Illustration of hands collaborating to draw overlapping circles, with doodles of data in the background.

Wellcome Data Science Ideathon

The Wellcome Data Science Ideathon is a competition that will have teams compete to propose data science solutions to tackle three urgent health challenges: mental healthinfectious diseases, and climate and health.

Competition at a glance 

Who can apply: The Ideathon is open to student teams and researcher teams. All team members must be affiliated with a Higher Education Institution (HEI) or research institute in the UK.

Teams can apply to the Ideathon as either:

  • Student Teams comprised of 3-5 postgraduate students, Masters or PhD.
  • Researcher Teams comprised of 3-5 researchers at any career stage.

See ‘Eligibility and suitability’ for more details. 

The Event: Around 25 teams will be selected as semi-finalists to compete in the event at Wellcome’s offices in central London on 10-12 July 2023. 

Prizes: 10 teams will be selected as finalists and will be eligible to win one of the prizes or grants described in 'Prizes and awards'.

  • Student teams selected as finalists are eligible for cash prizes of up to £3,000 per team member.
  • Researcher teams selected as finalists are eligible for one-year grants* up to £120,000. 
* Grants are available up to the listed amounts and at Wellcome’s discretion, and are at all times subject to Wellcome’s policies and processes, including but not limited to Wellcome receiving an appropriate grant application form that reflects the relevant winning proposal, Wellcome’s due diligence, costs compliance and budgetary approval. Wellcome shall not have any liability if any grant funding is not awarded. 

About the Ideathon  

Eligibility and suitability 

What we offer 

Application guidance 

How to apply 

Disabled applicants

If you are disabled or have a long-term health condition, we can support you with the application process

Key dates 

You must submit your application by 17:00 (BST) on the deadline day. We don’t accept late applications.

Open to applications

  1. Applications close

    30 April 2023
  2. Complete follow-up application survey

    21 May 2023
  3. Semi-finalist decisions released

    By 16 June 2023
  4. Full challenges released to semi-finalists

    26 June 2023
  5. Ideathon event

    Three day in-person event at Wellcome’s London Office with winners announced on the last day.

    10-12 July 2023

Contact us 

If you have a question about eligibility, what we offer or our funding remit, contact the Data for Science and Health team organisers:

You may also submit questions on Slido.

We do not answer questions on the competitiveness of applications.

Useful documents