Mental Health Award: Integrating sleep and circadian science into our understanding and treatment of anxiety, depression and psychosis

As a member of the Common Measures Board for Mental Health Science, Wellcome is committed to identify and adopt common measures so that, in time, data can be combined and compared across studies to answer crucial research questions. Teams planning to conduct research projects with human participants and to collect data on anxiety and/or depression must use (as a minimum) one or more of the following recommended measures:   

• PHQ-9 (adults)  
• GAD-7 (adults)  
• RCADS-25 (children and adolescents)  

In exceptional circumstances when these measures are not feasible (for example, due to length), we may agree to the use of shorter versions (for example, PHQ-2, GAD-2, RCADS-10), however, the reasoning for this must be clearly justified. 

Please note that we do not currently have an agreed measure for psychosis, therefore, applicants should use the measure(s) that is most appropriate to address their research question. 

Applications must demonstrate the involvement of lived experience expertise in the planning, design, and delivery of the research. We recognise that there are a range of ways that research teams can involve and collaborate with people with lived experience. For example, this may include, but not be limited to, expert advisors, coapplicants, collaborators, or advisory group members. We are open to any methods of involvement that teams choose but expect lived experience experts to be involved in the most appropriate ways to inform multiple aspects and stages of the research project. It is key for us is that this is not tokenistic or a tick box exercise.

For further information on what we mean by ‘people with lived experience’, including guidance for meaningful involvement, see the guidance provided.

For translational research, we expect the following to be considered, as is relevant to the proposal: 

• the subsequent development steps required leading to regulatory approval 

• the key desired attributes of your healthcare innovation 

• any clinical, manufacturing, regulatory or marketing issues known that may affect the ability to deliver the product to market

• a downstream partner

• the future implementation strategy, including delivery and market penetration. 

Research must consider potential uptake from the outset. For example: 

• applicants may engage with potential end users of research, including people experiencing anxiety, depression or psychosis, caregivers/families, clinicians and service managers for future implementation and impact for policy 

• applicants may engage with stakeholders, such as policymakers, health care professionals, regulatory bodies and downstream partners, as appropriate, during the research process to ensure results are implementable, scalable, suitable for commercialisation and in line with policy and end users’ needs 

• applicants may employ a mixed methods approach and include social science and health economics expertise (as appropriate) to ensure that the interventions are appropriate, acceptable and feasible and that any potential social, cultural or economic barriers to implementation are examined 

• proposed research may consider and include measures such as (but not limited to) acceptability, adoption, appropriateness, affordability, costs, feasibility, fidelity, penetrance and sustainability, as relevant.

Below we provide additional guidance to completing various sections in the full application. Please follow these as appropriate for your individual project.

The proposal 

Provide your answer to this question as a PDF attachment. The uploaded document must be no longer than 4000 words* in length, in 11-point Arial font and portrait format.

This document should include: 

1. Aims and key deliverables

•  Please include a vision statement that specifies what you are looking to achieve with the funding requested and what you want to achieve in the longer term.
• The specific aims and objectives of the proposed project. 

2. Background and justification 

The unmet need and strength of the research question.

• The scientific background to the project.

• The justification for the proposed research, which may include (but is not limited to): your focus on anxiety depression and/or psychosis, the specific population involved and how the research meets the needs of end users.

• Description of how the proposed research will advance knowledge in relation to at least one of the following:  

  • Mechanistic underpinning of the bi-directional role of sleep and circadian disruptions in the development and resolution of anxiety, depression and/or psychosis.  

  • Identification and/or validation of sleep and circadian markers that enable early stratification of people with anxiety, depression and/or psychosis. 

  •  Development of early interventions for anxiety, depression and/or psychosis that target sleep and/or circadian processes and the competitive advantage of such interventions.

• The supporting hypothesis and underpinning mechanism or plan to investigate it.

• Support from existing evidence (for example, existing literature, systematic reviews/meta-analyses, proof of concept data or pilot data as relevant).

The potential for impact. 

• The potential for the research to have a significant and measurable impact on early intervention in anxiety, depression and/or psychosis.   

• The potential for different geographical, societal and cultural contexts to impact on the research.

• Please also address: 

  • How you will consider the potential uptake of the research from the outset. 

  • The potential for the research to have applicability and acceptability in settings beyond the specific context of the research. 

3. Details of the planned activities 

• An overview of the proposed workplan, clarifying how it will address the research question(s).
• The proposed methodology under each work package.
• Where relevant, please include details on interventions, research design (including trial design), target populations, sample size and power, community and patient group involvement (this can also be included under ‘Additional Information’).
• The outcomes to be measured and the specific sleep, circadian rhythm, mental health, functional and/or quality of life measures and analyses to be used, plus justification. Please indicate if these measures have been validated in the proposed settings or how you propose to validate these.
• The key risk-reducing steps to be addressed and overcome.
• For intervention development, please include a description of the pathway to impact beyond this funding, considering: 

  • What subsequent development steps are required?

  • Who the downstream partner could be (which may include further development by the applicant)? 

  • Are there any clinical, manufacturing, regulatory or marketing issues known that may affect the ability to deliver the product to market? 

  • What would the implementation strategy be, including delivery and market penetration?

  • If you have outlined any regulatory considerations or risks above, show evidence that you are accounting for regulatory requirements in the product development pathway.

  • For projects that do not include a clinical trial you should still outline the likely clinical pathway.

  • Include the target product profile or key desired attributes of your healthcare innovation.

  • How you will consider equitable access to the assets developed through this research.

4. Details of how you will involve people with lived experience

Please include information on how people with lived experience of anxiety, depression and/or psychosis (ideally with the sleep and circadian issues relevant to the research topic) will be involved in multiple stages of the design, delivery, and dissemination of the project. As part of this please explain:

• Your approaches to involvement at each stage of the project in detail. 
• How you plan to identify and recruit people with lived experience with the relevant skills to work on the project. As part of this please also clearly state the relevant skills and expertise you are looking for from the people with lived experience you plan to work with.
• How the proposed research is feasible from the perspective of lived experience expertise (for example, recruitment plans are feasible and appropriate, intervention protocol is appropriate, plans for participant retention are suitable, protocol or methodology proposed is inclusive towards under-served groups).

People with lived experience should be appropriately compensated or paid for their time. This information should be included under the “Costs requested and Justification” section, along with any additional costs needed to ensure your lived experience involvement plans are appropriately budgeted for. Please see our guidance on involving people with lived experience for further information on how to involve people with lived experience in your research.  

5. Research location and environment 

• Describe how the research location(s) can provide the necessary research infrastructure and resources to support the research goal.
• Describe how the research environment will support and develop your research capabilities and management/leadership skills.  

6. Timetable and milestones (as appropriate)

*This PDF upload will not count as part of your three pages of optional additional information (see below). You should embed figures, graphs, and tables, if essential to the proposal, in the text. You may upload other essential information separately, for example: references, unpublished data, letters of support. The additional information should not be an extension of the proposal. You must provide all information pertinent to your proposal within the application form (it is not acceptable to refer to additional unpublished information on personal websites). If more than one organisation will be involved in the project, indicate what work will be undertaken at each organisation. You must cite any references in full, including all authors, the full title of each publication, journal title, year, volume, and pages. Citations to preprints should state 'Preprint', the repository name, and the article persistent identifier (for example, DOI). You may shorten references with more than 10 authors to et al, but please ensure that your position as author (if applicable) remains clear.

Additional information

You may provide up to three A4 pages of additional information, such as Gantt charts, figures, graphs, or additional unpublished data. Please embed it within the text of your upload for your proposal or upload it separately under 'Additional information'. If the additional information exceeds the equivalent of three pages of A4 we will return your application to you to reduce the amount of information.

Team composition and management

Describe the roles of all applicants and how the project will be managed and led. (500 words max.)

Please indicate how the team is uniquely positioned to deliver this project and realise your long-term vision.

• Comment on whether the proposed team has worked together in the past and, if so, describe any key outcomes or achievements from these collaborations.
• If you are collaborating for the first time, comment on how and why you have chosen to work with the people and/or organisations listed. 

For completeness and for applicants’ planning purposes we provide below the full assessment criteria and weightings that will be used at the full application stage. At the shortlisting stage, a simplified rubric will be used.

Assessment criteria for full applications 

There are four weighted criteria: 

1. The research question, the proposed methodology and the potential for impact (40%)
2. Suitability and expertise of the team (20%) 
3. Lived experience involvement (20%)  
4. Suitability of research location, research environment, and research culture (20%)  

1. The research question, the proposed methodology and the potential for impact (40%) 

Rationale and potential for impact:

• The research has sufficient scope and ambition, such that the findings  have the potential to have a significant and measurable impact on early intervention (for example, early symptom presentation, including early relapses, or the earliest point of contact with a healthcare system) for people with anxiety, depression and/or psychosis. 
• The proposed research project will lead to insights into the interdependent roles of sleep and circadian rhythm disruption in the development and resolution of anxiety, depression and/or psychosis or vice versa.
• The proposed research is hypothesis driven and includes an underpinning mechanism or the project includes plans to investigate this mechanism.
• The proposed research is well justified, involves characterisation of changes in sleep and circadian rhythms in relation to anxiety, depression and/or psychosis and will advance knowledge in relation to at least one of the following: 

  • Mechanistic underpinning of the bi-directional role of sleep and circadian disruptions in development and resolution of anxiety, depression and/or psychosis.

  • Identification and/or validation of sleep and circadian markers that enable early stratification in anxiety, depression and/or psychosis. 

  • Development of early interventions for anxiety, depression and/or psychosis that target sleep and/or circadian processes, with demonstrated competitive advantage.

• The proposed research project includes a clearly defined population and has considered how it meets the needs of end users.

• Where appropriate: 

  • The proposed research has considered how the research may be impacted by different contexts and whether there is potential for the research to have applicability and acceptability in settings beyond the specific context of the research. 

  • Uptake of research has been considered from the outset.  

Strength of evidence: 

• The proposal includes evidence that supports its feasibility and potential for impact.
• The proposal includes information on the competitive advantage of the intervention under development relative to anything that’s already available or being developed.  

Strength of methodology: 

• There is a clear project plan that addresses the hypothesis/research question.
• The proposed methodological approach is appropriate, well-designed, feasible, and supported by relevant evidence or expertise (for example, the choice of model system is justified, the sample is adequately powered, for human studies a recruitment plan is in place, participant heterogeneity is being harnessed and/or considered in the study design).
• The study incorporates both sleep and circadian measures and considers measurement during wakefulness as well as sleep.The use of measures is justified.
• The study incorporates measures of anxiety, depression and/or psychosis and functional outcomes or measures of quality of life, which are justified.
• The project is achievable in the timelines proposed.​
• The resources requested are appropriate and well justified.​ 

2. Suitability and expertise of the team (20%)  

Lead applicant: 

• Has research experience relevant to the project, as evidenced through research outputs and/or preliminary data (as appropriate for their career stage).
• Has the experience needed to drive and lead a collaborative research programme.
• Has experience of people and research management and training, as appropriate for their career stage.
• Can contribute at least 20% of their research time to this project.  

Coapplicants:

• The expertise of the coapplicants is essential for the delivery of the project and their contribution to the project is justified.
• The coapplicants have the appropriate time (can contribute a minimum of 10% of their research time) and necessary resources available to deliver the project.

Team: 

• The team has the necessary expertise and technical skills to deliver the proposed research project.
• There is a justified team approach whereby all applicants are necessary to deliver the proposed research and there is evidence that the proposed collaboration would be feasible and fruitful (for example, the team has appropriate management plans in place, describing how the collaboration will be organised and run day-to-day).
• The team has the necessary expertise to effectively involve and collaborate with people with lived experience of anxiety, depression and/or psychosis in the proposed project.
• Where research occurs in more than one location, applications include coapplicants based in each country where the research will take place.
• Applicants have contributed and are committed to fostering a positive and inclusive research culture. 

3. Lived experience involvement (20%) 

• People with lived experience of anxiety, depression and/or psychosis (ideally with the sleep and circadian issues relevant to the research topic) are involved in multiple stages of the design, delivery, and dissemination of the project.

• Approaches to involvement (or lack of involvement) at each stage of the project should be explained in detail.

• The proposed research is feasible from the perspective of lived experience expertise.

• People with lived experience are appropriately compensated or paid for their time. 

• An appropriate number of people with lived experience are involved in the application.

• Plans to involve people with lived experience in the project are appropriately costed and budgeted. 

4. Suitability of research location, research environment, and research culture (20%) 

Assessment of this criteria should take into consideration the context for example, geographical location and local context or commercial environment.

Research location and environment:

• The research environment is suitable to support and develop the applicants and their proposed research.
• The research environment(s) is supportive of the research project, has plans to promote a diverse and inclusive environment and will help the applicant to develop their research capabilities, and leadership and management skills.
• The applicants have access to the necessary research infrastructure.   

Research culture:

• Detailed description of how the applicants will contribute to and develop a positive and inclusive research culture. This may (but is not limited to) include: 

  • Project management plans, including how project priorities and decisions will be determined. 

  • Equitable plans for collaborating with researchers in low resource settings. 

  • Plans for how contributions to research outputs will be credited as appropriate.  

  • Plans for leadership and people management or development, supporting collaborations, research integrity and contributions to the wider research community. 

Outputs management plans:

• Detailed description of a suitable outputs management plan (for example, depositing, sharing, and storing data, open access publishing).
• Applicants manage their research outputs in a way that will achieve the greatest health benefit.

• Duration of award: projects of any duration up to 5 years.
• Level of funding: projects of any budget up to £3 million.

You should ask for a level and duration of funding that is justifiable for your proposed research. You must justify all costs within the costs section of your application.

If your proposal is likely to exceed the proposed level or duration of funding, please get in touch with us.

Lead applicant

If you are based in the UK or Republic of Ireland, you cannot ask for your salary.

You can ask for a contribution to your salary if you hold a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract that states that you have to get your salary from external grant funding.

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.

You will have to contribute at least 20% of your research time to this award.

Your host organisation must confirm:

• that your employment contract states you must get salary recovery from external grant funding
• that they will underwrite the salary and post for the period of time that you will be working on the grant.

Co-applicants

You can ask us for a contribution to their salary in your application.

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.

They will have to contribute at least 10% of their research time to this programme.

Your host organisation must confirm:

• that the coapplicant’s employment contract states they must get salary recovery from external grant funding
• that they will underwrite the salary and post for the period of time that the person will be working on the grant.

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
• specialist service staff, for example 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 – see 'Disability-related adjustment support'.

Teaching buyout

If you’re a humanities and social science researcher, you can ask for funds for research or teaching replacement to cover the cost of a temporary replacement lecturer. You must retain at least a 10% commitment to teaching.

Costs:

• 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 Mental Health 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.

PhD fees

We do not provide studentships on this award. But if applicants employ a research assistant on the grant, they can ask for the costs to cover their PhD fees. Each applicant can ask for PhD fees for one research assistant at a time on the grant.

We will only pay the international student fee rate for low- and middle-income nationals who are registered to study for a PhD in a high-income country. In all other situations, we will pay home student fees.

You can ask for these costs if you are applying from a university, a not-for-profit organisation or a small company. 

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.

We expect your host 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 for 12 months duration or more only and
• 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 for 12 months duration or more only and
• 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.

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 if your organisation uses full economic costing methodology. 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.
• 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 to establish charge-out rates for animal house facilities, you can ask for funds to cover:

• the cost of buying 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.

We will not provide estates or depreciation costs.

Equipment purchase

You can ask for basic items of equipment that are essential to your research project.

Costs may include purchase, delivery, installation, maintenance and training, where necessary.

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.

You can also ask for specialised equipment if:

• it is essential to the success of the proposed research project
• it is not available at your host organisation or through collaboration, and
• you’ll be the main user and have priority access to the equipment.

If a complete piece of specialised equipment costs £100,000 or more, we expect a contribution of at least 25 per cent from the host organisation or another source. In some cases, we may expect a larger contribution. We’ll discuss this with you after we’ve assessed your application. Contributions can include benefits in kind, such as refurbishment or the underwriting of a key support post.

Multi-component items must not be broken down into component parts to avoid this contribution.

Equipment maintenance

We will cover maintenance costs for equipment if:

• you are requesting it in your application
• it is existing equipment that is:
  • funded by us or another source
  • essential to the proposed research project
  • more than five years old
  • cost effective to keep maintaining it.

We won’t cover maintenance costs for equipment if there is a mechanism in place to recoup these costs through access charges.

Computer equipment

We will cover the cost of one personal computer or laptop per person up to £1,500.

We won't pay for:

• more expensive items, unless you can justify them
• installation or training costs.

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:

• estates and utilities
• depreciation or insurance
• other staff, for example, contributions towards departmental technical, administrative and management staff time.

If the facilities or equipment were paid for by a Wellcome grant, you can only ask for access charges if:

• the grant has ended
• any support for running costs and maintenance contracts has ended.

You can ask for overheads if your grant will be based at a:

• university outside the UK or Republic of Ireland
• research organisation that does not receive core funding for overheads
• charitable or not-for-profit organisation
• small or medium-sized commercial organisation.

You can also ask for overheads on any part of your grant that is sub-contracted to any of the organisations listed above.

If you’re based at a UK university, you can’t ask for overheads for sub-contracted activity if your university will include the sub-contracted funding in its annual report to the UK Charity Research Support Fund.

Overheads can include:

• 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 direct research costs if you’re based in a low- or middle-income country
• 15% of the direct research costs if you’re based anywhere else.

These costs must directly support the activity funded by the grant.

How to apply for these costs

In your grant application you must:

• give a full breakdown of costs (you can't ask for a percentage of the research costs)
• explain why these costs are necessary for your research
• include a letter from the finance director of your host organisation, or the sub-contracted organisation, confirming that the breakdown is a true representation of the costs incurred.

You can ask for these costs if you are applying from a university, a not-for-profit organisation or a small company.

Travel costs

Conference attendance

You can ask for a contribution towards the costs of attending scientific and academic meetings and conferences, including registration fees and the costs to offset the carbon emissions of your travel. The limits are:

Lead applicant – £2,000 a year

Co-applicants on your grant – £2,000 each a year

Staff employed on your grant – £1,000 each a year.

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.

Collaborative travel

You can ask for travel and subsistence costs for collaborative visits for you and any staff employed on your grant. You’ll need to justify each visit and its duration.

Other travel

We will pay for other essential visits, for example to facilities, libraries, archives, sample collection and for fieldwork. You can include subsistence costs.

Carbon offset costs

This applies to all types of travel costs Wellcome provides.

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)
• project-related resources or activities that provide an alternative to travel, such as video conferencing, communication and file-sharing software
• costs to offset the carbon emissions of the journeys you make.

We won't pay for the core infrastructure that your host 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
• high-speed broadband
• HD screens.

See our carbon offset policy for travel for information on what you and your organisation need to do.

Subsistence costs

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 administering organisation has a subsistence policy, use their rates.

If your administering organisation doesn’t have a subsistence policy, please 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 your administering and host organisations, or Wellcome, as appropriate. 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 and incidentals.

If you’re away for more than 12 months, 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. Please contact us if you need help calculating the costs.

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.

Overseas research

If you or any research staff employed on your grant will be doing research away from your home laboratory, we'll help with the additional costs of working on the project overseas. Please see the 'Overseas allowances' section for details.

You can ask for these costs if:

• you are applying from a university, a not-for-profit organisation or a small company.
• you or any staff employed on your grant will be spending time in another country. 

If you or any staff employed on your grant will be spending time in another country, we’ll help you with the additional costs of working on the project overseas.

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
• determined by the amount of time you will spend away from your home country.

Carbon offset costs

We expect the people we fund to choose travel that has a lower carbon impact, where practical, even if it’s more expensive (for example travelling by train instead of flying).

You can ask for costs to offset the carbon generated by the travel, as part of your overseas allowances. If carbon offsetting 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 get our approval for other sustainability initiatives to be included in applications.

See our carbon offset policy for travel for information on what you and your organisation need to do.

See a list of low- and middle-income countries, as defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

You can ask for the following allowances. You need to provide estimated costs as accurately as possible.

We cover fieldwork costs if they’re essential and you can justify them. Costs 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
• statistical analysis.

You can ask for other fieldwork costs that aren’t listed here, but you’ll need to justify them.

If you are applying from a university we will add an inflation allowance to your award. 

How we calculate your inflation allowance

Policy from 1 January 2023

We will add an inflation allowance to your award. Your inflation allowance is based on your total eligible costs and the duration of the award.

We will use an inflation allowance that reflects the inflation rate of the country where the host organisation is based using data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). You'll receive the following allowance if the costs in your application are in pounds sterling.

These rates are calculated using compound inflation at 2.0% a year from Year 2 onwards.

If your costs are in any other currency, we will use an inflation allowance that reflects the inflation rate of the country where the host organisation is based.

What to include in your application:

The costs in your application must be based on current known costs, excluding inflation.

You should allow for salary pay awards during Year 1. These should be based on pay awards already agreed; if you don’t know what the pay award is yet then use our inflation rate.

If your organisation receives open access block grant funding, you can ask them to cover your open access article processing charges.

If you're at an organisation that does not receive block grant funding, we’ll supplement your grant when your paper has been accepted for publication.

You cannot ask for these charges in your grant application.

If you need to carry out clinical research 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, 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 would expect you to adhere to the spirit of these principles.

Read more information on our clinical trials policy.

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

You can ask for costs that are essential to the project. These can include:

• materials, including printing and publishing
• other costs relating to engagement activities that are essential to carry out your research, such as collaborating with people with lived experience, patient involvement (including under-served groups) and community engagement
• dissemination of research results and findings arising from Wellcome funded research and workshops.

We will provide funds if you need to outsource project work to:

• contract research organisations
• other fee-for-service providers.

Allowed costs

You may ask for the following costs (you will have to justify them in your application):

• fieldwork costs, including survey and data collection and statistical analysis
• specialist publications that are relevant to the research and not available in institutional libraries
• consultancy fees
• expenses for subjects and volunteers – includes recruitment of participants, their participatory fees and travel, as well as interviewee expenses
• reasonable research-associated costs related to the feedback of health-related findings but not any healthcare-associated costs
• costs associated with developing an outputs management plan
• questionnaires, recruitment material, newsletters etc for clinical, epidemiological and qualitative research studies
• public engagement materials where dissemination (including printing and publishing) is a key activity of the project
• recruitment, advertising and interviewee travel costs for staff to be employed on the grant
• purchase, hire and running costs of project-dedicated vehicles
• project-specific personal protective equipment (PPE) that is above the standard expected for the setting
• costs to host/a contribution towards the cost of hosting:
  • a conference
  • a session within a conference
  • a symposium
  • a seminar series
  • advisory board meetings, if appropriate.
    • The meeting should either be:
      • for research purposes, for example data gathering
      • to disseminate your research findings, for example to policy makers.
    • Costs can include:
      • travel and accommodation for keynote speakers
      • external room hire and catering
      • event publicity and conference materials
      • childcare and other caring responsibility costs for delegates
      • any costs related to accessibility and inclusion.

Disallowed costs

We will not pay for:

• estates costs – such as building and premises costs, basic services and utilities. This also includes phone, postage, photocopying and stationery, unless you can justify these within a clinical or epidemiological study.*
• page charges and the cost of colour prints
• research, technical and administrative staff whose time is shared across several projects and isn’t supported by an audit record*
• PhD stipends
• charge-out costs for major facilities* – departmental technical and administrative services, and use of existing equipment
• cleaning, waste and other disposal costs*

*We will fund these costs in the case of animal-related research.

• indirect costs – this includes general administration costs such as personnel, finance, library, room hire and some departmental services
• office furniture, such as chairs, desks and filing cabinets
• clothing such as lab coats and shoes
• non-research related activities such as catering, room and venue hire for staff parties, team-building events and social activities
• indemnity insurance (insurance cover against claims made by subjects or patients associated with a research programme)
• ethics reviews, unless you are in a low- or middle-income country
• radiation protection costs
• contingency funds
• organisation insurance
• clinical examination or course fees
• working capital costs of commercial organisations.