Wellcome Trust
Wellcome
The largest charitable research funder in the UK and one of the largest in the world, with an endowment supporting discovery research across health, plus focused programmes in mental health, infectious disease and climate and health. Discovery Awards fund people and ideas rather than tightly-specified projects, and funding is open to researchers based outside the UK.
- Kind of funder
- Foundation or trust
- Where it funds
- UK-wide, International
- Indicative award size
- £50k – £4m
- Approx. annual research spend
- £1.2bn
- Who can apply
- Universities, Research institutes, NHS & healthcare providers, Individual researchers, Charities & NGOs
- Career stages
- PhD / doctoral, Postdoctoral, Early career, Established researcher
Discovery Awards commonly £1m–£4m over five to eight years; career development routes smaller.
Research areas
Named schemes (2)
Career Development Awards ↗
Eight years of support for researchers ready to lead their own programme, intended to carry them to an independent, established position.
Rolling / recurringCheck funder site for current round£800k – £3m per awardchecked 2026-05-01Discovery Awards ↗
Wellcome’s flagship scheme, funding research teams led by established or mid-career researchers for up to eight years. Funds a research vision rather than a fixed project plan.
Rolling / recurringCheck funder site for current round£1m – £4m per awardchecked 2026-05-01