Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Award: Optimising interventions for impact
This funding call will support transdisciplinary teams led from Africa, South Asia or South-East Asia to conduct randomised controlled trials that optimise licensed pharmaceutical interventions for infectious diseases.
The clinical trial should generate evidence to inform changes to policy, practice and guidelines, and lead to measurable impact in the communities most affected, ultimately improving the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries.
Call at a glance
- Lead applicant career stage:
- Administering organisation location:
- Low- or middle-income country in Africa, South Asia or South-East Asia (apart from mainland China)
- Frequency:
- One-off
- Funding amount:
Between £1,000,000 - £8,000,000 per award. We invite applications for any amount within this range.
- Funding duration:
3 to 5 years
- Coapplicants:
- Required
We hope to make between 8-12 awards in this highly competitive funding call.
This funding call is delivered in partnership with UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) using UK international development funding from the UK government.
Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Development Award
If you have an innovative idea for a randomised controlled trial proposal, but need to build your team, develop your clinical trial protocol or generate pilot data, you can apply to our Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Development Award.
Disease areas
The pharmaceutical intervention (vaccine or therapeutic) must focus on one of the following disease areas:
- mycobacterial infections (tuberculosis, leprosy or infections with non-tuberculous mycobacteria)
- bacterial infections (sexually transmitted infections, lower respiratory tract infections or bloodstream infections)
- invasive fungal infections
- dengue, leishmaniasis or schistosomiasis
Who can apply
You can apply to this call if your team:
- Includes a lead applicant and at least one coapplicant based at an organisation in Africa, South Asia or South‑East Asia, both of whom intend to remain resident in that country for the duration of the award. See a full list of countries that are eligible to apply.
- Is an appropriate size for the proposed project. Teams must not exceed eight applicants (lead applicant and seven coapplicants). There is no limit on the number of collaborators.
- Has at least 50 percent of applicants based in Africa, South Asia or South-East Asia. Teams may include coapplicants based at eligible organisations in other parts of the world.
- Are based at eligible organisations that can sign up to Wellcome’s grant conditions and funding policies.
We encourage applications from teams that:
- are diverse and transdisciplinary covering multiple areas of expertise
- include researchers at any stage of their career
Your experience
The team must:
- Have the expertise and experience to design, plan and conduct clinical trials of infectious disease interventions.
- Include the scientific and analytical skills to manage, interpret and analyse trial data, and to generate evidence that could inform policy, practice or guidelines.
- Have experience of building partnerships and networks.
- Include public health stakeholders and policymakers relevant to the proposed research. Their involvement can either be as a coapplicant or collaborator on the grant. Public health stakeholders or policymakers who are collaborators must provide a letter of support.
- Demonstrate experience of collaborating or engaging with public health stakeholders, policymakers and communities most affected, such as community leaders, civil society and community organisations in the design and implementation of the research. This includes communicating research outputs such as evidence and data in a way that is useful and timely for public health decision-making.
- Actively foster a diverse, inclusive and supportive research environment.
The lead applicant must:
- Be a mid-career or established researcher. If the lead applicant is a mid-career researcher, we strongly encourage including an established researcher as a coapplicant to provide intellectual, personal and career development support and mentorship.
- Be based at an organisation in Africa, South Asia or South-East Asia (except mainland China) and intend to remain resident in that country for the duration of the award.
- Have the experience needed to design, plan and conduct clinical trials.
- Have the scientific and analytical skills to manage, interpret and analyse trial data.
- Have the experience needed to lead a collaborative, large scale research project and the necessary support structures in place.
- Only be a lead applicant on one application for this funding call. They may be a coapplicant on one additional application. The applications should be for different projects. If both projects receive funding, the applicant must be able to demonstrate that they can dedicate enough time and resources to both projects.
- 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 that organisation.
- Have a salary paid by their host organisation for the duration of the award. Applicants who are based in a low- or middle-income country can ask for a contribution to their salary if they hold a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract and rely on external grant funding for their salary.
- Actively promote a diverse, inclusive and supportive environment within their team and across their organisation.
- Be based at an eligible organisation that can sign up to Wellcome's grant conditions and funding policies.
Read more about when lead applicants can request salary costs, and what other costs can be covered.
- Can be based anywhere in the world except mainland China. We expect at least 50 percent of coapplicants to be based at organisations in Africa, South Asia or South-East Asia, with the intention to remain resident in that country for the duration of the award.
- Can be based at the same or different organisations as other applicants, including in different countries.
- Can be at any career stage and come from any relevant discipline.
- Must be essential for the delivery of the project and make a significant contribution, for example designing an aspect of the research, writing the application, leading on a specific work package or aim, or being responsible for research or policy uptake.
- Can be involved on a maximum of two applications for this funding call. The applications should be for different projects. If both projects receive funding, the applicant must be able to demonstrate that they can dedicate enough time and resources to both projects.
- Do not need to have a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract.
- Must be based at an eligible organisation that can sign up to Wellcome's grant conditions and funding policies. This can include a sole trader or self-employed person’s business.
- Can be based at a commercial organisation.
- Can be based at a multilateral organisation. Please contact us to discuss further if this applies to you. When contacting please confirm whether your organisation can accept out standard grant conditions. Proposals must meet all funding call requirements.
Read more about when coapplicants can request salary, and what other costs can be covered.
Collaborators are distinct from coapplicants. 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 tools or resources such as datasets or clinical records
- providing access to organisations led by or working in collaboration with lived experience experts
- providing expertise on working in different countries
- sharing subject-specific knowledge and guidance, for example, expertise on statistical analysis or measurement of specific variables
Collaborators do not have to meet eligibility requirements, and they are not required to give a minimum research time commitment.
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.
If one of your collaborators is a public health stakeholder or policymaker, a letter of support must be provided.
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.
Working part-time
Lead and coapplicants can be working 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 are a lead applicant based at an organisation outside of Africa, South Asia or South-East Asia
- you are an individual without at least one coapplicant
- you are a lead applicant based at a commercial or multilateral organisation
- you cannot demonstrate the ability to dedicate enough time and resources to the project, if funded
- you are a lead applicant on another application for this award
- you are listed as a coapplicant on more than two applications for this award
- you are a lead applicant on an application for our Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Development Award
- your proposal does not focus on one of the disease areas specified in the list below:
- mycobacterial infections (tuberculosis, leprosy or infections with non-tuberculous mycobacteria)
- bacterial infections (sexually transmitted infections, lower respiratory tract infections or bloodstream infections)
- invasive fungal infections
- dengue, leishmaniasis or schistosomiasis
Is your organisation right for this call?
The administering organisation is where the lead applicant is based. It is the organisation responsible for submitting your final application to Wellcome and managing the grant if it is awarded.
The administering organisation must be able to sign up to Wellcome’s grant conditions and funding policies.
Where your administering organisation is based
The administering organisation should be based in Africa, South Asia or South-East Asia (apart from mainland China). See a full list of countries that are eligible to apply.
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 are not eligible to apply as administering organisations for this call. However, coapplicants and collaborators can be based at multilateral organisations. Please contact us to discuss further if this applies to you. Proposals must meet all funding call requirements.
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:
- division of grant activities between the parties
- management and distribution of the grant funding
- 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 and 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?
Research priorities
Wellcome’s Infectious Disease strategy focuses on minimising the impact of infectious diseases on the most affected communities.
Whilst new vaccines and treatments may have regulatory approval, their full impact is often limited by a lack of data on their optimal use, including the target population, dosage, range of indications, combinations, and evaluation in real-world settings. This can result in interventions failing to be adopted into guidelines or by policymakers.
This funding call aims to support high-quality randomised controlled trials that optimise licensed pharmaceutical interventions. The evidence generated should result in changes to policy, practice or guidelines at a national, regional or global level, and lead to near-term impact in communities most affected by infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries.
If you have an innovative idea for a randomised controlled trial proposal, but need to build your team, develop your clinical trial protocol or generate pilot data, you can apply to our Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Development Award.
What your research proposal must include
Your research proposal must include:
1. The intervention and disease area of focus
- The pharmaceutical intervention (vaccine or therapeutic) should focus on one of the following disease areas:
- mycobacterial infections (tuberculosis, leprosy or infections with non-tuberculous mycobacteria)
- bacterial infections (sexually transmitted infections, lower respiratory tract infections or bloodstream infections)
- invasive fungal infections
- dengue, leishmaniasis or schistosomiasis
2. A detailed plan of work
- An overview of the importance and relevance of the topic and the current evidence base, which policy, practice or guideline it is seeking to change and how a clinical trial will generate the required evidence for that change.
- A clear outline of the work that will be conducted, including risks and mitigations.
- The type of clinical trial, for example repurposing of current interventions, pragmatic trials evaluating effectiveness of interventions in real-world settings, Phase 4 or post-marketing studies.
- Details of your clinical trial in the relevant sections of the application form, including appropriate consideration of safety aspects.
- A description of who will be most impacted by your research and its outputs.
- Details of the populations or groups included in the data collection, analysis and reporting. Trials conducted in underserved populations are encouraged.
- Consideration of cost-effectiveness and health economics of the intervention in low- and middle-income settings.
- A clear description of how the award will meet the requirements set out in the WHO guidance for best practices for clinical trials.
- A Gantt chart and justification for the timeline for the proposed work.
3. Country context and relevance
- Justification for the choice of country or countries, including a plan for conducting laboratory research, enhancing laboratory capability, training and data analysis, with appropriate sensitivities about how the findings may impact different affected groups.
- Details of the relevance of the proposed research in low- and middle-income countries.
- A clear plan for how your proposal will build clinical research expertise and capacity in the specified African, South Asian or South-East Asian locations.
4. Data management and governance
- A description of your approach to data management, integration and/or sharing of the different data types detailed in your work plan within the ‘Outputs management and sharing’ section of the application form. You must include how you plan to share data with relevant stakeholders.
- For multi-country projects, a data management plan for international data transfers or accessibility, security and procedures for associated regulatory requirements and/or permissions, within the ‘Outputs management and sharing’ section of the application form. Learn more about our data, software and materials management and sharing policy.
5. Stakeholder Engagement
- A description of how you will embed and use an engaged research approach and work collaboratively with public health stakeholders, policymakers and communities most affected (such as community leaders, civil society and community organisations).
- A description of your dissemination plan to ensure that your research is shared with relevant stakeholders, including communities you work with throughout the project and those who influence national, regional or global decision making.
- Consideration of how you will further develop the research outputs and make them available to the communities involved with minimum barriers to access.
What your research proposal can include
Your research proposal can include:
- research based in more than one location or country
- consideration of social science elements
What your research proposal must not include
Research that isn’t right for this call:
- Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3 product development clinical trials of unlicensed interventions.
- Observational, modelling, implementation research or community engagement studies.
- Studies on non-pharmaceutical interventions.
- Studies that do not focus on at least one of the following disease areas:
- mycobacterial infections (tuberculosis, leprosy or infections with non-tuberculous mycobacteria)
- bacterial infections (sexually transmitted infections, lower respiratory tract infections or bloodstream infections)
- invasive fungal infections
- dengue, leishmaniasis or schistosomiasis
- Studies that do not consider equitable access, including acceptability, affordability and availability of the intervention post-trial should the trial show a definitive result. See Wellcome’s approach to equitable access to healthcare interventions.
- Proposals exclusively being addressed by researchers based in institutions in a high-income setting or in Latin America and the Caribbean.
- Proposals that do not consider how to engage public health stakeholders, policymakers and communities most affected by infectious disease.
- Proposals that include activities which involve the transfer of grant funds into mainland China.
How applications are assessed
Applications will be assessed by an external committee of experts who will review eligible and in-scope proposals and make funding recommendations to Wellcome.
Essential criteria and weightings
The research proposal (50% weighting)
- Strong justification for the:
- disease of focus
- pharmaceutical intervention (vaccine or therapeutic) including current existing evidence
- type of clinical trial being conducted
- location(s)or site selection where the research is to be conducted
- The importance of the policy, practice or guideline that you are seeking to change and how a clinical trial will generate the required evidence for that change.
- The potential impact that this award would have in low- and middle-income countries.
- Clear description of the proposed plan of work and key deliverables with appropriate and justified timelines, including ethical and regulatory timelines.
- The suitability, quality and feasibility of the study design, methods and sample size to ensure delivery of an informative study.
- Appropriate recruitment and retention plans.
- Appropriate justification for the inclusion/exclusion of underserved populations.
- Clearly identified risks and mitigation.
- A clear description of how you will capture, monitor and ensure data quality across all sites (particularly if it is a multicentre trial).
- A clear description of your dissemination plans in the different stages of the study to ensure transparency and information sharing.
- A clear description of how the application will help build capacity and experience in the specified locations.
The team’s skills and experience (25% weighting):
The lead applicant has:
- the experience needed to design, plan and conduct clinical trials
- the scientific and analytical skills to manage, interpret and analyse trial data
- the experience needed to lead and manage a collaborative, large scale research project
The team:
- Is transdisciplinary and includes the necessary expertise, skills and experience to deliver the proposed work in disease-affected settings.
- Has appropriate management plans including a clear description of how the team will work collaboratively to deliver the proposed research.
- Has an appropriate governance structure in place that will support decision making and management of the research project.
- Demonstrates a strong commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion. For example, your approach to recruiting a diverse team and how you will promote inclusion of members in the research and outputs.
Engagement with stakeholders (25% weighting):
- a clear description of how the team will embed an engaged research approach through the lifecycle of their research proposal with relevant stakeholders, including with public health stakeholders, policymakers and communities most affected (such as community leaders, civil society and community organisations)
- a clear description of the team’s approach to equitable partnerships and how it is responsive to the needs and interests of the populations that the project is intended to serve
- a clear dissemination plan for engaging key stakeholders and appropriate budget allocation
Research costs we will 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.
Lead applicants based outside of the UK or Republic of Ireland
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
- social enterprise
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
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
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:
- 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.
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:
- synthesising compounds or reagents
- building medical devices
- preclinical studies, such as toxicology or pharmacology studies
- 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
If your organisation uses full economic costing methodology:
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. 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
If the research will be carried out in the UK and use macaques, they must be sourced from the MRC Centre for Macaques.
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:
You can ask for funds to cover:
- the cost of buying and transporting 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
- equipment maintenance
- housing equipment specific to the project
- microbiological monitoring
- waste disposal
- personal and project licences
- specific and relevant training and environmental enrichment costs
In these cases we will not provide:
- estates costs
- cage or building depreciation costs
If you need to carry out clinical research in the UK 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 in the UK, and which costs should be funded through the Department of Health and Social Care in England, or its equivalent in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. If you're based in the Republic of Ireland, we expect you to adhere to the spirit of these principles.
If your proposal involves clinical research using NHS resources, check if you need to upload a SoECAT form with your application.
Fieldwork expenses 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. You’ll need to justify them.
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:
- in line with our environmental sustainability funding 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 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:
- 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 environmental sustainability funding policy
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
- 61-72 months – 5 annual leave trips
- 73-84 months – 6 annual leave trips
- 85-96 months – 7 annual leave trips
All fares should be:
- in line with our environmental sustainability funding policy
- booked in advance where possible
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. However, applicants based at a UK university cannot ask for overheads for the sub-awarded activity if their university will include the sub-awarded funding in its annual report to the UK Charity Research Support Fund.
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 host organisation is based using data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). You'll receive the following allowance if the costs in your application are in pounds sterling.
| Award duration (in months) | Inflation allowance |
|---|---|
| 0-12 | 0.00% |
| 13-24 | 1.00% |
| 25-36 | 2.01% |
| 37-48 | 3.04% |
| 49-60 | 4.08% |
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 funding call 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.
Information you need to provide
As well as answering the application questions, you will need to provide:
- a letter of support if one of your collaborators is a public health stakeholder or policymaker
- a letter from a senior member at at the administering organisation or any indirectly funded organisation requesting applicant salary costs, confirming that they must get salary recovery from external grant funding and the host organisation will underwrite the salary and post for the period of time that the applicant will be working on the grant
- a letter from a senior member at the administering organisation or any indirectly funded organisation requesting teaching buyout costs, confirming that the applicant will retain at least 10% of their teaching time and that teaching buyout for the applicant is not being provided by other grants for the same period
- a letter of support from the director of finance at the administering organisation or any indirectly funded organisation requesting overheads, confirming the breakdown is a true representation of the costs incurred
a quote if you wish to purchase a piece of equipment costing £100,000 or more
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
You will need to request an organisation account. You can do this in the 'Add your administering organisation' section of your application form. We will ask you for your organisation's:
- name
- address
- country
- team email address for the people who will approve and submit your application (this is usually a research management team)
We recommend that you do this as soon as possible and at least one week before the deadline.
We will create the organisation account and provide access to the approvers. Review our guidance for research offices.
Application process
1. Before you apply
- Make sure you read all the information on this page.
- Watch our funding webinar and view questions submitted for the webinar on Slido.
- You do not need to contact us before you write and submit your application.
2. Submit your application to your administering organisation for approval
- Complete your application form on Wellcome Funding platform.
- Submit your completed application form to the 'authorised 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.
3. Administering organisation approves and submits it to Wellcome
- Your application must be submitted by 15.00 BST on Tuesday 2 June 2026. We do not accept late applications.
Shortlisting
- 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.
- A committee of experts will review eligible and in remit applications against the assessment criteria. 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.
- If your application is shortlisted, your application will proceed to the next stage.
- We are unable to provide feedback on applications that are not shortlisted.
Funding decision
- The committee of experts will consider all shortlisted applications during this final stage and make recommendations to Wellcome and NIHR.
- Final funding decisions will be made by Wellcome.
- You will receive an email notification of the outcome in September 2026.
- Successful applicants will receive an award letter with details about their award.
- If you are successful, you must:
- Start your award within 9 months of receipt of your award letter.
- Submit a study protocol and statistical analysis plan as soon as possible and no later than 3 months from receiving your award letter. This information will be reviewed by a committee of experts on clinical trials. Award holders will be strongly encouraged to implement the advice given from the trial experts. If you cannot implement the advice given, we expect you to provide clear justification for this.
- Submit a robust monitoring and evaluation plan (impact roadmap) within 6 months of receiving the award letter.
- Attend up to two meetings with all awardees from this funding call during the award.
- We will write to unsuccessful shortlisted applicants with the reason for the decision.
Key dates
You must submit your application by 15:00 BST on the deadline day. We don’t accept late applications.
Opening soon
- Tuesday 10 March 2026
Applications open
- Monday 23 March 2026Register for the webinar
Funding webinar
- Tuesday 2 June 2026
Application deadline
- July 2026
Shortlisting
- September 2026
Final decision
Eligible countries for your administering organisation
Africa: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea‑Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
South-East Asia: Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Timor‑Leste, Vietnam
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.
We will not be answering any queries regarding the scope of your application for this funding call. Please ensure you cover the requirements outlined in this scheme page in your application.
