General eligibility

Please note that this information does not cover candidate eligibility for our fellowship schemes - please refer to specific fellowship schemes for details.

Principal applicants

Must be established researchers who are expected to apply from an eligible organisation, able to sign up to the Wellcome Trust's Grant Conditions and, should normally:

hold an academic or research post (or equivalent)
have at least five years' postdoctoral (or equivalent) research experience. Individuals who hold an established lectureship or a well-recognised fellowship (e.g. Royal Society University Research Fellowship) but who have less than five years' postdoctoral experience are also eligible. Other researchers with less than five years' experience should contact the relevant funding stream for further advice.
be in receipt of salary funding for the duration of the grant requested or have at least one year's personal salary support at the proposed start date of the grant.
Applicants who are seeking their own salary support may apply as either the principal applicant or coapplicant depending on their level of input into the research. If this applies to you please contact the relevant funding stream for advice as you may be required to submit a CV and full publication list.

Coapplicants

As above for principal applicants. In addition, postdoctoral research assistants, whether seeking their own salary as part of the grant proposal, funded by the Wellcome Trust on another grant or funded by another agency, are eligible for coapplicant status if they make a significant contribution to a research proposal and have agreement from their funding agency.

Research assistants seeking coapplicant status

See above. In addition, research assistants already funded on a Wellcome Trust grant must inform the Wellcome Trust before submitting an application where they are named as a coapplicant, indicating how much time they expect to spend on the new project.

Research assistants funded by another agency must provide written confirmation to the Wellcome Trust from their funding agency that the amount of time they propose to spend on the project is acceptable. Contact us to discuss your situation with a member of staff in the appropriate funding stream before applying.

Overseas applicants

Overseas applicants should fulfil the eligibility criteria for principal applicants above. Researchers from low- and middle-income countries who have a track record of Wellcome Trust funding as a principal investigator, co-applicant or fellow may apply directly for certain types of support without a UK based collaborator.

Retired workers

Research workers who have retired at the normal age may apply as the principal applicant or coapplicant on a project or programme grant with the support of a sponsor. Salary for the retired worker may be requested, at a level to be recommended by the host organisation, and according to the percentage of time he or she will be working on the grant. The salary to be funded by the Wellcome Trust may be abated by the amount of pension received, depending on the policy of the host organisation.

Those who have taken early retirement may apply with a sponsor, but will not normally be considered for personal support unless they move to another organisation. Such applicants should contact the relevant funding stream for advice.

Organisations

Eligible organisations are 'not for profit' research institutes that are able to sign up to the Wellcome Trust's Grant Conditions.

Non-university organisations in the UK/Republic of Ireland may be required to have reciprocal arrangements in place to allow staff at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute to apply for funding. Reciprocal arrangements are in place with the Medical Research Council (MRC), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Cancer Research UK (CRUK). Staff of their units and institutes are eligible to apply.

Organisations that have not recently received Wellcome Trust funding may be required to submit additional information to enable us to assess eligibility.

Overseas organisations

The funding that the Trust provides overseas is largely focused on low- and middle-income countries. Normally, research organisations that are not for profit, able to sign up to the Trust's Grant Conditions and have a mission statement broadly in line with that of the Trust, are eligible to apply for support.

Restrictions on intellectual property rights (IPR)/publications

If there are any restrictions on IPR or publications arising from your research, you must provide a written statement detailing these. Restrictions on intellectual property may affect your eligibility to apply to the Wellcome Trust. Contact the relevant funding stream for more information.

Additional information

In general, the Trust will not:

make awards to other charities where the sole intention is for that charity to redistribute the funds
supplement support provided by other funding bodies
award grants to cover expenditure already incurred
fund individuals who are employed by a commercial organisation
fund individuals who are applying for, holding, or employed under a research grant from the tobacco industry.

Please refer to the Trust's full statement on researchers funded by the tobacco industry.

Information about the Trust’s policy on the funding of clinical trials.