The Wellcome Accelerator Award was launched by the Wellcome Belief, a serious UK-based world charitable basis, to help researchers from underrepresented heritage backgrounds within the UK. Navigating the complicated panorama of analysis and publishing may be notably difficult for researchers and writers of coloration, who usually face systemic limitations and battle to safe enough funding to advance their analysis. The 2025 Wellcome Accelerator Award goals to handle this by providing substantial funding of as much as £200,000 for project-related bills (for a length of as much as two years), together with structured help, visibility, and alternatives that allow recipients to achieve the top of their analysis careers.
Earlier recipients of the award embody:
- Dr Tanisha Spratt (King’s Faculty London) for her venture on “Black pleasure” and its results on Black Briton wellbeing.
- Dr Tatendashe Bernadette Dondo (College of Leeds) for creating work on the psychological well being outcomes of youngsters post-paediatric ICU, utilizing linked “entire affected person journey” information and superior causal inference strategies
- Dr Brenda Hayanga (King’s Faculty London) for her creating venture on ethnic disparities in look after folks dwelling with a number of long-term circumstances.
- Dr Amber McKenzie (King’s Faculty, London) for her venture on occupational psychological well being in minority army personnel.
The above tasks emphasize the scheme’s dedication to exploring the intersections of scientific and sociocultural points.
Who’s Eligible for the 2025 Wellcome Accelerator Award?
The award is open to researchers (each part-time and full-time) of all nationalities. Nevertheless, candidates should be:
- Black, Bangladeshi, or Pakistani (together with combined heritage backgrounds containing these identities)
- PhD holders(or equal larger diploma, with viva handed) or have about 4 years of analysis expertise.
- In early or mid-career levels. These with a everlasting, open-ended contract for over three years are ineligible except they meet particular exceptions (reminiscent of profession breaks or half‑time roles)
- Working within the UK or ordinarily resident within the UK
- Researching/enrolled in UK establishments. Functions are welcome from members of UK-based non-academic healthcare organizations, not-for-profit organizations, and analysis institutes.
Earlier winners of the Wellcome awards are NOT eligible.
Software Timeline for the 2025 Wellcome Accelerator Award
- Informational webinar for candidates: 3 June 2025. You possibly can watch the replay right here.
- Software deadline: 15 July 2025, at 17:00 BST
- Shortlisting: September 2025
- Announcement of winners and runners-up: November 2025.
Choice Course of
Entries are judged primarily based on:
- Profession imaginative and prescient and ambition (35%): How a lot thought and planning you have got put into mapping out your short-term and long-term profession targets, and the availability of a compelling justification on how the venture will assist you attain these targets.
- Venture Plan (35%): The availability of a transparent and convincing plan for leveraging the fund and the completion of the venture inside the stipulated time.
- Applicant’s Monitor Report (30%): Your impression on the broader analysis group (by means of mentorship, coaching, workshops, instructing, and many others) and your common contributions to data (within the type of books, journal publications, podcasts, translation, and many others) inside and outdoors your discipline.
Ideas for Clinching the 2025 Wellcome Accelerator Award
- Attend the Webinar: …or watch the replay. Occasions like this present a useful supply of information and may also help you higher construction your proposal.
- Select the Proper Matter: The organizing workforce tends in the direction of tasks that target ‘human life, well being, and/or wellbeing.’ So, guarantee your matter falls into this class.
- Make clear your Profession Imaginative and prescient: Your profession imaginative and prescient is likely one of the rubrics on which your proposal will probably be evaluated. So in your government abstract, you’ll want to succinctly talk about your short-term (2–3 years) and long-term targets.
- Record the Dates and Numbers: The board at Wellcome desires to see preparedness and foresight in your half. A simple option to obtain this and get the 35 factors for venture plan is by giving them an in depth venture timeline (together with ethics functions, secondments, discipline analysis, and many others) and a breakdown of how you propose to make use of the funds (together with journey prices, visas and relocation help (the place crucial), salaries, and many others.)
- Reveal Impression: You possibly can obtain this by showcasing the timeliness of your work and the way it will foster range, contribute to advancing analysis, and profit the host group and its residents.
- Place Your self as an Authority: Applicant observe document accounts for a whopping 30% of the award weighting. You will get full marks by demonstrating fairness credentials. Discuss your instructing engagements, mentorship positions, workshops you have got chaired or attended, analysis podcasts you have got managed, diversity-driven volunteer actions you have got organized, and analysis communities that you’re a a part of.
- Strive Once more: The award permits a number of submissions, offered every submission is considerably completely different from the opposite. So, if for some purpose, you’re feeling you didn’t put in your finest after clicking apply—otherwise you likelihood upon a greater matter—submit one other entry.
To use for the 2025 Wellcome Accelerator Award, click on right here.
