Wellcome Discovery Award

What the Wellcome Discovery Award gives you

You get a large research grant to run a bold, creative research programme. The average award is about 4 million EUR (£3.5 million), with no fixed upper limit. Anything above roughly 5.8 million EUR (£5 million) faces extra scrutiny. Funding lasts up to 8 years (usually 7, and anywhere from 3 to 8), or longer if you work part time. You ask for exactly what your project needs and justify it: staff salaries, lab supplies, travel, open-access publishing fees, overheads for your organisation, and the cost of involving patients and the public. The award comes from the Wellcome Trust, a London-based charity that funds research into human life, health and wellbeing.

Who can apply

• Career stage: You are an established researcher with an international reputation as a leader in your field. You have led innovative work and mentored others (guided junior researchers in their careers).
• Your job contract: You have a permanent or long-term contract, or a firm offer of one, that does not depend on this grant. Your organisation pays your salary for the whole award.
• Field of study: Any discipline, from lab science and medicine to humanities, social sciences and public health, as long as your work clearly links to human life, health or wellbeing.
• Type of research: You do discovery-driven work that generates new knowledge. Purely translational or implementation projects are not funded.
• Where you are based: Your organisation is a non-profit (university, research institute, health body or charity) in the UK, Republic of Ireland, or a low- or middle-income country (not India or mainland China).
• Team: You apply alone or lead a team of 2 to 8 people. Co-applicants can be at any career stage and based almost anywhere in the world (not mainland China). Each gives at least 10% of their research time.

How to apply

You apply online through the Wellcome Funding platform, with approval and a support letter from your organisation. Rounds close twice a year. The next full-application deadline is 22 September 2026, with interviews in March 2027. If shortlisted, you present your project and answer questions at an interview in London or remotely. Late applications are not accepted.

How realistic are your chances?

This is a top-tier award for researchers who already lead their field, so the bar is high and the competition strong. It is not open to early-career applicants: you need a secure permanent post and a proven record of leading original research. If you clearly meet those conditions and can present a genuinely bold, creative proposal, your prospects are real. Expect several assessment stages, and note that you can submit the same project at most twice.