on statistical analysis or measurement of specific variables Collaborators do not have to meet eligibility requirements, and they are not required to give a minimum research time commitment.

Collaborators cannot receive a salary or compensation for the time spent on the proposed project. You can request costs to cover their expenses, for example for their grant-related travel and the costs associated with providing the agreed input into the research, including the materials and consumables involved. These should be costs directly related to the research.

### Current Wellcome grantholders We will allow current grantholders of the following mid-career schemes to apply for a Career Development Award until the end of their awards, unless they have been appointed to a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract that they will take up by the start of the Career Development Award: * Sir Henry Dale Fellowships (including those with extensions) * Research Career Development Fellowships * Research Career Re-entry Fellowships * Intermediate Clinical Fellowships (including those with one-year extensions) * Clinical Research Career Development Fellowships (stage 2) * International Intermediate Fellowships.

If you are one of these grantholders, you must have an active grant at the date of submission.

### Other Wellcome applications You may only have one application under consideration as a lead applicant at any one time for the following schemes: * Career Development Award * the research proposals are distinct, and * you meet the eligibility criteria and time commitment requirements for each scheme You may also be named as a coapplicant on Discovery Award applications, if you meet the scheme’s eligibility requirements and time commitment requirements.

These criteria apply to new applications submitted on or after 1 July 2026. Resubmissions of applications submitted before this date will continue to follow the previous resubmission rules. A resubmission is an application that has previously been reviewed by our shortlisting Advisory Groups.

These do not include applications withdrawn by us before shortlisting. The same project may be submitted for consideration a maximum of two times across all Wellcome schemes and themed funding calls. Resubmissions should include significant changes, demonstrating clear development of the original proposal.

If you have submitted an application with a project that has already been reviewed twice, any subsequent application must be with a new project. Please consider carefully before resubmitting an application. It must reflect clear progress and not respond solely to reviewer comments.

If you are unsuccessful with an application to this scheme, you may only resubmit an application 12 months or more after the date of your notification of decision, unless invited by us. The 12 month interval applies to resubmissions to this scheme and to the Discovery Award scheme where you are the sole applicant. You do not need to contact us before resubmitting.

You may apply as a coapplicant on a team Discovery Award or as a lead applicant or coapplicant to a themed funding call during that period, but the project must still comply with the two submission limit.

You are not eligible to apply if: * you hold, have held, or have accepted an offer for an equivalent award at this career stage (an exception to this is that our current Wellcome grantholders at an equivalent stage can apply to this scheme) * you have made an application to this scheme and you are waiting for a decision. You cannot apply to carry out activities that involve the transfer of grant funds into mainland China.

## Is your research right for this scheme? You must check whether Wellcome Discovery Research can fund your type of research project before you apply. * fit withinwhat we support in Discovery Research * have the potential to improve human life, health, and wellbeing.

* be in any discipline - including science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), experimental medicine, humanities and social science, clinical/allied health sciences, and public health. * fall outside of what we support in Discovery Research. Check what we don't fund.

Review previous projects that have been successful for this scheme. ## Is your organisation right for this scheme? The administering organisation is the organisation responsible for submitting your final application to Wellcome and managing the finances of the grant if it is awarded.

### Where your administering organisation is based The administering organisationmust be in one of the following: * alow- or middle-income country(apart from India and mainland China).

The organisation must be a not-for-profit and can be a: * higher education institution * healthcare organisation ### What's expected of your administering organisation Your administering organisation must guarantee they will: * provide you with a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract by the end of the award * carry out a formal review process, no less than two years before the end of your award, to discuss your future at the organisation, including the possibility of a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract.

This does not apply to applicants who already have a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract. If your administering organisation is a core-funded research organisation, a Career Development Award should not replace or lead to a reduction in existing or planned core support. ## How applications are assessed We will review your research proposal, skills and experience, and research environment.

The assessment weightings are used at interview stage. ### Your research proposal (50%) To be competitive, your research proposal will be: * **Bold. ** It aims to deliver a significant shift in understanding and/or it provides a significant advance over existing methodologies, conceptual frameworks, tools or techniques.

It has the potential to stimulate new and innovative research. * **Creative. ** Your proposed approach is novel – it develops and tests new concepts, methods or technologies, or combines existing ideas and approaches in a new way.

* **High quality. ** It is well-designed, clear, supported by evidence and the proposed outcomes/outputs are feasible. ### Your skills and experience (25%) * your research outputs and contributions to the research community * your experience of, and contribution to, developing other researchers * your leadership and management skills, and how you plan to develop these during the award.

### Your research environment (25%) * how you will contribute to the strategic aims of your organisation * how your research environment(s) will help you develop your research capabilities and leadership and management skills * how you will contribute to a positive and inclusive research culture. ## Research costs we'll cover A Wellcome Career Development Award provides a salary for the grantholder (if required) and research expenses.

The award usually lasts for 8 years, but may be less for some disciplines, such as humanities and social science. The award may be held on a part-time basis. When applying, you should cost the application at 1.

0 (100%) full-time equivalent. We will then extend the duration of the award to reflect this. You should ask for a level and duration of funding that’s justifiable for your proposed research.

You can only hold one of these awards. We do not offer renewals. We will provide your salary if: * you do not have a post, or * you have a temporary or fixed-term post with four years or less remaining on your contract.

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 and have to get your salary from external grant funding.

Your administering organisation must confirm: * that you have to get your salary from external grant funding to participate in the research * 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: * 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.

* 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 12 months 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 the pay award is not yet known, applicants should use the International Monetary Fund inflation rate, selecting the ‘inflation, average consumer price’ option as indicator. 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.

If you’re a humanities and social sciences researcher, you can ask for funds for teaching replacement to cover the cost of a temporary replacement lecturer. You must retain at least a 10% commitment to teaching. * 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. Award holders who need a visa to work in the UK may be eligible for a Global Talent Visa.

* 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, and English language tests, if you can justify these.

We will cover the salary costs of up to 4 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) staff, full or part-time, who will work on your project. Staff members typically include research assistants or technicians employed on your grant.

You can ask for more staff costs (in addition to the 4 FTE staff) if you need: * specialist service staff and technical experts, for example environmental sustainability, data analysis, fieldwork and clinical studies * support because you or a member of staff employed on your grant is disabled or has a long-term health condition – see 'Disability-related adjustment support'.

##### PhD/Research Masters fees We do not provide studentships on this award. But if applicants employ research staff, including technicians, on the grant they can ask for the costs to cover their PhD/Research Masters fees. Applicants can ask for fees for up to two research staff in total on the grant.

Research staff should be hired to undertake specific research activities on the grant. If fees are not requested at the application stage, grant funds cannot be repurposed for them during the award. Research staff should be defined as staff members and incur a lower fee than the student rate.

Where organisations do not have a staff rate, they may request fees at the home student rate. If no other rate is available, they may request the international student rate. 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: * 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, and essential English language tests * 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 * understanding and reducing the environmental impact of research We expect your administering 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 * 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 * 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 #### If your organisation uses full economic costing methodology: 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. 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 If the research will be carried out in the UK and use macaques, they must be sourced from the MRC Centre for Macaques.

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: You can ask for funds to cover: * the cost of buying and transporting 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 * housing equipment specific to the project * microbiological monitoring * personal and project licences * specific and relevant training and environmental enrichment costs In these cases we will not provide: * cage or building depreciation costs You can ask for the equipment you need to carry out your project where: * it is not available at your administering organisation or through collaborations, and * you will be the main user, with priority access to it.

At least 50% of the use must be for Wellcome-funded activities. This can include small multi-use pieces of equipment such as desktop microscopes or shakers. Costs may include purchase, delivery, installation, maintenance and training, where necessary.

You can purchase second-hand equipment if it is more environmentally sustainable to do so.

We will cover VAT and import duties if: * the usual UK exemptions on equipment used for medical research don’t apply * you’re applying from a non-UK organisation, and you can show these costs can’t be recovered #### Equipment maintenance We will cover maintenance costs for equipment that is: * funded by us or another source * essential to the proposed project * five years old, or will become five years old during the lifetime of the grant * cost effective and environmentally sustainable to keep maintaining it Equipment maintenance can be requested for small pieces of equipment with multiple users if at least 50% of the use is for Wellcome-funded activities, and there is no mechanism in place to recoup these costs through access charges.

We will not provide maintenance support where there is a mechanism in place to recoup costs through access charges for all other equipment. We will cover the cost of: * one personal computer or laptop per person working on the grant. The cost should be reasonable, in line with market rates, and justified in the context of the research.

* software, software licences and other recurring computing costs linked to the project * Electronic Research Notebooks (ERN) / Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) software on a per user, per year basis for the duration of a Wellcome project and for Electronic Research Notebook or Electronic Lab Notebook software approved for use by your organisation.

You cannot claim costs for Electronic Research Notebook or Electronic Lab Notebook hardware or organisation-wide Electronic Research Notebook or Electronic Lab Notebook software beyond a per user, per year basis on your project. * significantly 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: * 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: * any support for running costs and maintenance contracts has ended You can ask for overheads if your administering organisation is a: * higher education institution, healthcare organisation or research institute outside the UK * UK research organisation that does not receive core funding for overheads * 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 costs requested in your application.

These costs must directly support the activity funded by the grant. Applicants can also ask for overheads on any part of the grant that is sub-contracted to any of the organisations listed above. However, applicants based at a UK university can’t ask for overheads for sub-contracted activity if their university will include the sub-contracted funding in its annual report to the UK Charity Research Support Fund.

#### How to apply for these costs In your grant application, you must include a letter from your Finance Director stating how the overhead costs have been calculated. If your organisation has