Join the discovery research conversation

Wellcome has a rich history of supporting discovery research. Now, we’re building on this legacy with a commitment to fund curiosity-based research across a huge breadth of disciplines.

Our ambitions for Discovery Research go hand in hand with strategies to address three urgent health challenges: mental health, infectious disease and climate and health. Here, more targeted support will allow researchers to deliver outcomes on a shorter timescale and with specific outcomes in mind.

Our Discovery Research strategy focuses on research that opens, builds and shapes fields of enquiry, free from the expectation of any immediate impact on health. We’ll be funding great ideas and diverse people and teams, tackling specific barriers and bottlenecks, as well as supporting the tools, technologies and other capabilities that make progress possible. 

Sometimes we will do that through targeted funding, such as our recent joint call with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council or our investment in Born in Bradford, which will develop, implement and evaluate ambitious programmes to improve population health.   

But the mainstay of our approach is our three core discovery research funding schemes, which are open for business.

Our shortlisting committees have assessed hundreds of applications over the past couple of months. We're now looking forward to the first round of in-person interviews that we’ve run since BC – before COVID! We run three rounds each year, and the next deadlines are coming up in June and July. 

There are some changes that make the process stronger, like asking applicants how they will support a positive research culture. But many things remain the same – most of all, our aim to keep the application process as fair and unintimidating as we can make it. 

Recently, it's been my pleasure to get out and visit some universities again, reconnecting with the research community. I’ve met great people and heard about ambitious ideas and creative approaches. 

I’ve also heard some concerns about the scope of our work: rumours that Wellcome doesn't support clinical research anymore, or that we only want to fund teams or eight-year grants. I can assure you that while our new strategy brings focus and some degree of change, we’re just as committed as ever to supporting curiosity-led research of all kinds and in flexible ways.   

To achieve the diversity of ideas and approaches we’re looking to fund, however, we’re looking beyond those who already know Wellcome. That’s why we offered two webinars in May 2022 to explain our goals and processes in more detail for a much wider international audience.

• The first webinar focused on earlier career stages, relevant to our individual Early-Career Awards and Career Development Awards.
• The second webinar was designed for established researchers, as well as teams, who may be more interested in our Discovery Awards.    

Each webinar gives an overview of the role of discovery research within Wellcome’s mission, and provides an opportunity to hear more about how our Discovery Research team wants to work with the research community.   

Wellcome can’t succeed in our mission to improve health through science without all of you, and I am excited about how together we will deliver the discoveries of the future.