Wellcome Discovery Awards

Scheme at a glance Lead applicant career stage: Established researcher Administering organisation location: UK, Republic of Ireland, Low- or middle-income countries (apart from India and mainland China) Frequency: Twice a year - Upcoming deadline in March 2026 Funding amount:

You should ask for the resources you need for your research programme – see the 'Research costs we'll cover' section on this page. You will need to justify this in your application. The average size of a Discovery Award is £3.5 million. Applications above £5 million will be subject to additional scrutiny.

Funding duration:

Awards can be up to 8 years, but may be less for some disciplines, and may be longer if held on a part-time basis. The average duration of a Discovery Award is 7 years, although we have supported awards from 3 to 8 years.

Coapplicants: Accepted Deadline for new applications Application deadline: 22 September 2026, 15:00 BST View all key dates Who can apply

You can apply for a Wellcome Discovery Award if you are a researcher who wants to pursue bold and creative research ideas. You must aim to make a major contribution to your research field by:

generating significant shifts in understanding

and/or

developing methodologies, conceptual frameworks, tools or techniques that could benefit health-related research.

An award can be held by an established researcher or a team of researchers led by an established researcher.

If you are applying as a team of researchers

Team size will depend on the proposed research. It will usually range from two to eight applicants, including the lead applicant. The primary location for the research, including the leadership of the programme, must be within the UK, Republic of Ireland and/or a low- and middle-income country.

If you are applying as an individual

You cannot involve coapplicants in your application and award, but you can still work with collaborators.

Whether applying as an individual established researcher who will employ staff through your grant, or as a team of researchers, we encourage lead applicants to put together diverse teams. You will be expected to actively promote a diverse, inclusive and supportive research environment within your team and across your organisation.

Lead applicant career stage and experience Show Coapplicants Show Collaborators Show Other Wellcome awards

An established researcher can be a lead applicant on one Discovery Award as a sole applicant.

There is no set limit to the number of team awards you can lead.

There is no set limit to the number of awards you can hold as a coapplicant provided any salary claimed through these awards does not total more than 1.0 full-time equivalent (FTE).

In all instances, you will need to justify how you will be able to manage your commitments and responsibilities across these grants.

Current holders of Investigator Awards and Senior Research Fellowships cannot be a sole applicant for a Discovery Award. They may be the lead applicant or coapplicant for team awards. There is no set limit to this.

Read about the different applicant roles at Wellcome and how many awards you can apply for or hold at one time.

Resubmissions

If you are unsuccessful with an application to this scheme, you can submit one more full application for the same project. Significant changes are needed for the second application. You do not need to contact us first.

Who can't apply

You are not eligible to apply as a lead applicant on a Discovery Award if you are the lead applicant on two other Discovery Award applications and you are waiting for a decision.

You cannot apply if you intend to carry out activities that involve the transfer of grant funds into mainland China.

Is your research right for this scheme?

You must check whether Wellcome Discovery Research can fund your type of research project before you apply.

Check what we fund in Discovery Research

Your research must:

fit within what we support in Discovery Research have the potential to improve human life, health, and wellbeing.

Your research can:

be in any discipline - including science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), experimental medicine, humanities and social science, clinical/allied health sciences, and public health be in a single discipline or multidisciplinary.

Your research must not:

fall outside of what we support in Discovery Research. Check what we don't fund.

Review previous projects that have been successful for this scheme

Search awarded grants Is your organisation right for this scheme?

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

The lead applicant must be based at an eligible administering organisation that can sign up to our grant conditions.

The administering organisation owns any Wellcome-funded intellectual property generated as result of any award, even when the research was undertaken by a team of researchers.

Where your administering organisation is based

The administering organisation must be in one of the following:

UK Republic of Ireland a low- or middle-income country (apart from India and mainland China)

The organisation must be a not-for-profit and can be a:

higher education institution research institute healthcare organisation charity or social enterprise How applications are assessed

We will review your research proposal, skills and experience, and research environment. The assessment weightings are used at interview stage.

Your research proposal (50%)

To be competitive, your research proposal will be:

Bold. It aims to deliver a significant shift in understanding and/or it provides a significant advance over existing methodologies, conceptual frameworks, tools or techniques. It has the potential to stimulate new and innovative research. Creative. Your proposed approach is novel – it develops and tests new concepts, methods or technologies, or combines existing ideas and approaches in a new way. High quality. It is well-designed, clear, supported by evidence and the proposed outcomes/outputs are feasible. Your skills and experience (applicants and any coapplicants) (25%)

We will review:

your research outputs and contributions to the research community your previous contributions to, and plans for, developing team members and other researchers your leadership and management skills, and how you plan to develop these during the award how the programme will be managed and led if applying as a team of researchers, your rationale for a team approach, team composition (including your approach to diversity, inclusion and career stage) and the contribution of each team member. Your research environment (25%)

We will review:

how you will contribute to the strategic aims of your organisation how your research environment(s) will help you develop your research capabilities, and leadership and management skills your experience of, and plans for, contributing to a positive and inclusive research culture.

Apply to observe a Wellcome funding advisory committee

Are you a researcher planning to apply for Wellcome funding in the next two years?

We’re offering researchers the opportunity to observe a Wellcome funding advisory committee and learn how grant applications are assessed.

Apply now Research costs we'll cover

A Wellcome Discovery Award provides funding for research expenses.

The award usually lasts for 8 years, but may be less for some disciplines, such as humanities and social science.

The award may be held on a part-time basis. When applying, you should cost the application at 1.0 (100%) full-time equivalent. We will then extend the duration of the award to reflect this.

You should ask for a level and duration of funding that’s appropriate for your proposed research. You will need to justify these costs in your grant application.

The award includes: staff Show Continuing professional development Show materials and consumables Show animals Show equipment Show access charges Show overheads Show travel and subsistence Show overseas allowances Show fieldwork expenses Show inflation allowance Show open access charges Show clinical research costs Show public engagement and patient involvement costs Show other costs Show What we don't offer

The award does not include salary costs for the lead applicant, unless you:

are based in a low- or middle-income country, and hold a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract, and have to get your salary from external grant funding.

We only provide a salary for coapplicants in certain circumstances - see 'staff costs' for further details.

See 'Other costs' for the costs we will and will not provide.

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.

Get some tips to help you write your grant application.