Encouraging Applications to Wellcome Event

We are inviting colleagues who are, or might be, interested in seeking funding from Wellcome to a workshop on Thursday, 21 September, 10.30-2.00. Wellcome has a very broad remit, and funds research across FELS’ and Medicine’s interests, with a notable focus on mental health, infectious diseases, and climate and health – however we emphasise that they will fund any fundamental discovery science that has an impact on human health, even if that impact may be a long way in the future.

The programme will focus on Wellcome’s funding opportunities for early and more advanced researchers. We have an informal, friendly event planned and hope late-stage PhD students, postdocs and new lecturers will come and hear about opportunities to apply for fellowship funding at Wellcome. If you are interested in learning about the schemes to see if you are eligible, see here https://wellcome.org/grant-funding or see the bottom of this email.

We also hope group leaders will come to hear about how to support lab/group members who may be interested in these awards and to hear about how Wellcome judge all applications, even for their larger Discovery awards.

We will give an overview of the schemes available and hear from two current awardees (Dr Matthew Whelan, UCL, Early Career Fellowship; Dr Franze Progatzy; Crick, Career Development Award) and Wellcome shortlisting/interview panelists (Dr Emily Gwyer Findlay, UoS, Early Career Interview Panel) to gain their insights into how to prepare a successful proposal. We will also cover how the University supports individuals in preparing a strong fellowship application. We will then have informal networking time and the opportunity to ask questions to all the speakers.

As Research Environment and Narrative CV sections carry significant weight (50%) in the assessment of all Wellcome applications (including Discovery awards), we will also pay particular attention to the these sections. We will share funder intelligence from a recent Wellcome networking event and offer suggestions on how to make your sections stand out in a positive way.

At the event, attendees will have the opportunity to interact with representatives from Professional Services as well as our speakers to receive advice on specific queries about applying to Wellcome.

We hope that this event will help showcase some of the fantastic funding opportunities available, demystify some of the pre-conceptions about applying to (or reviewing for) Wellcome and see the start of an informal interest group to share good practice and feedback to support future applicants. If you are even slightly interested in applying for one of these schemes in the future, come along and have a coffee and lunch, and hear about it in more detail.

Eligibility:

Early career award: no more than 3 years FTE postdoc experience in proposed field. https://wellcome.org/grant-funding/schemes/early-career-awards

Career Development award: within 3 years of first lectureship position OR a postdoc wanting to move to an independent position (who may not have a faculty job). https://wellcome.org/grant-funding/schemes/career-development-awards

Discovery award: for staff with open-ended contracts who have experience of leading research programmes. https://wellcome.org/grant-funding/schemes/discovery-awards

Organisers:

Dr Emily Gwyer Findlay (Wellcome Early Career Interview Panel Member); Prof Steve Darby (ADR FELS), Dr Julia Newman (Research Funding Development)