The Wellcome Trust
Birkbeck College London
5 November 2010
The Wellcome Trust
• an independent researchfunding charity.
• established 1936.
• funded from private
endowment.
• interests range from science
to history of medicine to
public engagement.
• Grant spend 2009/10:
c£550m
Our Strategy
Strategic Plan 2010-20
• One vision
• Three focus areas
• Five challenges
Our new vision and mission
Our vision is to achieve
extraordinary improvements in
human and animal health
Our mission is to support the
brightest minds in biomedical
research and the medical
humanities
Our breadth of support includes
public engagement, education and
the application of research to
improve health
Three focus areas…
• Supporting outstanding
researchers
supporting the best researchers at all
stages of their careers; creating the best
research environments; influencing the
policy landscape
• Accelerating the application of
research
stimulating Technology Transfer, clinical
research and uptake to policy & practice
• Exploring medicine in historical
and cultural contexts
fostering medical humanities, education
& public engagement
Five major challenges…
• Maximising the health benefits
of genetics and genomics
• Understanding the brain
• Combating infectious diseases
• Investigating development,
ageing & chronic disease
• Connecting environment,
nutrition and health
Maximising the health benefits
of genetics and genomics
• understanding how genomic variation
affects disease
• unravelling the interplay of genetics,
environment and lifestyle in disease
• investigating gene function
• managing data and informatics
• developing new health products,
devices and technologies
• examining the ethical and social
questions raised by genetics
• ensuring that appropriate governance
is applied to research
Understanding the brain
• characterising neural networks
• integrating research efforts at the
interface between basic and clinical
neuroscience
• gaining new insights into mental health
disorders
• fostering technology development and
innovation
• integrating humanities, arts and social
science perspectives
• promoting public dialogue and debate
Combating infectious disease
• understanding the burden of disease
• investigating pathogen emergence and
transmission
• characterising mechanisms of
pathogenesis and host response
• understanding the effects of coinfection and disease interactions
• developing better tools, products and
devices
• exploring the social context of
infectious disease control
• accelerating uptake of interventions
into policy and practice
Investigating development,
ageing and chronic disease
• characterising physiological
processes in health and disease
• understanding chronic disease at
individual and population levels
• developing skills and resources and
new technologies
• supporting research to inform
effective delivery of health
innovations
• examining the societal context of
research and healthcare provision &
engaging the public on these
questions
• influencing policy and practice
Connecting environment,
nutrition and health
• addressing global malnutrition and
obesity
• investigating the health impacts of
climate change
• examining ecological public health
• understanding lifestyle choices and
behaviour change
• evaluating interventions & informing
policy and practice
• stimulating global dialogue and
examining ethical, social and cultural
contexts
How we fund
Generous, flexible and long-term
support for the best people
“….simply put, the best way to administer a
creative research environment is to find
people of great talent and reasonable
ambition – whatever their specific
disciplines – and leave them to their own
devices”
Joshua Lederberg, The Scientist, 1991
Implementing the Strategic Plan:
Funding for Biomedical Science
Investigator Awards
replacing project, programme, equipment,
resources, technology development, flexible
travel awards
Fellowships
•Clinical, Basic & ‘Tropical’
•Training, Intermediate & Senior
Strategic Awards
•Strategic Awards
•Themed Initiatives
Translation Awards
Investigator Awards
Investigator Awards
Long-term support for world-class researchers
with the vision to innovate, take risks and
explore the most challenging questions in their
field of study.
Long term funding:
 greater impact
 alleviate renewal burden/distraction
Well resourced:
 enable researchers to realise their vision.
Flexible spend:
 follow research where it leads: innovate and
take risks
People focus
 Interview stage
Investigator Awards
Aimed at best and brightest researchers in
established positions at all career stages
• New Investigator Awards:
To support world-class researchers who are
no more than five years from appointment
to their first established academic position
and can demonstrate the ability to innovate
and drive advances in their field of study.
• Senior Investigator Awards:
To support exceptional world-class
researchers in established academic
position who are working at the forefront of
their field and have a compelling long-term
vision for their research.
Applicants
• Predominantly single applicant
• Two joint applicants possible: shared
vision
• Large-scale multi-applicant
collaborations supported through
Strategic Awards
• UK, and low or middle income
countries, and Major Overseas
Programmes (MOPS) eligible
What can you ask for on
Investigator Awards?
• £100k - £425k per year for up to 7
years
• direct costs of research
• not own salary costs
• no proportion of FECs ie: no change
to policy
Costs awarded to be finalised after the
decision is made and will depend on
scientific needs of proposed research
I
Assessment Process
(Optional)
CV
details
check
Main
application
submission
Expert
Review
Group
Scientific
review &
short-listing
External
peer
review
Selection
Panel
Interviews
Assessment Criteria
- The track record and standing of the candidate
- The quality and importance of the research question.
-The approach to solving these questions.
- The suitability of research environment
- How the proposed research addresses our Strategic Challenges.
Expert Review Groups
• Short-list Investigator Award
applications for interview by the
Selection Panels.
• 9 ERGs based around scientific
streams/disciplines.
• ERGs map to Challenges.
• In future, short-listing of Fellowship
applications for the Fellowship
interview Committees.
Selection Panels
• Interview candidates for New
Investigator and Senior Investigator
Awards shortlisted by the Expert
Review Groups.
• Multi-disciplinary core
membership, supplemented by
ERG members and co-opted
experts
• Sessions aligned with Challenges
plus Tropical Medicine & Public
Health
Timetable
30th July 2010:
1st Oct 2010:
Final closing date for full project and
programme grant applications.
Applications for Investigator Awards can
be submitted.
22nd Nov 2010:
Closing date for the first round of
Investigator Award applications.
March 2011:
Final Funding Round for project and
programme grant applications.
May 2011:
First Investigator Awards made.
Fellowships
Investigator awards and Fellowships
Senior Investigator awards
New Investigator awards
Personal Support Schemes –
Biomedical Scientists
Senior Research
Fellowships
Research Career
Development
Fellowships
Sir Henry Wellcome
Postdoctoral
Fellowships
For outstanding individuals of exceptional ability
(with 5-10 years post-doc experience) to continue their
independent programmes of research.
Annual competition.
Successful postdoctoral scientists with 3-6 years
post-doctoral research experience.
Considered twice a year.
For the best newly qualified post-doctoral basic science
researchers with no more than 1 year of postdoctoral
research.
Annual competition.
Personal Support Schemes –
Clinical Scientists
Senior Research
Fellowships
Intermediate Clinical
Fellowships
Research Training
Fellowships
• For outstanding clinical investigators to further develop
their research potential and to establish themselves as
leading investigators in clinical academic medicine.
• Annual competition..
• For clinicians who have had an outstanding start to their
research career to continue research at postdoctoral level
and maintain a clinical career.
• Considered twice a year.
• For medical, dental and veterinary graduates with little
or no research experience, to pursue training in a high
quality research lab towards a PhD or MD.
• Considered three times a year.
Other Personal Support
schemes
•Basic & Clinical PhD Studentship
Programmes.
• Research Career Re-entry Fellowships.
• Separate Career Pathway Schemes
exist for researchers in Veterinary
Medicine & Tropical Medicine.
Strategic Awards
Strategic awards
• ambitious initiatives across the breadth of
the Wellcome Trust's interests
• highly flexible and responsive to emerging
opportunities
• partnership with host institution
• recent examples:
• testing a new TB vaccine candidate
• London Pain Consortium
• Structural Genomics Consortium
• Public Health Foundation of India
• Biomedical Engineering
Strategic Awards
Awards are normally for five years and can
provide funds for:
• equipment
• support staff
• consumables
• training programmes
• networking
• biological, clinical or epidemiological
research resources.
Preliminary applications for Strategic
Awards may be submitted at any time and
are assessed on a rolling basis.
Contact the Trust to discuss.
For more information visit our website:
www.wellcome.ac.uk