Career Tracker
In 2009, we launched a longitudinal prospective study to track Trust award holders' careers over time. The Wellcome Trust Career Tracker will allow us to gain a better understanding of the career progression and career choices that award holders make; this will help to inform the Trust's provision of research and career support over time.
Basic Science Career Tracker
The
first wave of results was published in March 2010. The
second wave of results was published in May 2011. The
third wave of results was published in June 2012. The fourth wave of the Basic Science Career Tracker took place in summer 2012 and results will be published shortly.
Clinical Career Tracker
The first wave of the Wellcome Trust Clinical Career Tracker took place in October 2011.
The results were published in September 2012.
Who are we tracking?
We aim to cover a range of Wellcome Trust-funded researchers at different career levels in the UK and internationally. So far, we have tracked a selection of awardees from the following schemes:
Basic Science Career Tracker
- Basic science PhD studentship (PhD)
- Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship (SHWPF)
- Research and Career Development Fellowship (RCDF)
- International Senior Research Fellowship (ISRF)
Clinical Career Tracker
- Clinical PhD studentship (PhD)
- Research Training Fellowship (RTF)
- Postdoctoral Training Fellowship for MB/PhD Graduates
- Intermediate Clinical Fellowship (ICF)
How are we tracking?
All awardees from the selected grant schemes will receive an online invitation to take part in the Career Tracker. Once enrolled, the awardees will be sent a short annual online survey asking general questions about their career progression and choices.
Why should researchers take part in career tracking?
We want to ensure that researchers are properly supported in their careers and we want to know what works and what does not, as well as finding out about future needs in research. Awardees can help us to gain a wider knowledge of career opportunities as well as influencing future policies and initiatives. The experience of our award holders is crucial to shaping our future strategies.
Results
The first wave of results shows that most awardees have remained in academic research as they enjoy their area of research and the independence and intellectual challenge of an academic career.
Download the wave 1 briefing summary [PDF 200KB]
The second wave of results shows that the majority of the participants in the study completed their Trust awards and are now working in academic research.
Download the wave 2 briefing summary [PDF 1MB]
Download the wave 2 presentation [PDF 2.2MB]
The third wave of results shows career destinations - rather than intentions - for most cohorts, allowing us to identify potential trends in the data more accurately.
Download the wave 3 briefing summary [PDF 546KB]
Contact us
If you have any questions about the Wellcome Trust Career Tracker, if you are taking part in it and you want to notify us that your contact details have changed, or if you want to unsubscribe from the survey, please contact us on surveys@wellcome.ac.uk.