Wellcome Accelerator Awards
This scheme will support researchers of Black, Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage in the UK to undertake activities that put them in a stronger position to reach their next career stage. The funding can be used for research or research-adjacent activities, such as training, secondments, and networking.
Scheme at a glance
- Lead applicant career stage:
- Administering organisation location:
- UK
- Frequency:
- Annual - Until 2028
- Funding amount:
Your salary (if required) and up to £200,000 for project expenses
- Funding duration:
Up to 2 years
- Coapplicants:
- Not accepted
Who can apply
Your background and experience
The lead applicant must:
- Self-identify as being from a:
- Black heritage background, including a mixed heritage background. For example, Black African; Black Caribbean; Black Other; Mixed background (must include Black African, Black Caribbean or other Black backgrounds).
- Bangladeshi heritage background, including a mixed heritage background. For example, Bangladeshi Other; Mixed background (must include Bangladeshi backgrounds).
- Pakistani heritage background, including a mixed heritage background. For example, Pakistani Other; Mixed background (must include Pakistani backgrounds).
- Currently be working in or ordinarily resident in the UK.
- Have completed a substantive period of research training relevant to their discipline; you must have a PhD or equivalent higher research degree. If you have studied for a PhD then you must have completed your viva. You should be able to demonstrate a good understanding of research methodology and evidence of project delivery and analysis.
Read about the different applicant roles at Wellcome.
Where you're based
You must be currently working in or ordinarily resident in the UK.
Your administering organisation must be in the UK.
Your nationality
Any nationality is eligible, as long as you meet the conditions outlined above for the lead applicant.
Other Wellcome awards
You cannot apply for this scheme if you are an early-career researcher or mid-career researcher who already holds another Wellcome award as a lead applicant.
If you already hold other active awards with Wellcome from previous funding opportunities, please refer to our information on applying for and holding multiple Wellcome awards at one time.
Submission of projects that were previously rejected from other Wellcome funding schemes is allowed.
If you've spent time away from research
Career breaks, parental leave, sick leave
You can apply for this award if you have spent time away from research (for example, for a career break, parental leave or long-term sick leave). We will take this into consideration during the review of your application.
Working part-time
Lead applicants can be part-time. There is no formal time contribution, but your part-time work should be compatible with delivering the project successfully.
Who can't apply
You should not apply for this scheme if:
- you do not self-identify as belonging to one of the heritage backgrounds outlined in the ‘Who can apply’ section above
- you are not currently working in or ordinarily resident in the UK
- you have already reached the level of Professorship
Is your organisation right for this scheme?
Type of organisation
You must be based at an eligible host organisation that can sign up to our grant conditions.
It can be a:
- higher education institution
- research institute
- non-academic healthcare organisation
- not-for-profit organisation
Where your administering organisation is based
Your administering organisation must be in the UK.
What your administering organisation must do
Your administering organisation must:
- Meet the responsibilities required by the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers for institutions, managers and researchers.
- Commit to supporting you to complete the funded activities (for example, adjust administrative or teaching requirements, or provide space and resources for a research project).
- Give you ten days a year (pro rata if part-time) to undertake training and continuing professional development (CPD) in line with the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers. This should include the responsible conduct of research, research leadership, people management, diversity and inclusion, and promoting a healthy research culture.
- Provide a system of onboarding, embedding and planning for you when you join the organisation and/or start the award.
If your host organisation is a core-funded research organisation, a Wellcome Accelerator Award should not replace or lead to a reduction in existing or planned core support.
Is your project in scope for this scheme?
What your plan can include
The funding is flexible and can be used for research activities or activities adjacent to research. This includes, but is not limited to:
- developing a novel research idea, pilot, proof-of-concept, or scoping study and gathering related preliminary data
- taking up research skills training opportunities or other appropriate courses
- writing and (co-)authoring papers, books, articles, or funding applications
- research time at another research institution in the UK or abroad
- secondment opportunities for areas allied to research, for example the pharmaceutical industry or NGOs
- planning meetings of collaborative networks or conferences
This is not an exhaustive list of eligible activities. Applicants are encouraged to propose activities they believe will best enable them to reach their next career stage.
If your plan includes research activities, research in any discipline is permitted but must align with Wellcome’s Discovery Research remit.
If your plan includes research-adjacent activities, they must either:
- be related to human life, health and/or wellbeing, for example writing a book or research article about human health, or doing a secondment at a pharmaceutical company, or
- be supporting you to pursue a research career related to human life, health and/or wellbeing, for example attending relevant training that will build the skills you need or make your profile more competitive in this field.
This award is designed to support successful career progression. Please refer to the assessment criteria below for further information on how applications will be assessed.
Research costs we'll cover
We will provide your salary if:
- You do not have a post, or
- You have a temporary or fixed-term post with less than two years remaining on your contract.
You can only receive one salary.
We will fund the total cost of your salary for the entire period of the grant.
Your salary should be based on the pay scales of the host organisation that will be employing you. It should include:
- your basic salary
- 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.
You should not include:
- any potential promotion costs
- any Wellcome fellowship supplement that was part of a previous grant.
You should only 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 of 2.04%.
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.
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
- 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'.
Research/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 Accelerator 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.
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:
- basic salary
- 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 have to move to take up the post at your administering organisation, you can ask for up to £1,000. This is to cover personal removal costs only.
You will have to explain in your application why you need this.
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.
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 of 12 months duration or more only and
- working on Wellcome funded awards for at least 50% full time equivalent.
Research skills training
You can ask for costs to cover training for technical and research skills you wish to develop, relative to the area of research you are in.
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
Your chosen research environment should have the necessary equipment for you to complete your work. You can ask for additional 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.
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:
- estates and utilities,
- 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:
- 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:
- research organisation that does not receive core funding for overheads
- charitable or not-for-profit organisation
You can also ask for overheads on any part of your grant that is sub-contracted to any of the organisations listed above. This also includes universities outside of the UK or Republic of Ireland.
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 for organisations based in a low- or middle-income country
- 15% of the direct research costs for organisations 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 a contribution towards the costs of attending scientific and academic meetings and conferences, including registration fees. The limits are:
Grantholder – £2,000 a year
We provide costs to cover caring responsibilities if you attend a conference. This includes childcare and any other caring responsibility you have.
Collaborative travel
You can ask for travel and subsistence costs for collaborative visits 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, for 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:
- essential travel costs, even if the low carbon option is 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 generated by the essential travel. 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 before submitting an application.
We won't pay for the core infrastructure that your host organisation should provide, 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 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 will be spending time in another country, we'll help with the additional costs of working on the project overseas. Please see the 'Overseas allowances' section for details.
If you 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.
If you will be away more than 12 months, we will provide overseas allowances for your partner and any dependants if they are travelling with you.
If you will be away for 12 months or less and can justify why your partner and dependants must travel with you, we may provide overseas allowances for them.
We define your partner as the person:
- you’re married to
- you’re not married to but with whom you’ve been in a relationship for at least a year
and
- you live with at the same permanent address and share some form of joint financial commitment with, such as a mortgage.
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 will pay your travel costs at the beginning and end of your overseas work. Costs can be for air, ferry, train or coach fares.
All fares should be:
- in line with our carbon offset policy
- booked in advance where possible.
If you are away for up to 12 months, you can ask for up to 80kg of additional baggage or unaccompanied airline freight for your outward and return journeys.
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 (20ft) if you’re travelling with a partner and/or dependants.
We will pay the cost of your medical insurance and travel insurance.
If you will be working in a low- or middle-income country we will also cover the cost of emergency evacuation cover.
We won’t pay for medical insurance if you will be based in the UK.
We will pay the costs of visas, vaccinations and anti-malaria treatment.
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. 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’re away for more than 12 months we will pay:
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.
Costs include:
- 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 school 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.
The allowance covers:
- up to a maximum of £30,000 a year for each child for the published termly fees only
- the cost of return airfares at the start and end of each school term, in line with our carbon offset policy for travel.
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.
If you will be away for more than 12 months, we’ll pay for you to travel back to the UK for annual leave. This is in addition to your outward and return travel costs and depends on how long you will be away:
- 12-24 months – 1 annual leave trip
- 25-36 months – 2 annual leave trips
All fares should be:
- in line with our carbon offset policy
- booked in advance where possible.
If you will be away for more than 12 months, you can ask for up to 100 hours of lessons in the local language for you and/or your partner during the first 12 months of your visit.
We will cover 100% of the costs for local language school classes or up to 50% of the costs of individual tuition.
We will not cover the cost of examinations or personal learning materials such as DVDs and books.
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.
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.
You'll receive the following allowance if the costs in your application are in pounds sterling.
Award duration (in months) | Inflation allowance |
---|---|
0-12 | 0.0% |
13-24 | 1.2% |
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 of 2.04%.
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.
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.
For more information, please refer to our guidance on using an engaged research approach.
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,
- 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*
- 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
- cleaning, waste and other disposal costs*
- 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.
*We will fund these costs in the case of animal-related research.
How to apply
Where to apply
You need to apply for this scheme on the Wellcome Funding Platform. Get some tips to help you write your grant application.
Information you need to provide
You need to answer questions about:
- your career to date, including your research contributions
- your proposed activity
- the requested costs for your proposal
How long it takes to apply
You must leave enough time for:
- you to complete the application and submit it to your organisation
- your organisation to review and submit the application
Getting support with your application
We offer disability-related support for applicants. Read the disability-related support guidance if you:
- are disabled or have a long-term health condition and you need help applying for funding
- need to defer your application
- need help completing your project, for example costs for assistive technology
If you need help with anything else, contact fundingsupport@wellcome.org.
How applications are assessed
Essential criteria and weighting
Project plan and career ambitions (70%)
- Career vision: You have carefully considered and described your short-medium term (three to five year) career ambitions.
- Project plan: You have proposed a clear and compelling plan for using the funding that is detailed and feasible within the time and budget requested to support your career vision.
- Career ambitions: You have provided a convincing justification for how your project will help you reach your next career stage and realise your short-medium term career ambitions.
Applicant’s Track Record (30%)
- Your contributions to the generation, dissemination, or translation of knowledge within your field and your impact within (and out) your field of research.
- Your contributions to the wider research community, including teaching, engagement, mentorship, leadership, training, and other service forms.
Webinar
Watch the recording of our funding webinar below to hear more about the Accelerator Awards, who's eligible and how to apply, as well as a questions and answers session.
Application process timeline
You must submit your application by 17:00 BST on the deadline day. We don’t accept late applications.
- 8 May 2024
Information webinar
- 18 June 2024
Full application deadline
- September 2024
Final funding decisions
More information about this scheme
Researchers of Black, Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage in the UK are currently underrepresented in research funding and experience higher rates of career attrition. The Accelerator Awards provide flexible funding for research or research-adjacent activities such as training, secondments, and networking. Awarded researchers will undertake activities that help them build a stronger profile to make successful career transitions.
At the end of their Accelerator Award, researchers should be better positioned to advance their career to the next stage by attracting research funding (from Wellcome or elsewhere), gaining promotion, positions, and recognition, and developing their professional profile.
Contact us
If you have a question about eligibility, what we offer or completing the application form, contact our funding information advisers:
If you have a question about your proposal or the remit of the funding scheme, please contact us at researchenvironment@wellcome.org with the subject line 'Accelerator Awards'.
We do not answer questions on the scope or competitiveness of proposals.