Discretionary Awards

Discretionary Awards is sponsored by Wellcome. Provides flexible support for researchers to pursue innovative ideas that may not fit within traditional funding schemes.

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6. Discretionary Awards: funding outside of Wellcome’s schemes and funding calls # Discretionary Awards: funding outside of Wellcome’s schemes and funding calls From time to time, Wellcome may directly support research that can help us to meet our strategic objectives,by requesting an application for funding, outside of our regular funding calls and schemes.

* Costs that you can request If you have been invited to submit an application for a Discretionary Award, use the guidance on this page to help you complete your application. Applications for these awards are by invitation only. For information on roles and eligibility please refer to our guidance on Wellcome funding applicants.

* Can be based anywhere in the world, apart from mainland China. * Must have a permanent, open-ended, or long-term rolling contract for the duration of the award. Contracts are not required if you are a freelancer or self-employed.

* Can be based anywhere in the world, apart from mainland China. * Must have a guarantee of space from their administering organisation for the duration of their commitment to the award, but do not need to have a permanent, open-ended, or long-term rolling contract at their administering organisation.

If you have been invited to apply for a Discretionary Award, we expect you to have discussed your proposed project with Wellcome in advance. We will send you an email with instructions on accessing your Discretionary Award application form. The description of your proposal should normally be no more than 3000 words, unless otherwise advised.

Once you complete your application form, it will be submitted to your administering organisation for approval. ## Costs that you can request Wellcome will have advised you on the anticipated funding budget. All funds requested must be fully justified in the costs section of your application.

## Funding level, duration of award, costs and research expenses Show You must contribute at least 10% of your research time to the award in order to claim a contribution to your salary.

##### Lead applicants based outside of the UK or Republic of Ireland You can ask for a contribution to your salary if you work for a: * higher education institute * healthcare organisation * non-governmental organisation If you work for a higher education institute, research institute, or healthcare organisation, we will only pay your salary if you hold a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract that states that you must get your salary from external grant funding.

Your administering organisation must confirm: * that you must get salary recovery from external grant funding * they will guarantee to provide salary support, including any salary not covered by Wellcome, if you cannot get it from other sources for the period of time that you will be working on the grant In all cases, 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. Coapplicants must contribute at least 10% of their research time to the award in order to claim a contribution to their salary. ##### Coapplicants employed by higher education institutes, research institutes or healthcare organisations 1.

###### Coapplicants with permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contracts Coapplicants with these contract types can ask for a contribution to their salary if their employment contract states that they must get their salary from external grant funding. 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.

The coapplicant’s employing organisation must confirm: * that they must get salary recovery from external grant funding * they will guarantee to provide salary support, including any salary costs not covered by Wellcome, for the period of time that the person will be working on the grant 2.

###### Coapplicants who don’t have permanent, open ended or long-term rolling contracts Coapplicants without a permanent, open ended or long-term rolling contract can request salary depending on the amount of their time they will spend on the grant: * Less than 80% of coapplicant’s time on the grant: they can request salary proportionate to the time they will spend on the grant (minimum 10% research time).

Their organisation must guarantee space and salary support if they cannot get it from other sources for the period of time they are working on the grant. Their post cannot be dependent on the application being successful. * 80% or more of coapplicant’s time on the grant: they can ask for their full salary.

Their organisation does not have to guarantee salary support if salary cannot be obtained from other sources for the period of time they are working on the grant. The post can be dependent on the application being successful.

* If the coapplicants are employed on the award as research assistants and they are to spend 100% of their time on the award, their post does not need to be underwritten by the administering organisation and can be dependent on the application being successful. Alternatively, coapplicants may get their salary through employment on another grant.

##### Coapplicants employed by charities, social enterprises, non-governmental organisations or commercial organisations Coapplicants can ask for salary if they are employed by these organisations. Coapplicants must contribute at least 10% of their research time to the award. The amount we pay will be proportionate to the time they will contribute to the award.

Their employment contract does not need to state that they must get their salary from external grant funding. #### Staff working on your programme We will cover the salary costs of all staff, full or part-time, who will work on your grant.

Staff members may include: * research assistants or technicians employed on your grant * experts with lived experience * specialist service staff and technical experts, for example in environmental sustainability, 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 Humanities and social science researchers can ask for funds for research or teaching replacement to cover the cost of a temporary replacement lecturer.

They 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 Researchers who already get buyout costs from another grant (funded by Wellcome or elsewhere) can ask us for this cost, but only for the period of time on the award when they won't receive buyout costs from another grant.

Researchers must provide a letter from their employing organisation, confirming that their contract includes a teaching commitment. They should include this in the grant application. **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. Each applicant can ask for fees for up to two research staff in total on the grant, to a maximum of eight per team. Research staff should be hired to undertake specific research activities on the grant and we will cover the fees for their PhD/Research Masters studies.

Early-career applicants (up to and including holders of early-career fellowships) may not supervise a PhD student alone but can be a co-supervisor with a mid-career or established colleague. 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. #### How to cost salaries for research staff Show Staff salaries should be appropriate to skills, responsibilities and expertise.

Organisations should 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 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 organisations we fund. #### Visa and work permit costs Show 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.

#### Disability-related adjustment support Show 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 canask for them after we've awarded your grant.

### materials and consumables Show 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.

We will provide funds if you need to outsource specialised elements of the project to organisations that are not already involved as applicants or collaborators, on a fee-for-service basis.

This work can include: * synthesising compounds or reagents * building medical devices * preclinical studies, such as toxicology or pharmacology studies * undertaking large scale data analysis Where multiple Contract Research Organisations are involved in a project, use a separate line item to request costs relating to each one.

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 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 #### 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 ### contract research organisations Show We will provide funds if you need to outsource project work to: * contract research organisations * other fee-for-service providers ### clinical research costs Show If you need to carry out clinical research in the UK 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 in the UK, 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 expect you to adhere to the spirit of these principles.

If your proposal involves clinical research using NHS resources, check if you need to upload a SoECAT form with your application.

### fieldwork expenses Show Fieldwork expenses 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 You can ask for other fieldwork costs that aren’t listed here.

You’ll need to justify them. ### travel and subsistence Show You can ask for these costs if you are applying from a: * higher education institution * healthcare organisation * charity, social enterprise or non-governmental research organisation #### Environmentally conscious travel Travel on grants should be done in an environmentally conscious way, in line with our environmental sustainability funding policy.

You should consider if you could meet your trip’s objectives using video conferencing, hybrid meetings or virtual attendance.

Where travel is necessary, you can ask for: * the cost of low carbon travel where practical, even if it's more expensive (for example travelling by train instead of flying) * economy flights when train journeys are over 10 hours, or not possible due to availability, safety, or visa permit reasons, or in exceptional circumstances such as a disability, long-term health condition or caring requirements necessitating faster travel.

We will not pay for business class flights. * project-related resources or activities that provide an alternative to travel, such as video conferencing, communication and file-sharing software * costs to mitigate the carbon emissions of the essential travel by purchasing accredited carbon credits.

If carbon mitigation 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 contact us for approval before submitting your application. We won't pay for the core infrastructure that your administering 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 #### Conference attendance You can ask for a contribution towards the costs of attending scientific and academic meetings and conferences, including travel, accommodation, and registration fees.

The limits are: * Lead applicant – £2,000 a year * Coapplicants – £2,000 each a year * Research and technical staff employed on your grant – £1,000 each a year You can ask for the cost of accredited carbon credits to mitigate the emissions from conference travel in addition to these limits. We provide costs to cover caring responsibilities for any staff employed on your grant to attend a conference.

This includes childcare and any other caring responsibility they have. We will pay these if: * Wellcome is providing the salary * the conference is directly related to the research * the caring costs are over and above what they would normally pay for care * the conference organiser and their employing organisation are unable to cover the costs You can ask for up to £1,000 per person for each conference.

#### Other essential travel You can ask for travel and subsistence costs for collaborative visits for you, any coapplicants and any staff employed on your grant to visit collaborators (or for them to visit you), and for other essential visits and stays, for example to facilities, to host organisations, for sample collection and for field work. You’ll need to justify each visit and its duration. You can request the following costs.

#### Partners and dependents travelling with you Show If you will be travelling overseas and you will be away more than 12 months, we will provide travel costs for your partner and any dependants if they are travelling with you. Refer to the overseas allowances section for more information. We may provide these costs for shorter trips if you can justify why your partner and dependents must travel with you.

We define your partner as the person: * you’re not married to but with whom you’ve been in a relationship for at least a year * you live with at the same permanent address and share some form of joint financial commitment with, such as a mortgage. #### Outward and return travel Show Where travel is necessary, we expect people to travel by train for journeys of end-to-end travel time of 10 hours or less.

We will pay for flights if: * a train route is not available * there are concerns over personal safety if travelling by train * there are visa/permit issues * the person travelling requires faster travel, for example due to having a disability or long term health condition, or caring responsibilities * the end-to-end journey time is more than 10 hours. We will not pay for business class flights.

You can ask for costs to mitigate the carbon emissions of the journeys you make on the grant. #### Accommodation and subsistence costs Show 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 employing organisation has a subsistence policy, use their rates. If your employing organisation doesn’t have a subsistence policy, 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 the administering and employing organisations, or Wellcome, as needed. 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.

##### More than 12 months If you’re away for more than 12 months, we will pay the costs of your housing. Review our overseas allowances for more details on what we may cover. #### Baggage and freight shipping allowance Show If you are away for up to 12 months, you can ask for up to 80 kg of additional baggage or unaccompanied airline freight for your outward and return journeys.

##### More than 12 months 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 (20 ft) if you’re travelling with a partner and/or dependants #### Medical and travel insurance Show If you are travelling outside of your home country we will pay the cost of your medical insurance and travel insurance.

Medical insurance should only be requested for the duration of your trip where you will be unable to access state healthcare, if appropriate. We don’t pay medical insurance for trips to the UK or Republic of Ireland. For UK trips of up to six months you should take out travel insurance that covers medical expenses.

If you are staying in the UK for more than six months we will cover the cost of the Immigration Health Surcharge instead of medical insurance. Check 'visas and vaccinations' for more information. If you will be working in a low- or middle-income country we will also cover the cost of emergency evacuation cover.

#### Visas and vaccinations Show We will pay the costs of visas, vaccinations and anti-malaria treatment. This includes the cost to access the healthcare system in your destination country where these are a mandatory requirement of your immigration application (such as the Immigration Health Surcharge in the UK). If you are already in the country you will be working in, visa costs may be taxable.

Wellcome will cover any tax related to these costs. #### Housing security Show If you will be based in a low- or middle-income country for more than one month, and it is necessary, you can ask for this. 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 or any research staff employed on your grant will be doing research away from your home organisation, we'll help with the additional costs of working on the project overseas. Read the 'Overseas allowances' section for details.

### overseas allowances Show You can ask for these costs if you are applying from a: * higher education institution * healthcare organisation * charity, social enterprise or non-governmental research organisation If you or any staff employed on your grant will be spending more than 12 months in another country, we’ll help you with the additional costs of working on the project overseas.

These costs are in addition to the standard travel and subsistence costs.

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 #### Partners and dependants travelling with you Show If you will be away more than 12 months, we will provide these allowances for your partner and any dependants if they are travelling with you.

We define your partner as the person: * you’re not married to but with whom you’ve been in a relationship for at least a year * you live with at the same permanent address and share some form of joint financial commitment with, such as a mortgage. #### Accommodation and subsistence Show 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 will be living in a home you own in your destination country, we will not pay accommodation costs. ##### 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.

* 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-only 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 * up to a maximum of £30,000 a year for each child for the published termly fees only * the cost of return travel, and emissions mitigation, at the start and end of each school term, in line with our environmental sustainability funding policy 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. #### Annual leave travel costs Show We’ll pay for