Small Grants fund programmes of activities that enable researchers to build professional networks, develop new research agendas and increase the impact of their work.
Flexible, usually 6 to 12 months but can be longer
Who can apply
You can apply for a Small Grant if you're a humanities or social science researcher with a compelling research vision and you want to do one or more of the following:
build your professional network
develop a new research agenda
increase the impact of your work.
You must have a PhD or equivalent and the relevant experience to deliver a programme of activities.
You must be based at a university or other research organisation in the UK, Republic of Ireland or a low- or middle-income country.
Programme of activities
You must propose a programme of events or activities, not one-off events or activities.
The programme could include a combination of different activities. Typical activities are likely to include organising conferences, seminars, meetings or workshops, and any research related to delivering these.
Your activities should bring together people who are relevant to your research, such as academics, policy makers and/or healthcare practitioners.
do an academic course, such as a Master's degree or PhD
extend a current humanities and social science grant to complete activities relating to your original aims – instead, please email hssgrants@wellcome.org
A Small Grant is usually up to £30,000. Grants usually last for six to twelve months but the duration can be flexible, eg for a series of annual conferences.
You should ask for a level and duration of funding that's justifiable for your proposed activities.
Support can include:
You can ask for salary costs for yourself and any staff, full or part time, who will work on your project, provided:
they don't already receive a salary from your organisation
their time can be supported by a full audit trail.
Staff members normally include research assistants employed on your grant. If you’re doing fieldwork or clinical studies in a low- or middle-income country, we’ll consider requests for more research staff.
You will need to be able to justify these costs.
We will pay for the materials and consumables you need to carry out your proposed research, including:
archival photocopying
printing associated with fieldwork and empirical research
materials directly related to hosting workshops and interviews.
Travel costs
You can ask for travel and subsistence costs to cover:
any small-scale projects you carry out during the grant
essential visits to archives and libraries
any collaborative visits for you and any staff employed on your grant.
You’ll need to justify each visit and its duration.
Overseas research
If you or any staff employed on your grant will be doing research away from your host organisation, you can ask for:
outward and return travel costs
subsistence costs (see below for more information)
You should use the most suitable and economical form of travel. Please include a breakdown for each part of your trip eg air fares and number of journeys.
Subsistence costs
If you're working overseas or away from your host organisation for up to one month you can ask for subsistence costs.
These include accommodation, meals and incidentals (eg 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.
Costs you may ask for (you will have to justify these costs in your application):
fieldwork costs, including survey and data collection, and statistical analysis
specialist publications that are relevant to the research and aren’t available in institutional libraries
photocopying of archival documents
expenses for subjects and volunteers – including the 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
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.
Costs we won’t pay:
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*
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, filin cabinets, etc.
clothing such as lab coats, shoes, protective clothing
non-research related activities, eg 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.
You can ask for a contribution towards the cost of hosting:
a conference
a session within a conference
a symposium
a seminar series.
The meeting should either be:
for research purposes eg data gathering
to disseminate the findings from your research.
The meeting can be held in:
the UK
Republic of Ireland
a low- or middle-income country.
Costs can include:
travel and accommodation for keynote speakers
room hire and catering
event publicity
conference pack publication, including name badges
Complete your application on Grant Tracker. Submit it to the 'authorised organisational approver' at your host organisation for approval. Make sure you leave enough time for the approver to review and submit your application before the deadline. The approver may ask you to make changes to your application.
Wellcome staff review applications on a regular basis. There are no interviews. We aim to give you a decision within 18 weeks of receiving your application. In most cases, feedback won’t be provided to unsuccessful applicants.
Few careers are straightforward. Lucy took two years' break from academia, changed disciplines to return – and became a new parent just as she started her postdoc.
