Supporting outstanding researchers

Our fellowship schemes and our Investigator Awards support researchers with the vision to innovate, take risks and explore the most challenging questions in their fields of study. These personal support schemes are complemented by our Strategic Awards, which support cutting-edge research and training programmes that address our five challenges.

Researchers in the lab at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. Credit: Wellcome Library, London

Professor Nick White, winner of a Gairdner award in 2010 for his work on treating Malaria. Credit: Wellcome Library, London

Lab work at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kenya. Credit: Wellcome Trust

Dr Mark Dawson, a clinician-scientist and the first-ever recipient of the Wellcome-Beit Prize Fellowship. Credit: Wellcome Library, London

Samples at the UK Biobank, Cheshire. Credit: Wellcome Library, London

Richard Bennett reveals the hidden history of London's medical quarter in his 'Blood and Guts' tour of the city. Credit: Wellcome Library, London

Examples of our support

The examples below illustrate the support we provide to researchers.

Researchers Our funding supports the work of exceptional researchers, and helps to develop research leaders of the future. We maintain and develop our portfolio of training and fellowship schemes to support outstanding researchers in the biomedical sciences, medical history and humanities and biomedical ethics, both in the UK and overseas. We work with our research communities to identify new opportunities for Strategic Awards and major initiatives that are aligned to our strategic challenges.

World-class research environments

We fund the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute as one of the world's leading genomics research centres, and support Wellcome Trust Centres in the UK and Major Overseas Programmes in Africa and South-east Asia. We also have major initiatives to build research capacity in India and Africa. We work with other funders to develop and sustain key research infrastructure and resources - including the establishment of the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation in London.

Policy

Our policy and advocacy work within the UK, the rest of Europe and internationally influences key funding and regulatory policies that have an impact on biomedical research and its application, including Open Access, data sharing and the work of the UK Biobank Ethics and Governance Council.

For full information on this focus area, view our Strategic Plan 2010-20. Details of the support we provide to researchers can be found in Funding.