Wellcome Trust

Charity Number: 210183

Annual Expenditure: £1600.0M
Geographic Focus: Australia, Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica ... [32 more]

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Quick Stats

  • Annual Giving: £1.6 billion
  • Success Rate: 22% overall (2023/24: 611 awards from 2,774 applications)
  • Decision Time: 6-8 months typical
  • Grant Range: £400,000 - No upper limit (varies by scheme)
  • Geographic Focus: UK, Ireland, and Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Contact Details

Website: www.wellcome.org

Email: company.secretary@wellcome.org

Phone: 020 7611 8888

Pre-application support: Contact research support office at your institution early in the application process

Overview

Founded in 1936, the Wellcome Trust is one of the world's largest charitable foundations dedicated to health research, with a financial endowment of £37.6 billion. The organization supports science to solve urgent health challenges facing everyone, with a mission spanning from cells to societies and physical sciences to public engagement. Under CEO John-Arne Røttingen's leadership since January 2024, Wellcome has committed to spend £16 billion over the decade to 2032. The Trust focuses on three strategic priority areas: Mental Health, Infectious Disease, and Climate and Health, alongside Discovery Research. In 2023/24, they invested £1.6 billion in research and made 611 awards worth £1.5 billion from 2,774 applications.

Funding Priorities

Grant Programs

  • Early-Career Awards: Up to £400,000 research expenses plus salary (5 years) - Fixed deadlines (February, May, October)
  • Career Development Awards: Usually below £250,000 per year excluding salary (8 years) - Fixed deadlines
  • Discovery Awards: No maximum budget limit, researcher-determined (8 years) - Fixed deadlines
  • Accelerator Awards: £5.2 million funded in 2023/24 for Black, Bangladeshi and Pakistani researchers - Specific calls

Priority Areas

  • Discovery research into life, health and wellbeing
  • Mental health (anxiety, depression, psychosis broadly defined)
  • Infectious diseases and global health challenges
  • Climate and health impacts
  • Research spanning physical sciences, social sciences, clinical research, arts and humanities
  • Global South research leadership and capacity building

What They Don't Fund

  • Large clinical trials for drug/product development primarily for diagnosis or treatment
  • Clinical service provision or reorganization
  • Animal disease studies not transmissible to humans or modeling human biology
  • Research solely for public engagement
  • Mental health research outside anxiety, depression, psychosis focus areas
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Governance and Leadership

Chief Executive Officer: John-Arne Røttingen (since January 2024), former WHO official who emphasizes government engagement and trust in science.

Key Leadership Quotes:

  • “We need to engage governments more directly. Ultimately, it is governments that are responsible for the health of their populations”
  • “We need to double down on trust in science”
  • “Foundations like Wellcome must act as catalysts—not substitutes—for government and private-sector leadership”

Governance: Board of Governors oversees mission achievement. The Wellcome Trust Limited serves as sole trustee. Executive Committee includes Chief Operating Officer and Chief Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Officer.

Application Process and Timeline

How to Apply

  • Applications submitted through Wellcome Funding Platform
  • Institution approval required 5 working days before deadline
  • Multiple fixed deadlines per year (not rolling basis)
  • Early Career Awards: February, May, October deadlines
  • Pre-application support available through institutional research offices

Decision Timeline

  • Typical process: 6-8 months from submission to decision
  • Notification: Funding managers contact applicants within 2 days of final decision
  • Award letters: Issued a few weeks after decision for successful applicants
  • Feedback: Outcome letters with committee feedback provided to unsuccessful applicants

Success Rates

  • Overall success rate: 22% (2023/24: 611 awards from 2,774 applications)
  • Gender equity: Similar success rates (18% women, 17% men historically)
  • Ethnicity gap: 8% success rate for UK-based Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic applicants vs 14% for UK-based White applicants
  • Geographic concentration: 76% of funding goes to 20 organizations; 41% to Oxford, Sanger Institute, Cambridge and UCL

Reapplication Policy

  • One additional attempt: Unsuccessful applicants can submit one more application for the same project
  • Significant changes required: Second application must include substantial modifications
  • No waiting period: Can reapply immediately with significant changes
  • No prior approval needed: Don't need to contact Wellcome before resubmitting

Application Success Factors

Direct Advice from Wellcome:

  • "Successful applications provide answers to two key questions: how is this a new direction that goes beyond the 'same-old' in the field? And how is the applicant positioned to do the work?"
  • “Allow plenty of time ahead of the deadline - avoid rushing your application”
  • “Get as much advice as you can - ask others to share successful and unsuccessful applications”

Key Success Elements:

  • Innovation focus: Demonstrate how work goes beyond incremental progress to offer genuinely new approaches
  • Unique positioning: Show why you're uniquely qualified to deliver the proposed research
  • Risk appetite: Wellcome supports calculated risks and innovative research approaches
  • Five-year focus: Reviewers concentrate on first five years - pitch detail accordingly
  • Research environment: Strong institutional support, appropriate facilities, identified mentors/collaborators
  • Leadership demonstration: Show intellectual ownership and project development capability

Recent Funding Examples: Projects addressing urgent global health challenges across Discovery Research, Mental Health, Infectious Disease, and Climate and Health programs.

Key Takeaways for Grant Writers

  • Innovation over incrementalism: Emphasize transformative potential and novel approaches rather than safe, predictable outcomes
  • Personal positioning: Clearly articulate your unique expertise and why you're the right person for this specific research
  • Allow extensive preparation time: Start early, get multiple reviews, and avoid rushing - successful applications require months of development
  • Leverage institutional support: Engage research office early, utilize internal review processes, and ensure strong institutional backing
  • Focus on global impact: Demonstrate how research addresses urgent health challenges facing everyone, particularly in global health equity
  • Embrace Wellcome's risk appetite: Don't shy away from ambitious, potentially transformative research questions
  • Build diverse input: Seek feedback from colleagues inside and outside your field, including successful and unsuccessful applicants

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