Wellcome Trust Investigator Awards in Science, 2020

Deadline for applications: 27 Feb 2020 1700 (UK)

Investigator Awards enable independent researchers with a compelling research vision to tackle the most important questions in science.

This is flexible funding, up to around £3 million; salary is not provided. The grant can be for up to 7 years.

Your host institute must be based in the UK, ROI or a low-or middle-income country.

Who can apply

You can apply for an Investigator Award if you're an independent researcher with a compelling research vision who wants to tackle the most important questions in your field.

These awards are also open to joint applications from two researchers whose complementary expertise is essential to deliver their shared vision.

Career stage and experience

We consider applications from researchers throughout their independent careers. For example, you may be a newly appointed lecturer, a mid-career researcher or a senior researcher.

If you're in the early stages of your independent research career, you should be able to show that you can drive advances in your field of study and that you have considerable promise for the future. You should have a strong track record relative to your career stage of:

leading innovative and creative programmes of research
making important contributions to research, eg publications, patents and impacts on policy
securing research grant funding.

Your research proposal

Your research proposal must:

describe an innovative and ambitious programme of work that could transform your field
explain the approaches you will use to deliver that programme of work
be distinct from, and not replace, activities already supported by other awards
be within our scientific remit.

We will review:

your track record as an independent researcher, relative to your career stage
the importance of your research question(s) to your field
the feasibility of your proposal
the suitability of your research environment
the time you'll spend on the Investigator Award, and how it fits in with your other academic commitments.

For more details, or to apply, visit the call webpage.