Establishing infrastructure hubs to power evidence synthesis in low- and middle-income countries

Wellcome will fund five new global infrastructure hubs to enable more timely, relevant and affordable AI-enabled evidence synthesis to address policy-scale challenges. This is part of Wellcome’s first series of Evidence Synthesis Infrastructure Collaborative (ESIC) investments.

The hubs will establish foundational evidence synthesis capabilities that can be used to address Wellcome’s strategic priorities in global health.   

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Call at a glance 

Lead applicant career stage:
Established researcher
Administering organisation location:
Low- or middle-income countries (apart from mainland China)
Frequency:
One-off
Funding amount:

£1.5 to £1.9 million

We expect to make 5 awards in this competitive funding call. 
 

Funding duration:

3-5 years

Coapplicants:
Required

Next deadline

Calculating next key date…
Application process timeline

Who can apply 

You can apply to this call if you are a team of researchers, existing or new: 

  • with demonstrated expertise in evidence synthesis production, use and dissemination
  • from eligible organisations
  • based anywhere in the world (apart from mainland China) with the lead applicant based in a low- and middle-income country

We encourage applications from teams that:

  • bring a diversity of expertise and perspectives, with interdisciplinary collaborations that cover multiple areas
  • include researchers at various career stages, from experienced to early-career  

Your experience

The team must: 

  • Include the necessary expertise, technical skills and organisational support to deliver the proposed research and any other expertise relevant, including but not limited to: 
    • evidence producers
    • evidence methodologists
    • evidence intermediaries 
    • technologists
    • decision makers (for example, policymakers and citizens)
  • Include either a lead applicant or coapplicants based in each country where the research will take place.
  • Include at least one applicant with significant demonstrated health expertise.

  • Include at least one applicant with significant demonstrated expertise in the proposed sector. We expect teams to focus on and have expertise in one of these policy sectors:

    • food systems
    • humanitarian assistance
    • economic growth
    • peace and effective institutions
    • social protection 

    These policy sectors are aligned to one or more of the pillars of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which provide the organising framework used by ESIC’s partner, the Global SDG Synthesis Coalition.

  • Be of an appropriate size for the proposed research. Teams must consist of at least four applicants (including the lead applicant) and must not exceed eight applicants (collaborators are not included in this count of applicants).
  • Actively foster a diverse, inclusive and supportive research environment.
  • Actively align with principles set out in the ESIC ‘Equity Companion’ document, including but not limited to:
    • adequate representation that is reflective of diverse needs and contexts
    • equitable allocation of resources (such as research budget)
    • recognition of diverse forms of evidence
    • production and use of evidence that is accessible to a wider range of actors

The lead applicant must:

  • Be based at an organisation in an LMIC. 
  • Have demonstrated expertise in evidence synthesis production, use and dissemination in their chosen sector.
  • Have the experience needed to drive and lead a collaborative, large-scale research project and the necessary support structures in place to enable this, including demonstrated experience working and engaging with multiple evidence synthesis stakeholders.
  • Have a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract, or the guarantee of one, for the duration of the award. The contract should not be conditional on receiving this award. Lead applicants with less than three years remaining on their contract at the point of application must have secured their next position at an eligible organisation and provide a letter of support from them. 
  • Be based at an eligible organisation that can sign up to our grant conditions.

Read more about when lead applicants can request salary costs, and what other costs can be covered.

Coapplicants can be based at the same or different organisations as other applicants, including in different countries and anywhere in the world (apart from mainland China). They can be at any career stage and come from any relevant discipline. Up to seven coapplicants may apply per team.

Each coapplicant must: 

  • Be essential for the delivery of the project and make a significant contribution, for example in designing the proposed research and leading a specific component of the project.
  • Have a guarantee of space from their administering organisation for the duration of their commitment to the project. They do not need to have a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract.
  • Be based at an eligible organisation that can sign up to our grant conditions. This can include as a sole trader or self-employed person’s business.

Read more about when coapplicants can request salary, and what other costs can be covered.

Collaborators support the delivery of the project but don't lead on a specific component of the research. For example, collaborators could support by:

  • sharing facilities 
  • providing access to resources
  • providing expertise on working in different countries
  • sharing subject-specific knowledge and guidance 

Collaborators do not have to meet eligibility requirements, and they are not included in the minimum or maximum number of applicants in your team.

Collaborators cannot receive a salary or compensation for the time spent on the proposed project. You can request costs to cover their expenses, for example, for their grant-related travel and the costs associated with providing the agreed input into the research, including the materials and consumables involved. These should be costs directly related to the research.

Read about the different applicant roles at Wellcome.

If you’ve spent time away from research

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.

Retirement

If you have retired, you must contact us before applying. You must have a guarantee of space from your administering organisation for the duration of the award.

Working part-time

Lead and coapplicants can be part-time. Their part-time work should be compatible with delivering the project successfully.

Who can't apply 

You should not apply for this call if: 

  • you intend to carry out activities which involve the transfer of funds into mainland China 
  • you cannot demonstrate that you can dedicate enough time and resources to the project, if funded 
  • you are already an applicant on two applications for this funding call: 
    • you can only be a lead applicant on one application and a coapplicant on another one

    • you can be a coapplicant on two applications 

      You must demonstrate that you have sufficient capacity for both projects if funded. The applications should be for different projects with no overlap of activities.

  • you already have applied for, or hold, the maximum number of Wellcome awards
  • you are a member of the ESIC Steering Group

Find out how many Wellcome awards you can apply for, or hold, at one time.

Check what kinds of research project aren’t right for this award.

Is your organisation right for this call? 

The administering organisation is where the lead applicant is based. It is responsible for submitting your final application to Wellcome and managing the finances of the grant if it is awarded.

The administering organisation must be able to sign up to Wellcome’s grant conditions.

Where your administering organisation is based

The administering organisation must be based in a low- and middle income country and not in mainland China.

The administering organisation can be a: 

  • higher education institution
  • research institute
  • healthcare organisation
  • not-for-profit or non-governmental research organisation 

Commercial organisations are not eligible to apply as administering organisations for this call. However, coapplicants and collaborators can be based at commercial organisations. 

Multilateral organisations may be eligible to apply to this funding call. Please contact us if you are looking to apply from a multilateral organisation. If your organisation is confirmed as eligible, proposals must meet all funding call requirements, including submission of an application form.   

Organisations must guarantee that the space and resources applicants need have been agreed and will be made available to them from the start date through to the end date of the award. 

Collaboration agreements

If the application involves a collaboration or partnership between multiple organisations, the partners must enter into a suitable collaboration agreement, including provisions that cover:

  • confidentiality
  • publication rights
  • access to background intellectual property
  • ownership of foreground intellectual property
  • arrangements for the protection, management and exploitation of foreground intellectual property 

The lead applicant’s administering organisation is required under our grant conditions to own all the foreground intellectual property arising from the project and to take the lead in any commercialisation activity. For guidance, read Wellcome's intellectual property policy.

Your research environment

Wellcome believes that a diversity of people and expertise leads to richer understanding and more impactful discoveries. Excellent research happens in environments where people from all backgrounds are treated with respect, are supported and enabled to thrive.  

Our definition of a research environment is not limited to the quality of the infrastructure but also considers the culture and behaviours that create excellent research practice. This includes research that is inclusive in design and practice, ethical and engaged with relevant community stakeholders, as well as open and transparent.

Read guidance on how to talk about research environment in your application.

Is your research right for this call? 

What your research proposal must include

This call will fund the development of global evidence infrastructure hubs. These hubs will establish foundational living evidence synthesis capabilities in key sectors that can support health research and health policy. We are looking to specifically address health research and policy that is related to challenges in either Climate and Health, Infectious Disease, Mental Health or Discovery Research. Teams are expected to focus on at least one but may also respond to multiple of these areas. No preference is given to applicants based on which area(s) they address or whether they address more than one.  

Your research proposal must include:

1. Creating a new global evidence infrastructure hub OR building on an existing global evidence infrastructure hub. 

2. A focus on one of the following five sectors that can be leveraged to advance health research, as well as to advance sector-specific research:

  • food systems
  • humanitarian assistance
  • economic growth
  • peace and effective institutions

  • social protection 

    These policy sectors are aligned to one or more of the pillars of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which provide the organising framework used by ESIC’s partner, the Global SDG Synthesis Coalition.

3. A clear connection to at least one of Wellcome’s strategic priorities of Climate and Health, Mental Health, Infectious Disease or Discovery Research.

4. A clear demonstration of how the evidence synthesis infrastructure will be applied to at least one health challenge, for example:

  • the health co-benefits of climate-linked transitions to sustainable food systems
  • reduction of emerging infectious disease outbreaks during humanitarian crises
  • strengthening interventions for depression, as well as on trust and social inclusion 

5. How the research will connect to the development and maintenance of sector-specific living evidence synthesis infrastructure, which includes: 

  • sector-specific taxonomy 
  • living evidence maps
  • policy-scale AI-enabled Living Evidence Syntheses (LES), for example, living systematic reviews 
  • dynamic user-focused question banks 
  • tracking of ‘windows of opportunity’ 
  • data repository that can contribute to and leverage ESIC’s open data system for evidence synthesis 
  • protocol registry, and movement towards full coverage of policy-scale high-priority questions and advice for next-generation research 

6. The contributions your research will make to developing cross-sectoral standards for policy-scale AI-enabled LES, developing any required sector-specific variants, and addressing local, regional or global crises. 

7. A diverse set of interest holders contributing to co-production, testing and piloting of evidence synthesis infrastructure, including but not limited to: 

  • evidence producers and methodologists
  • evidence intermediaries and support units 
  • evidence users, including the UN and other multilateral bodies, government policymakers and science advisors 
  • citizen-serving and citizen-led NGOs  

8. A plan with steps to actively employ the ESIC collective impact approach, including: 

  • leveraging existing and upcoming parts of the ESIC infrastructure including the regional hubs, open data system, living inventory of AI-enabled digital evidence synthesis tools
  • contributing to the ESIC monitoring, evaluation and learning process 
  • participating in methods and process innovation and sharing
  • supporting capacity sharing among synthesis producers and evidence intermediaries  

9. How you plan to adhere to and promote open science principles, including open source technology and open data standards (for example, FAIR) access standards for equitable data sharing and reusing, including metadata standards to facilitate data identification and discoverability. 

10. How you plan to develop and apply AI to evidence infrastructure in line with the RAISE guidance on responsible AI use in evidence synthesis. 

What your research proposal must not include

Your research proposal must not include the development of:

  • evidence synthesis infrastructure that is not relevant or applicable to health and/or Wellcome’s strategic priorities (Climate and Health, Infectious Disease, Mental Health)
  • multiple infrastructure hubs
  • an evidence synthesis infrastructure hub in a sector already addressed by previous ESIC investments (for example, climate solutions (DESTINY and SOLACE-AI), education, crime and justice, environment and sustainable development) 

How applications are assessed 

All applications will be evaluated using the same weighted assessment criteria.

Essential criteria and weightings

Research team (25% weighting)

  • the team composition includes an appropriate combination of individual and organisations with the capacity, skills and experience to deliver the project and its intended outcomes
  • roles and responsibilities are clearly defined and each coapplicant has a distinct responsibility necessary to the proposed research
  • the team demonstrates evidence of successful partnerships across the entire evidence lifecycle, including evidence production, technology development and implementation, and evidence use in decision-making, for instance policy
  • the leadership and management approach is clear, inclusive and well-balanced, including well articulated governance structures that avoid overly top-down models and foster equitable collaboration, shared decision-making and capacity sharing
  • there is evidence of strong institutional support and alignment with long-term ESIC priorities and vision

Commitment to Equity (25% weighting) 

  • the proposed research meaningfully engages and works with Global South evidence leaders and demonstrates clear strategies to address capacity gaps
  • there is evidence of stakeholders and impacted communities contributing to the research design and decision-making, and their involvement is clearly shown throughout the lifespan of the proposed activities
  • the project responds to the needs, interests and capacities of the stakeholders and impacted communities
  • partnerships are mutually beneficial and have equitable resource allocation
  • there is strong evidence of commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion and specifically to principles outlined in the ESIC Equity framework, including representation of diverse voices and perspectives through inclusive participation

Research proposal (25% weighting) 

  • the research approach and methods are innovative and feasible for achieving the proposed objectives
  • the proposed research employs best-practice methods in evidence synthesis, centering rigor, transparency and reproducibility
  • the proposal demonstrates the importance of the work in the context of synthesising evidence to address the most urgent health impacts in the most affected geographies
  • the anticipated outcomes contribute meaningfully to improving evidence-based health decision-making at multiple levels (for example, community, regional, national)
  • the proposed research aligns with ESIC’s current and future investments, centres ESIC’s collective impact mission and leverages opportunities outlined in the ESIC Roadmap
  • the proposal clearly demonstrates how the research will contribute to ESIC’s shared goals and collaborative infrastructure 
  • the development and deployment of AI-enabled infrastructure drives innovation while ensuring equity, transparency and trustworthiness
  • the proposal includes AI risk mitigation strategies and ethical safeguards to ensure responsible use of AI

Research and policy impact (25% weighting) 

  • the proposed work fills a clearly defined evidence gap in the relevant sector
  • research outputs are designed to meet an identified demand for evidence from stakeholders and decision makers 
  • the research will lead to actionable evidence to support policy and practice, with a clear and credible theory of change outlining the pathway from research to impact
  • plans for engaging policy makers, practitioners, existing and future ESIC investments and other end-users and decision-makers are well-developed 
  • the proposal demonstrates potential for significant impact on policy and practice in Wellcome’s strategic priorities (Climate and Health, Infectious Disease, Mental Health or Discovery Research)

Research costs we'll cover 

Lead applicant

You must contribute at least 10% of your research time to the award in order to claim a contribution to your salary. 

You can ask for a contribution to your salary if you work for a: 

  • higher education institute 
  • research institute 
  • healthcare organisation 
  • charity 
  • non-governmental organisation 

If you work for a higher education institute, research institute, or healthcare organisation, we will only pay your salary if you hold a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract that states that you must get your salary from external grant funding. Your administering organisation must confirm:

  • that you must get salary recovery from external grant funding
  • they will guarantee to provide salary support, including any salary not covered by Wellcome, if you cannot get it from other sources for the period of time that you will be working on the grant

In all cases, 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.

Coapplicants

Coapplicants must contribute at least 10% of their research time to the award in order to claim a contribution to their salary.

Coapplicants employed by higher education institutes, research institutes or healthcare organisations
  1. Coapplicants with permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contracts

    Coapplicants with these contract types can ask for a contribution to their salary if their employment contract states that they must  get their salary from external grant funding.

    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. The coapplicant’s employing organisation must confirm: 

    • that they must get salary recovery from external grant funding
    • they will guarantee to provide salary support, including any salary costs not covered by Wellcome, for the period of time that the person will be working on the grant
  2. Coapplicants who don’t have permanent, open ended or long-term rolling contracts

    Coapplicants without a permanent, open ended or long-term rolling contract can request salary depending on the amount of their time they will spend on the grant:

    • Less than 80% of coapplicant’s time on the grant: they can request salary proportionate to the time they will spend on the grant (minimum 10% research time). Their organisation must guarantee space and salary support if they cannot get it from other sources for the period of time they are working on the grant. Their post cannot be dependent on the application being successful.
    • 80% or more of coapplicant’s time on the grant: they can ask for their full salary. Their organisation does not have to guarantee salary support if salary cannot be obtained from other sources for the period of time they are working on the grant. The post can be dependent on the application being successful.
    • If the coapplicants are employed on the award as research assistants and they are to spend 100% of their time on the award, their post does not need to be underwritten by the administering organisation and can be dependent on the application being successful.

    Alternatively, coapplicants may get their salary through employment on another grant.

Coapplicants employed by charities, social enterprises, non-governmental organisations or commercial organisations

Coapplicants can ask for salary if they are employed by these organisations. Coapplicants must contribute at least 10% of their research time to the award. The amount we pay will be proportionate to the time they will contribute to the award. Their employment contract does not need to state that they must get their salary from external grant funding.   

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
  • experts with lived experience
  • specialist service staff and technical experts, for example in environmental sustainability, 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

Teaching buyout

Humanities and social science researchers can ask for funds for research or teaching replacement to cover the cost of a temporary replacement lecturer. They 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

Researchers who already get buyout costs from another grant (funded by Wellcome or elsewhere) can ask us for this cost, but only for the period of time on the award when they won't receive buyout costs from another grant.

Researchers must provide a letter from their employing organisation, confirming that their contract includes a teaching commitment. They should include this in the grant application.

PhD/Research Masters fees

We do not provide studentships on this award. But if applicants employ research staff, including technicians, on the grant they can ask for the costs to cover their PhD/Research Masters fees. Each applicant can ask for fees for up to two research staff in total on the grant, to a maximum of eight per team. Research staff should be hired to undertake specific research activities on the grant and we will cover the fees for their PhD/Research Masters studies.

Early-career applicants (up to and including holders of early-career fellowships) may not supervise a PhD student alone but can be a co-supervisor with a mid-career or established colleague. If fees are not requested at the application stage, grant funds cannot be repurposed for them during the award. 

Research staff should be defined as staff members and incur a lower fee than the student rate. Where organisations do not have a staff rate, they may request fees at the home student rate. If no other rate is available, they may request the international student rate.

Staff salaries should be appropriate to skills, responsibilities and expertise. Organisations should 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 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 organisations we fund.

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 or a member of staff working on your grant is disabled or has a long-term health condition, you can ask for adjustment support to help you carry out your project.

Costs can include, but are not limited to:

  • additional costs for staff to help with day-to-day activities related to your project
  • assistive technology to help use computers, research equipment or materials – for example, text to audio software
  • care costs for assistance animals if you need to travel.

We will not pay for capital or building costs, such as access ramps.

You can ask for these costs if your government and/or employer:

  • does not cover any of the costs
  • only covers some of the costs (if they do, we will only meet the shortfall).

The costs we provide must not replace the support you may get from the government or your organisation, who are responsible for providing these costs.

If you don't know what these costs are now, you can ask for them after we've awarded your grant.

We will pay for the materials and consumables you need to carry out your project, including:

  • printing associated with fieldwork and empirical research
  • associated charges for shipping, delivery and freight.

We will provide funds if you need to outsource specialised elements of the project to organisations that are not already involved as applicants or collaborators, on a fee-for-service basis. This work can include:

  • undertaking large scale data analysis 

Where multiple Contract Research Organisations are involved in a project, use a separate line item to request costs relating to each one. 

Contract research organisations must be able to sign up to our grant conditions.

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

Equipment purchase

You can ask for the equipment you need to carry out your project where:

  • it is not available at your administering organisation or through collaborations, and
  • you will be the main user, with priority access to it. At least 50% of the use must be for Wellcome-funded activities. This can include small multi-use pieces of equipment such as desktop microscopes or shakers.

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

You can purchase second-hand equipment if it is more environmentally sustainable to do so.

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

Equipment maintenance

We will cover maintenance costs for equipment that is:

  • funded by us or another source
  • essential to the proposed project
  • five years old, or will become five years old during the lifetime of the grant
  • cost effective and environmentally sustainable to keep maintaining it

Equipment maintenance can be requested for small pieces of equipment with multiple users if at least 50% of the use is for Wellcome-funded activities, and there is no mechanism in place to recoup these costs through access charges.

We will not provide maintenance support where there is a mechanism in place to recoup costs through access charges for all other equipment.

Computer equipment

We will cover the cost of:

  • one personal computer or laptop per person working on the grant. The cost should be reasonable, in line with market rates, and justified in the context of the research.
  • software, software licences and other recurring computing costs linked to the project
  • Electronic Research Notebooks (ERN) / Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) software on a per user, per year basis for the duration of a Wellcome project and for Electronic Research Notebook or Electronic Lab Notebook software approved for use by your organisation. You cannot claim costs for Electronic Research Notebook or Electronic Lab Notebook hardware or organisation-wide Electronic Research Notebook or Electronic Lab Notebook software beyond a per user, per year basis on your project.

We won't pay for:

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

You can ask for these costs if you are applying from a:

  • higher education institution
  • research institute
  • healthcare organisation
  • charity, social enterprise or non-governmental research organisation
  • small company

Environmentally conscious travel

Travel on grants should be done in an environmentally conscious way, in line with our environmental sustainability funding policy. You should consider if you could meet your trip’s objectives using video conferencing, hybrid meetings or virtual attendance.

Where travel is necessary, 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)
  • economy flights when train journeys are over 10 hours, or not possible due to availability, safety, or visa permit reasons, or in exceptional circumstances such as a disability, long-term health condition or caring requirements necessitating faster travel. We will not pay for business class flights.
  • project-related resources or activities that provide an alternative to travel, such as video conferencing, communication and file-sharing software
  • costs to mitigate the carbon emissions of the essential travel by purchasing accredited carbon credits. If carbon mitigation 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 contact us for approval before submitting your application.

We won't pay for the core infrastructure that your administering 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

Conference attendance

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

  • Lead applicant – £2,000 a year
  • Coapplicants – £2,000 each a year
  • Research and technical staff employed on your grant – £1,000 each a year

You can ask for the cost of accredited carbon credits to mitigate the emissions from conference travel in addition to these limits.

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.

Other essential travel

You can ask for travel and subsistence costs for collaborative visits for you, any coapplicants and any staff employed on your grant to visit collaborators (or for them to visit you), and for other essential visits, for example to facilities, for sample collection and for field work. You’ll need to justify each visit and its duration.

Subsistence costs

Up to one month

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.

1 to 12 months

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 the administering and employing organisations, or Wellcome, as needed. 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.

More than 12 months

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 organisation, we'll help with the additional costs of working on the project overseas. Read the 'Overseas allowances' section for details.

You can ask for these costs if you are applying from a:

  • higher education institution
  • research institute
  • healthcare organisation
  • charity, social enterprise or non-governmental research organisation
  • small company

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). We will not pay for business class flights.

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.

Read our environmental sustainability funding policy for what you and your organisation can 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.
     

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. We will not pay for business class flights.

All fares should be:

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 or Republic of Ireland.

We will pay the costs of visas, vaccinations and anti-malaria treatment.

You can ask for this if you’ll be based in a low- or middle-income country and it is necessary.

Costs can include guards, panic buttons and alarms. You should ask your employing organisation for advice on the level of security you need.

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:

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 your home country 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
  • 37-48 months – 3 annual leave trips
  • 49-60 months – 4 annual leave trips

All fares should be:

We will not pay for business class flights.
 

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 apps, DVDs and books.

You should ask for the necessary costs to integrate key stakeholders’ perspectives across the life cycle of your project, from agenda setting, funding, and research design to implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. You cannot ask for costs for any activities that take place before the grant start date. 

Costs can include, but are not limited to:

  • compensation for stakeholders’ time and expertise
  • recruitment of participants, participatory fees, travel and other reasonable expenses
  • incentives and recognition for involvement for example, gift cards, one-off awards. These must be aligned with our Research involving human participants policy and avoid undue inducement to take part.
  • engagement professionals, for example community outreach coordinators, patient advocates, engaged research advisory board, lived experience experts
  • room hire, catering and other associated costs of running interviews, workshops, focus groups, partnership building and other activities to integrate stakeholder voices into your research
  • translation services, accessibility costs, survey tools to facilitate inclusive knowledge sharing
  • monitoring and evaluation activities

For more information, read our guidance on using an engaged research approach.

You can ask for costs associated with disseminating research results and findings from Wellcome-funded research, including podcasts, media outreach, websites and talks.

For costs associated with written publications, consult our open access policy.

You can ask for overheads if your administering organisation is a: 

  • higher education institution, healthcare organisation or research institute outside the UK
  • UK research organisation that does not receive core funding for overheads
  • charity, non-profit or non-governmental research organisation
  • social enterprise or small or medium-sized commercial organisation

UK universities and large commercial organisations cannot ask for overheads.

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 costs requested in your application. 

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

Sub-awarding

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

How to apply for these costs

In your grant application, you must include a letter from your Finance Director stating how the overhead costs have been calculated.

If your organisation has an externally audited or otherwise verified methodology for calculating overhead rates, then the letter must include:

  • confirmation of the validated rate
  • how the rate was arrived at/who provided the rate
  • when the rate was last reviewed
  • where details of the rate can be found

If your organisation does not have an externally audited or otherwise verified methodology for calculating overhead rates, then the letter must include:

  • a breakdown of the costs requested
  • confirmation that the request is a true representation of the costs incurred
     

You can ask for these costs if you are applying from a:

  • higher education institution
  • research institute
  • healthcare organisation
  • charity, social enterprise or non-governmental research organisation
  • small company

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
  • understanding and reducing the environmental impact of research

We expect the employing 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 lead applicants, coapplicants 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

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 lead applicants, coapplicants 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

You will need to justify these costs in your application.
 

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.

How we calculate your inflation allowance

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 administering 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.

Award duration (in months)Inflation allowance
0-120.00%
13-241.00%
25-362.01%
37-483.04%
49-604.08%

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 the IMF rate for the currency your award will be made in.

Allowed costs

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

  • specialist publications that are relevant to the research and not available in institutional libraries
  • consultancy fees, including for lived experience experts and where such fees are required to receive advice on a specific aspect of your proposed work which cannot be provided by anyone involved in the application
  • ethics approval costs where these are charged by the approval body and they are a direct cost of the research. We will only pay the actual cost of the review. We will not pay a percentage cost of the grant.
  • 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, and newsletters 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 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:

  • phone, postage, photocopying and stationery, unless you can justify these within a clinical or epidemiological study
  • page charges and the cost of colour prints
  • PhD stipends
  • 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) unless it is for a clinical trial and the insurance is a direct cost of the research
  • radiation protection costs
  • contingency funds
  • organisation insurance
  • clinical examination or course fees
  • working capital costs of commercial organisations
  • engagement activities that do not support an engaged approach to research or for one-off events/exhibitions

We will only fund these costs in the case of animal-related research and/or where we are providing overheads:

  • estates costs – such as building and premises costs, basic services and utilities (if your organisation uses full economic costing methodology)
  • research, technical and administrative staff whose time is shared across several projects and isn’t supported by an audit record
  • cleaning, waste and other disposal costs
     

How to apply 

Where to apply

Apply for this scheme on the Wellcome Funding platform. You will need to log in or create an account. You can save your application and return to it at any time. View the sample application form.

Get some tips to help you write your grant application.

Start your application

Information you need to provide

As well as answering the application questions, you will need to provide: 

  • A statement of up to 250 words on how your proposed work will align with current and future ESIC investments and the ESIC Roadmap, and how you will employ a collective impact approach in your work. Upload these in the 'additional information' section of the application form. This statement will not count towards your two-page A4 limit for additional information.

Timing considerations for your application

You must leave enough time for:

  • reading all the information on this page before applying 
  • you and all coapplicants to complete the application
  • your administering organisation to review and offer feedback on your application, and for you to complete any suggested changes 
  • the organisational approver at your administering organisation to have time to approve and submit your application to Wellcome by 15:00 BST on 7 May 2026

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 further support with completing your application or need to request an extension to the deadline, please contact us.

If this is your organisation’s first time applying for Wellcome funding

If this is your organisation’s first time applying for Wellcome funding, you will need to request an organisation account. We recommend that your organisation does this as soon as possible and at least one week before the deadline.

  • name
  • address
  • country
  • team email address for the people who will approve and submit your application (this is usually a research management team)

We will create the organisation account and provide access to the approvers. Review our guidance for research offices.

Application process

Before you apply 

Submit your application to your administering organisation for approval 

  • Complete your application form on Wellcome Funding Platform.
  • Submit your completed application form to the organisational approver at your administering 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. 

Administering organisation approves and submits it to Wellcome 

  • Your application must be submitted by 15:00 BST on the deadline day. We do not accept late applications.
  • We will check your eligibility for the call and that your proposed research is within the call’s scope. If your application is ineligible or your proposed research does not meet the aims of the funding call, we will withdraw your application and notify you of this.
  • Wellcome staff will review applications against the assessment criteria.
  • If your application is shortlisted, your application will proceed to the next stage.

Committee review  

  • A committee will review proposals and make funding recommendations to Wellcome.
  • Committee members will be chosen based on their expertise within the relevant research field. Committee membership will be comprised of a diverse range of international members and will take into account Wellcome’s diversity and inclusion priorities.
  • Once the committee has been appointed, we will update this webpage to include its details.  

Funding decision 

  • Final funding decisions will be made by Wellcome.
  • You will receive an email notification of the funding decision soon after the decision has been made in July 2026.

Key dates 

You must submit your application by 15:00 BST on the deadline day. We don’t accept late applications.

Open to applications

  1. 18 March 2026

    Webinar

    Register for the webinar
  2. 7 April 2026

    Scope check deadline

  3. 7 May 2026

    Application deadline

  4. June 2026

    Committee review

  5. July 2026

    Decision

More information about this funding call 

What is ESIC and why is Wellcome launching this call?  

In September 2024, Wellcome announced its commitment of £45 million to transform evidence synthesis – to make AI-powered living evidence synthesis more timely, relevant and affordable. Using a collective impact approach, the Evidence Synthesis Infrastructure Collaborative (ESIC) will deliver actionable insights served up in different ways for different decision makers, sectors, regions and languages. 

Since then, a ‘communities of communities’ funded by Wellcome, co-designed a Roadmap for ESIC. This Roadmap has set out the recommended solutions for an evidence synthesis infrastructure that allows for faster, cheaper and more useful synthesis. The Roadmap was developed by a Governance planning group and five working groups in:

  • demand side engagement 
  • data sharing and reusing  
  • safe and responsible AI  
  • methods and process innovations 
  • capacity sharing 

This Roadmap called for greater investment and capacity sharing in and between sectors, particularly where persistent evidence and capability gaps exist to tackle society’s most pressing challenges including those such as emerging infections, rising global temperatures and mental health crises. The Roadmap also recommended that capacity sharing for evidence synthesis should be led by Global South innovation and partnerships. 

In September 2025, the ESIC Funders Interest Group announced five foundational investments, informed by the ESIC Planning Process and Roadmap, described on the ESIC website.  

Through this open call, Wellcome will fund five new evidence synthesis infrastructure hubs for five sectors that will establish foundational evidence synthesis capabilities. Each hub should bring a human health focus to its work, which includes addressing Wellcome's strategic health priorities of:

  • Discovery Research
  • Climate and Health
  • Infectious Disease
  • Mental Health

This new investment from Wellcome builds on ESIC aligned investments already underway, including evidence synthesis infrastructure hubs in development for climate solutions (Wellcome-funded DESTINY and SOLACE-AI), and those in development through funding from ESRC UKRI, which include education, environment, crime and justice, and sustainable development. The Jacob’s Foundation have also aligned their investments with ESIC in the education sector.  

Contact us 

Eligibility, what we offer and application questions

If you have a question about eligibility, what we offer or about completing the application form using Wellcome Funding, send our funding information advisers a message.

Send us a message

Scope questions

If you are unclear about whether your proposalwould be in scope for this call, you can send a brief summary of your idea (no more than 200 words) by 7 April 2026.

Please include the title of the call (Infrastructure hubs in the Global South to power evidence synthesis) in the subject line.

Based on the information provided, we will aim to reply to your email within one week, with an 'in scope' or 'out of scope' response. 

Please note that this is not a requirement and will not impact your likelihood of being funded. The confirmation that a proposed idea is in scope does not constitute an active invitation to apply for the call.

We do not answer questions on the competitiveness of proposals. 

ESICSectoralHubs@wellcome.org