Infectious Disease Award: Understanding dengue and Zika spread, immunity and clinical outcomes
This funding call will support multidisciplinary teams to generate evidence on where dengue and Zika viruses co-circulate and investigate the implications this has on host immune responses and clinical outcomes. Research funded through this award will support global efforts to understand and predict the spread of these pathogens, especially where data are limited. Funded projects will also help to design and implement future interventions to reduce dengue and Zika’s growing burden and impact on health.
Overview
- Lead applicant career stage:
- Administering organisation location:
- Anywhere in the world (apart from mainland China)
- Strategic programme:
- Infectious Disease
- Frequency:
- One-off
- Funding amount:
Up to £5 million per award
- Funding duration:
Between 3 to 5 years
- Coapplicants:
- Accepted
Who can apply
Your experience
The team must:
- Contain expertise in whole genome sequencing and analysis, and at least one of the following disciplines: epidemiology, immunology or public health.
- Have a lead applicant or coapplicant, from an African or Asian country that is currently experiencing a dengue and Zika outbreak or has experienced an outbreak in the past.
- Include either a lead applicant or coapplicants based in each country where the research will take place.
- Include public health stakeholders and policymakers in the country where your research is conducted. By public health stakeholders and policymakers, we mean those who can influence decision-making around how and where potential interventions are conducted. This includes but is not limited to public health officials in national or local governments, national task forces, national or global non-governmental organisations (NGOs), advocates, affected communities or the wider public.
- Any coapplicants in the team must be able to contribute at least 20% of their research time to the project. There is no minimum time commitment for collaborators.
- Demonstrate experience of collaborating and/or engaging with public health stakeholders, policymakers and community professionals or representatives in the design and implementation of the research. This includes communicating research outputs such as evidence and data in a way that is useful and timely for public health decision-making.
- Actively promote a diverse, inclusive and supportive research environment.
Applying for and holding multiple Wellcome awards at one time
If you already hold other active awards with Wellcome from previous funding opportunities, please refer to our information on applying for and holding multiple Wellcome awards at one time.
The lead applicant must:
- Have the experience needed to drive and lead a multidisciplinary research programme addressing the research question(s).
- Be based anywhere in the world except mainland China, with at least one coapplicant based at an institution in an African or Asian country that is currently experiencing a dengue and Zika outbreak or has experienced an outbreak in the past.
- Be based at either a higher education institution, research institute, non-academic healthcare organisation, not-for-profit or non-governmental organisation. We will not accept lead applicants from commercial organisations.
- Be able to contribute at least 20% of their research time to this project.
- Only be a lead applicant on one application for this funding call.
- Have a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract at their administering organisation. Have a salary paid by your host organisation for the duration of the award. If you are based in a low- or middle-income country, you can ask for a contribution to your salary if you hold a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract and have to get your salary from external grant funding.
- Have at least three years remaining on their contract at the point of application, or they must have secured their next position at an eligible organisation and be able to provide a letter of support.
- Actively promote a diverse, inclusive and supportive environment within their team and across their organisation.
The coapplicant:
- Can be based anywhere in the world except in mainland China, so long as the lead applicant or at least one other coapplicant is based at an institution in an African or Asian country currently experiencing a dengue and Zika outbreak or has experienced an outbreak in the past.
- Can be based in the same or a different organisation from the lead applicant.
- Can be at any career stage and from any discipline relevant to the priorities of the proposed research. We strongly encourage early-career researchers to be included as coapplicants.
- Must be able to contribute at least 20% of their research time to this project.
- Must be essential for the delivery of the proposed research and make a significant contribution. For example, designing an aspect of the research, writing the application, managing the programme, leading on a specific work package or aim, or being responsible for research uptake.
- Must have a guarantee of space from their host institution for the duration of their commitment to the award, but do not need to have a permanent, open-ended, or long-term rolling contract at their administering institution.
- Can be based at a commercial organisation.
- Can be listed on a maximum of two applications to this call. If both projects recieve funding, you must be able to demonstrate that you can dedicate enough time and resources to these projects.
There is a limit of seven coapplicants per application.
The collaborator/s:
- There is no limit to the number of collaborators listed on an application for this award. We expect that the added value of anyone listed as a collaborator is clearly described.
- Cannot receive salary or compensation for the time spent on the proposed project but can request costs to cover their expenses.
Where you're based
At least one lead applicant or coapplicant must be based in an African or Asian country that is currently experiencing a dengue and Zika outbreak or has experienced an outbreak in the past.
Administering organisations can be based anywhere in the world apart from mainland China. The introduction of the Chinese NGO Law on 1 January 2017 requires foreign NGOs (like Wellcome) to have a representative office in China, or file documentation to carry out temporary activities in order to fund activities in China. Wellcome does not have a representative office in China and a temporary activity licence would not cover the nature of the activities we fund. Consequently we are unable to fund activities in China.
If you’ve spent time away from research
Time spent away from research
You can apply for this award if you have spent time away from research (for example, for a career break, parental leave or long-term sick leave). We will take this into consideration during the review of your application.
Retirement
If you have retired, you are eligible to apply as a coapplicant or collaborator. You must have a guarantee of space from your administering organisation and you must contact us before applying.
Working part-time
Lead and coapplicants can be part-time. There is no formal minimum, but part-time applicants should still be able to contribute at least 20% of their research time to the project and their part-time work should be compatible with delivering the project successfully.
Who can't apply
You should not apply for this call if:
- you intend to carry out activities that involve the transfer of grant funds into mainland China.
- you do not have either a lead applicant or coapplicants based in each country where the proposed research will take place.
- you are a lead applicant based at a commercial organisation.
Is your organisation right for this call?
Where your administering organisation must be based
The organisation of the lead applicant can be based anywhere in the world except mainland China and can be a:
- higher education institution
- research institute
- non-academic healthcare organisation
- not-for-profit organisation
Coapplicants to this award can be based at commercial organisations.
The lead and coapplicants must all be based at eligible organisations that can sign up to our grant conditions and grant funding policies.
If your administering organisation is a core-funded research organisation, this award should not replace or lead to a reduction in existing or planned core support.
What your administering organisation must do
We expect organisations based in the UK to meet the responsibilities required by the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers for institutions, managers and researchers.
Any organisation which receives Wellcome funding that is based outside the UK is expected, at a minimum, to follow the principles of the Concordat.
We also expect any administering organisation to:
- Give you, and any staff employed on the grant, at least ten days a year (pro rata if part-time) to undertake training and continuing professional development in line with the Concordat. This should include the responsible conduct of research, research leadership, people management, diversity and inclusion, and the promotion of a healthy research culture.
- Provide a system of onboarding and planning for you when you start the award, which should include understanding and supporting the commitments of the award.
- Provide you with the status and benefits of other staff of similar seniority.
Is your research right for this call?
Research priorities
Dengue and Zika viruses are closely related flaviviruses that share common mosquito vectors and are known to co-circulate in human populations. Data on their epidemiology and disease burden are limited in critical geographical regions, especially in Africa and Asia. The limited availability of data on co-circulation and cross-reactivity prevents the effective design and implementation of interventions against the current and future spread of the two viruses.
Individuals can experience simultaneous infections with dengue and Zika, or infection with one virus followed by the other (sequential infection), potentially triggering cross-reactive immunity. Cross-reactivity between dengue and Zika may influence the level of protection against future infections with the two pathogens, therefore affecting spread, disease burden and clinical outcomes.
This call aims to fund projects that explore the effects of dengue and Zika co-circulation on host immune responses and clinical outcomes, with a particular focus on areas where epidemiological and immunological data are limited or underused. Proposals can additionally include investigations into socio-demographic, climatic and land-use drivers of dengue and Zika co-circulation and spread.
We will prioritise proposals that consider the co-circulation of the two viruses and include:
- Investigations of immunological cross-reactivity of dengue and Zika, moving away from studies on the individual aspects of either dengue or Zika virus infections. This can include how co-infection or sequential infection can impact:
- susceptibility to future infections and/or
- immune responses and disease severity following either dengue or Zika infection.
- Molecular and clinical epidemiology studies of dengue and Zika to improve our understanding of the co-circulation of the two viruses, their viral diversity and clinical outcomes, particularly in areas where epidemiological data are limited.
Applications can include studies in low- and middle-income countries where evidence of dengue and Zika co-circulation is lacking, but where there are probable or suspected cases. Studies in these regions can address solely the epidemiological component of this funding call, provided that the overall team composition can also address the immunological cross-reactivity of dengue and Zika by using future, existing or historical samples from areas with confirmed dengue and Zika cases.
What your research proposal must include
Your research proposal must include:
- Justification on why you are proposing to conduct research in your chosen country.
- How you will generate evidence of dengue and Zika virus co-circulation. We expect proposals to include the use of molecular epidemiology tools such as pathogen genomic sequencing along with an integrated data approach to investigating the influence of co-circulation and viral diversity.
- The type of data you plan to generate: for example, dengue and Zika whole genome sequence data, and serological or other immunological or clinical data that evidence the population-level and individual-level immunity to dengue and Zika.
- Proposed laboratory investigations on cross-reactivity between dengue and Zika.
- Details of the populations or groups included in the data collection, analysis and reporting, including, but not limited to, any subgroups according to age, gender, pregnancy status and/or newborns exposed in utero.
- If you are collecting new data, you must provide a detailed plan on how you will undertake this work with the community and how you are involving them in your project. As part of this plan, you should highlight notable points of collaboration and how key stakeholders will be involved in the decision-making process at various stages of the research. This includes how the research proposal and design were developed with relevant stakeholders. We expect that any relevant stakeholders, such as community professionals or representatives, would be part of steering groups or committees that are part of projects funded by this award. Other relevant stakeholders could include community leaders, public health actors, policymakers or data professionals.
- A description of how your planned research attends to the responsible conduct of research. This includes ethical, social and cultural considerations relevant to the types of samples and data you are using, any enrolled research populations, the contexts in which the work is conducted and impacts on affected communities across the lifecycle of the work. If you plan to include children, pregnant people, as well as follow-up with newborns, please include relevant details for how study methods, approaches and team expertise are suited to the interests of these populations, generate appropriate evidence, and tend to relevant safety needs.
- A description of your approach to data management, integration and/or sharing of the different data types detailed above, especially where data types vary from traditional epidemiological, clinical and immunological data – for example, socio-economic statistics, qualitative data, interactional/relational data and survey data. Your approach to data management must include how you plan to share data with relevant stakeholders in the event of a dengue or Zika outbreak during the lifetime of your award to ensure that research findings and data relevant to this outbreak are shared rapidly and openly to inform public health responses.
- Provide a data sharing, communications and management plan with collaborating public health stakeholders and policymakers, both locally and internationally as appropriate. This will be central to the design, adoption or implementation of interventions against dengue and Zika.
- The communications plan needs to outline your plans to ensure that your research will be seen and understood by relevant stakeholders for the duration of your project. This could include feeding back to your community through workshops or sharing findings with public health and policymakers through appropriate channels. We expect you to also include your plans for sharing your research outputs to influence local, national, regional or global decision-making in the Zika and/or dengue response.
- For multi-country projects, provide a data management plan for international data transfers or accessibility, security and procedures for associated regulatory requirements and/or permissions. Learn more about our data, software and materials management and sharing policy.
- The relevance of the proposed research to low- and middle-income countries, including a plan for conducting laboratory research, enhancing laboratory capability, training and data analysis, with appropriate sensitivities about how the findings may impact different affected groups.
- How you have embedded engaged research approaches and a commitment to collaborative working.
What your research proposal can include
Your research proposal can include:
- Clinical characteristics of dengue and Zika disease in patients, including population subgroups like children, pregnant patients and follow-up of babies with in utero exposures.
- Molecular epidemiology of other mosquito-borne viruses as long as dengue and Zika are the primary focus.
- Research based in more than one location or country.
- These data sources are optional but can be used where teams think they add value to their research priorities. For example:
- Research that uses socio-demographic/contextual methodologies, for example, behavioural practices, community mapping and socio-economic status to understand the potential socio-demographic drivers of dengue and Zika co-circulation.
- Research that explores built environments.
- Investigations of climatic and land use drivers of dengue and Zika co-circulation. For example using data from satellite imagery or other sources of earth observation data, including weather station data and climate reanalyses.
Kinds of research that aren't right for this call
- focuses solely on one of the viruses (either dengue or Zika), or exclusively focuses on serosurveys and immunology
- addresses the research priorities using exclusively or predominantly entomological studies and studies in animal reservoirs
- addresses only the detection and genomic surveillance of dengue and/or Zika, or social and public health measures in response to dengue and/or Zika
- focuses solely on the evaluation of medical countermeasures or on clinical research unless linked to the core research topics of the call (whole genome sequencing, immunology, virology)
- aims to develop dengue and/or Zika diagnostic tests for commercial purposes or for purposes unrelated to addressing the research question
- addresses the research question exclusively by researchers in institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean
- fails to consider the engagement of public health stakeholders
- includes activities that involve the transfer of grant funds into mainland China.
Research costs you can ask for
You can ask Wellcome to pay for:
Lead applicant
You must contribute at least 20% of your research time to this award.
If you are based in the UK or Republic of Ireland, you cannot ask for your salary.
If you are based in a low- or middle-income country, you can ask for a contribution to your salary if you hold a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract and have to get your salary from external grant funding.
The amount we pay will be proportionate to the time you contribute to the award, for example if you contribute 30% of your time to the award we will fund 30% of your salary.
You will have to contribute at least 20% of your research time to this award.
Your host organisation must confirm:
- that you have to get your salary from external grant funding to participate in the research
- that they will underwrite the post, including any salary costs not covered by Wellcome, for the period of time that you will be working on the grant.
Coapplicants
Coapplicants must contribute at least 20% of their research time to this programme.
If any coapplicant employed on your grant holds a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract and has to get their salary from external grant funding, you can ask us for a contribution to their salary in your application.
The amount we pay will be proportionate to the time they contribute to the award, for example if they contribute 30% of their time to the award we will fund 30% of their salary.
Your host organisation must confirm:
- that the coapplicant has to get their salary from external grant funding to participate in the research
- that they will underwrite the post, including any salary costs not covered by Wellcome, for the period of time that the person will be working on the grant.
Coapplicants can also ask for salary where they:
- Are employed by a charity, social enterprise or commercial organisation. The amount they request must be proportionate to the time they will spend on the grant.
- Don’t have a permanent, open ended or long-term rolling contract and they:
- Will spend 80% of their time on this grant. They can ask for their full salary. Their post does not need to be underwritten and can be contingent on the application being successful.
- Will spend less than 80% of their time on the grant. They can request salary proportionate to the time they will spend on the grant. The host organisation must guarantee space and salary support if they cannot get it from other sources for the period of time they are working on the grant. Their post cannot be contingent on the application being successful.
- Are employed on the award as post graduate research assistants. If they are to spend 100% of their time on the award their post does not need to be underwritten by the host organisation and can be contingent on the application being successful.
Alternatively, coapplicants may get their salary through employment on another grant.
Staff working on your programme
We will cover the salary costs of all staff, full or part-time, who will work on your grant.
Staff members may include:
- research assistants or technicians employed on your grant
- specialist service staff, for example data analysis, fieldwork and clinical studies
- project manager, if you have multiple applicants on your programme
- support if you or a member of staff employed on your grant is disabled or has a long-term health condition – see 'Disability-related adjustment support'.
Teaching buyout
If you’re a humanities and social sciences researcher, you can ask for funds for teaching replacement to cover the cost of a temporary replacement lecturer. You must retain at least a 10% commitment to teaching.
Costs:
- can cover up to 33% FTE of your contracted time
- are usually for a person at a more junior level than the postholder
- can be spread across the full period of the grant.
If you already get buyout costs from another grant (funded by Wellcome or elsewhere), you can ask us for this cost, but only for the period of time on your Discovery Award when you won't receive buyout costs from another grant.
You must provide a letter from your employing organisation, confirming that your contract includes a teaching commitment. You should include this in your grant application.
PhD/Research Masters fees
We do not provide studentships on this award. But if applicants employ a research assistant or a technician on the grant, they can ask for the costs to cover their PhD/Research Masters fees. Each applicant can ask for fees for up to two research assistants or technicians in total on the grant, to a maximum of eight per team. Early-career applicants (up to and including holders of early-career fellowships) may not supervise a PhD student alone but can be a co-supervisor with a mid-career or established colleague.
We will only pay the international student fee rate for low- and middle-income nationals who are registered to study for a PhD/Research Masters in a high-income country, excluding the UK and Republic of Ireland. In all other situations, we will pay staff fees where available, or home student fees.
We will cover the salary costs of up to 4 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) staff, full or part-time, who will work on your project. Staff members typically include research assistants or technicians employed on your grant.
You can ask for more staff costs (in addition to the 4 FTE staff) if you need:
- specialist service staff and technical experts, for example environmental sustainability, data analysis, fieldwork and clinical studies
- support because you or a member of staff employed on your grant is disabled or has a long-term health condition – see 'Disability-related adjustment support'.
If you have named people on your grant whose salaries will be funded by Wellcome, you can ask for visa or work permit costs to help them take up their posts at the host organisation. You can also ask for:
- visa costs for the person's partner and dependent children
- essential associated costs, such as travel to attend appointments at a visa application centre or embassy, and essential English language tests
- Immigration Health Surcharge costs for the person, their partner and dependent children if they will be in the UK for six months or more.
If you or a member of staff working on your grant is disabled or has a long-term health condition, you can ask for adjustment support to help you carry out your project.
Costs can include, but are not limited to:
- additional costs for staff to help with day-to-day activities related to your project
- assistive technology to help use computers, research equipment or materials – for example, text to audio software
- care costs for assistance animals if you need to travel.
We will not pay for capital or building costs, such as access ramps.
You can ask for these costs if your government and/or employer:
- does not cover any of the costs
- only covers some of the costs (if they do, we will only meet the shortfall).
The costs we provide must not replace the support you may get from the government or your organisation, who are responsible for providing these costs.
If you don't know what these costs are now, you can ask for them after we've awarded your grant.
We will pay for the materials and consumables you need to carry out your project, including:
- laboratory chemicals and materials (for example, reagents, isotopes, peptides, enzymes, antibodies, gases, proteins, cell/tissue/bacterial culture, plasticware and glassware)
- project-specific personal protective equipment (PPE) that is above the standard expected for the setting
- printing associated with fieldwork and empirical research
- associated charges for shipping, delivery and freight
You can ask for the cost of access to shared equipment, facilities or services if they’re essential to your project.
These may include materials and consumables, plus a proportion of:
- maintenance and service contracts
- staff time costs for dedicated technical staff employed to operate the equipment or facility.
We don’t cover the costs of:
- estates and utilities
- depreciation or insurance
- other staff, for example, contributions towards departmental technical, administrative and management staff time.
We do cover these costs if related to animal housing facilities.
If the facilities or equipment were paid for by a Wellcome grant, you can only ask for access charges if:
- the grant has ended
- any support for running costs and maintenance contracts has ended.
Equipment purchase
You can ask for basic items of equipment that are essential to your research project.
Costs may include purchase, delivery, installation, maintenance and training, where necessary.
We will cover VAT and import duties if:
- the usual UK exemptions on equipment used for medical research don’t apply
- you’re applying from a non-UK organisation, and you can show these costs can’t be recovered.
You can also ask for specialised equipment if:
- it is essential to the success of the proposed research project
- it is not available at your host organisation or through collaboration, and
- you’ll be the main user and have priority access to the equipment.
If a complete piece of specialised equipment costs £100,000 or more, we expect a contribution of at least 25% of the total costs, including maintenance, from the host organisation or another source. In some cases, we may expect a larger contribution. We’ll discuss this with you after we’ve assessed your application. Contributions can include benefits in kind, such as refurbishment or the underwriting of a key support post.
Multi-component items must not be broken down into component parts to avoid this contribution.
Equipment maintenance
We will cover maintenance costs for equipment if:
- you are requesting it in your application
- it is existing equipment that is:
- funded by us or another source
- essential to the proposed research project
- cost effective and environmentally sustainable to keep maintaining it.
We won’t cover maintenance costs for equipment if there is a mechanism in place to recoup these costs through access charges.
Computer equipment
We will cover the cost of one personal computer or laptop per person up to £1,500.
We won't pay for:
- more expensive items, unless you can justify them
- installation or training costs.
You can ask for funds to buy animals if they are essential to your project. We will also fund the charge-out rates for animal house facilities if your organisation uses full economic costing methodology. These costs include:
- running costs (including animal maintenance, any experimental procedures, licences and relevant staff training)
- appropriate estates costs
- cage and equipment depreciation costs, but not building depreciation costs.
We may not pay the full charge-out rate for an animal house facility if we've provided significant funding towards the infrastructure and/or core support of the facility.
If your organisation does not use full economic costing methodology to establish charge-out rates for animal house facilities, you can ask for funds to cover:
- the cost of buying animals
- running costs (including animal maintenance, any experimental procedures, licences and relevant staff training)
- staff costs, for example, contributions towards the salaries of animal house technicians.
We will not provide estates or depreciation costs.
We will provide funds if you need to outsource project work to:
- contract research organisations
- other fee-for-service providers.
If you need to carry out clinical research using NHS patients or facilities, we will cover some of the research costs.
Annex A of the guidelines for attributing the costs of health and social care research and development (AcoRD) sets out the costs we cover, and which costs should be funded through the Department of Health and Social Care in England, or its equivalent in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. If you're based in the Republic of Ireland, we would expect you to adhere to the spirit of these principles.
Read more information on our clinical trials policy.
If your proposal involves clinical research using NHS resources, check if you need to upload a SoECAT form with your full application.
We cover fieldwork costs if they’re essential and you can justify them. Costs can include:
- survey and data collection, including communication and data collection services and any associated costs such as essential field materials, travel costs and language translation services
- the purchase, hire and running costs of vehicles dedicated to your project
- expenses for subjects and volunteers, including the recruitment of participants, their participatory fees and travel costs
- statistical analysis.
You can ask for other fieldwork costs that aren’t listed here, but you’ll need to justify them.
Conference attendance
You can ask for a contribution towards the costs of attending scientific and academic meetings and conferences, including registration fees. The limits are:
- Lead applicant – £2,000 a year
- Coapplicants on your grant – £2,000 each a year
- Research and technical staff on your grant – £1,000 each a year.
We provide costs to cover caring responsibilities for any staff employed on your grant attend a conference. This includes childcare and any other caring responsibility they have. We will pay these if:
- Wellcome is providing the salary
- the conference is directly related to the research
- the caring costs are over and above what they would normally pay for care
- the conference organiser and their employing organisation are unable to cover the costs.
You can ask for up to £1,000 per person for each conference.
Collaborative travel
You can ask for travel and subsistence costs for collaborative visits for you and any staff employed on your grant. You’ll need to justify each visit and its duration.
Other travel
We will pay for other essential visits, for example to facilities, libraries, archives, sample collection and for fieldwork. You can include subsistence costs.
Carbon offset costs
This applies to all types of travel costs Wellcome provides.
You can ask for:
- The cost of low carbon travel where practical, even if it's more expensive (for example travelling by train instead of flying).
- Project-related resources or activities that provide an alternative to travel, such as video conferencing, communication and file-sharing software.
- Costs to offset the carbon emissions of the journeys you make. If carbon offsetting for travel is not part of your organisational sustainability strategy, you can ask us for a similar level of support for other sustainability initiatives. Your organisation must get our approval before submitting an application.
We won't pay for the core infrastructure that your host organisation should provide, unless you're eligible to ask for these costs under our overheads policy. Examples of these costs include:
- organisation-wide video conferencing packages
- high-speed broadband
- HD screens.
See our carbon offset policy for travel for information on what you and your organisation need to do.
Subsistence costs
If you’re away for up to one month you can ask for subsistence costs. These include accommodation, meals and incidentals (for example, refreshments or newspapers).
If your administering organisation has a subsistence policy, use their rates.
If your administering organisation doesn’t have a subsistence policy, please use the HMRC rates.
If you’re away for more than one month and up to 12 months, we will pay reasonable rental costs only, including aparthotels. You should discuss appropriate rates with your administering and host organisations, or Wellcome, as appropriate. We expect you to choose the most economical options, booked in advance where possible.
If you’re from a low- or middle- income country and will be working in a high-income country for more than one month and up to 12 months, you can also ask for up to £10 a day to cover extra costs, such as transport and incidentals.
If you’re away for more than 12 months, we will pay the costs of your housing. You should discuss your needs with your administering and host organisations.
The allowance we provide will be based on family and business need. We will set the maximum allowance we pay for each location. This will be based on current market data or, where data is unavailable, in consultation with your administering organisation, using equivalent market rates. Please contact us if you need help calculating the costs.
We will cover the direct expenses you have to pay to find and rent a home. We will not cover the cost of utilities or any refurbishment.
Overseas research
If you or any research staff employed on your grant will be doing research away from your home laboratory, we'll help with the additional costs of working on the project overseas. Please see the 'Overseas allowances' section for details.
You can ask for these costs if you are applying from a higher education institution, a research institute, a non-academic healthcare organisation, a not-for-profit or non-governmental research organisation or a small company.
If you or any staff employed on your grant will be spending time in another country, we’ll help you with the additional costs of working on the project overseas.
Our overseas allowances are:
- a contribution towards the personal cost of carrying out research overseas, to ensure that you are not disadvantaged
- provided on the assumption that you’ll be paying income tax, either in your home country, or the country you will be working in (your personal tax is your responsibility).
- provided on the understanding that you or your partner will not receive equivalent allowances from elsewhere
- determined by the amount of time you will spend away from your home country.
Carbon offset costs
We expect the people we fund to choose travel that has a lower carbon impact, where practical, even if it’s more expensive (for example, travelling by train instead of flying).
You can ask for costs to offset the carbon generated by the travel, as part of your overseas allowances. If carbon offsetting for travel is not part of your organisational sustainability strategy, you can ask us for a similar level of support for other sustainability initiatives. Your organisation must get our approval for other sustainability initiatives to be included in applications.
See our carbon offset policy for travel for information on what you and your organisation need to do.
If you will be away more than 12 months, we will provide overseas allowances for your partner and any dependants if they are travelling with you.
If you will be away for 12 months or less and can justify why your partner and dependants must travel with you, we may provide overseas allowances for them.
We define your partner as the person:
- you’re married to
- you’re not married to but with whom you’ve been in a relationship for at least a year
and
- you live with at the same permanent address and share some form of joint financial commitment with, such as a mortgage.
See a list of low- and middle-income countries, as defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
You can ask for the following allowances. You need to provide estimated costs as accurately as possible.
We will pay your travel costs at the beginning and end of your overseas work. Costs can be for air, ferry, train or coach fares.
All fares should be:
- in line with our carbon offset policy
- booked in advance where possible.
If you are away for up to 12 months, you can ask for up to 80kg of additional baggage or unaccompanied airline freight for your outward and return journeys.
If you are away for more than 12 months, you can ask for the costs of shipping your personal items at the beginning and end of your overseas work.
We will pay the full cost of transporting:
- half a standard shipping container if you’re travelling alone
- a whole standard shipping container (20ft) if you’re travelling with a partner and/or dependants.
We will pay the cost of your medical insurance and travel insurance.
If you will be working in a low- or middle-income country we will also cover the cost of emergency evacuation cover.
We won’t pay for medical insurance if you will be based in the UK or Republic of Ireland.
We will pay the costs of visas, vaccinations and anti-malaria treatment.
You can ask for this if you’ll be based in a low- or middle-income country and it is necessary.
Costs can include guards, panic buttons and alarms. You should ask your employing organisation for advice on the level of security you need.
If you’re away for up to one month you can ask for subsistence costs. These include accommodation, meals and incidentals (for example, refreshments or newspapers).
If your administering organisation has a subsistence policy, use their rates.
If your administering organisation doesn’t have a subsistence policy, please use the HMRC rates.
If you’re away for more than one month and up to 12 months, we will pay reasonable rental costs only, including aparthotels. You should discuss appropriate rates with your administering and host organisations, or Wellcome, as appropriate. We expect you to choose the most economical options, booked in advance where possible.
If you’re from a low- or middle- income country and will be working in a high-income country for more than one month and up to 12 months, you can also ask for up to £10 a day to cover extra costs, such as transport and incidentals.
If you’re away for more than 12 months, we will pay the costs of your housing. You should discuss your needs with your administering and host organisations.
The allowance we provide will be based on family and business need. We will set the maximum allowance we pay for each location. This will be based on current market data or, where data is unavailable, in consultation with your administering organisation, using equivalent market rates. If you need help calculating the costs please contact us.
We will cover the direct expenses you have to pay to find and rent a home. We will not cover the cost of utilities or any refurbishment.
If you’re away for more than 12 months we will pay:
Local nursery or school fees
You can ask for these costs if you are in a location where there isn’t free local education of the same standard as in your home country.
Costs include:
- local nursery school fees up to a maximum of 570 hours a year for 3 to 4 year olds
- local junior or secondary school fees, up to the end of secondary school education.
Local international school fees
You can ask for these costs if local schools do not provide the same standard of education as in your home country. We will only pay the published termly school fees.
We will not cover the costs of:
- extracurricular activities, including field trips
- other extras including, but not limited to, uniforms, sports kit and equipment, transport, meals, books and electronic equipment.
Boarding school fees
We will consider paying the cost of boarding school fees in your home country if:
- a local international school is not available
- both parents, guardians or the sole care giver live outside the home country.
The allowance covers:
- up to a maximum of £30,000 a year for each child for the published termly fees only
- the cost of return airfares at the start and end of each school term, in line with our carbon offset policy for travel.
We will not cover the costs of:
- additional annual leave airfares
- extracurricular activities, including field trips
- other extras including, but not limited to, uniforms, sports kit and equipment, transport, meals, books and electronic equipment.
We will cover the cost of providing special needs education as far as possible. Please contact us to discuss your needs.
We would not usually expect to provide an education allowance if you will be working in a high-income country.
If you will be away for more than 12 months, we’ll pay for you to travel back to your home country for annual leave. This is in addition to your outward and return travel costs and depends on how long you will be away:
- 12-24 months – 1 annual leave trip
- 25-36 months – 2 annual leave trips
- 37-48 months – 3 annual leave trips
- 49-60 months – 4 annual leave trips
- 61-72 months – 5 annual leave trips
- 73-84 months – 6 annual leave trips
- 85-96 months – 7 annual leave trips.
All fares should be:
- in line with our carbon offset policy
- booked in advance where possible.
If you will be away for more than 12 months, you can ask for up to 100 hours of lessons in the local language for you and/or your partner during the first 12 months of your visit.
We will cover 100% of the costs for local language school classes or up to 50% of the costs of individual tuition.
We will not cover the cost of examinations or personal learning materials such as DVDs and books.
You can ask for costs that are essential to the project. These can include:
- materials, including printing and publishing
- other costs relating to engagement activities that are essential to carry out your research, such as collaborating with people with lived experience, patient involvement (including under-served groups) and community engagement
- dissemination of research results and findings arising from Wellcome funded research and workshops.
For more information, please refer to our guidance on using an engaged research approach.
You can ask for overheads if your grant will be based at a:
- university outside the UK or Republic of Ireland
- research organisation that does not receive core funding for overheads
- charitable or not-for-profit organisation
- small or medium-sized commercial organisation.
You can also ask for overheads on any part of your grant that is sub-contracted to any of the organisations listed above.
If you’re based at a UK university, you can’t ask for overheads for sub-contracted activity if your university will include the sub-contracted funding in its annual report to the UK Charity Research Support Fund.
Overheads can include:
- estates, for example building and premises
- non-project dedicated administrative and support staff
- administration, for example finance, library and room hire.
The total cost for overheads should not be more than:
- 20% of the direct research costs if you’re based in a low- or middle-income country
- 15% of the direct research costs if you’re based anywhere else.
These costs must directly support the activity funded by the grant.
How to apply for these costs
In your grant application you must:
- give a full breakdown of costs (you can't ask for a percentage of the research costs)
- explain why these costs are necessary for your research
- include a letter from the finance director of your host organisation, or the sub-contracted organisation, confirming that the breakdown is a true representation of the costs incurred.
You can ask for costs to cover the following types of training.
Continuing professional development and professional skills training
You can ask for a contribution towards these costs.
Types of training can include:
- research leadership, professional and people management skills
- career development support
- responsible conduct of research
- diversity and inclusion
- promotion of a healthy research culture
- understanding and reducing the environmental impact of research.
We expect your host organisation to provide and fund this training. However, if these types of training are not available, or the quality is inadequate, you can ask for up to £500 a year for you and each member of staff employed on your grant who will be:
- in a post of 12 months duration or more only and
- working on Wellcome funded awards for at least 50% full time equivalent.
You will need to justify these costs in your application.
Research skills training
You can ask for costs to cover training for the technical and research skills you need to deliver your proposed research.
You can ask for whatever research skills training you need for you, and each member of staff employed on your grant, who will be:
- in a post of 12 months duration or more only and
- working on Wellcome funded awards for at least 50% full time equivalent.
You will need to justify these costs in your application.
If your organisation receives open access block grant funding, you can ask them to cover your open access article processing charges.
If you're at an organisation that does not receive block grant funding, we’ll supplement your grant when your paper has been accepted for publication.
You cannot ask for these charges in your grant application.
How we calculate your inflation allowance
We will add an inflation allowance to your award. Your inflation allowance is based on your total eligible costs and the duration of the award.
We will use an inflation allowance that reflects the inflation rate of the country where the host organisation is based using data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). You'll receive the following allowance if the costs in your application are in pounds sterling.
| Award duration (in months) | Inflation allowance |
|---|---|
| 0-12 | 0.0% |
| 13-24 | 1.01% |
| 25-36 | 2.04% |
| 37-48 | 3.08% |
| 49-60 | 4.13% |
The costs in your application must be based on current known costs, excluding inflation.
You should allow for salary pay awards during Year 1. These should be based on pay awards already agreed; if you don’t know what the pay award is yet then use the IMF rate for the currency your award will be made in.
Allowed costs
You may ask for the following costs (you will have to justify them in your application):
- specialist publications that are relevant to the research and not available in institutional libraries
- consultancy fees, including for lived experience experts
- expenses for subjects and volunteers – includes recruitment of participants, their participatory fees and travel, as well as interviewee expenses
- reasonable research-associated costs related to the feedback of health-related findings but not any healthcare-associated costs
- costs associated with developing an outputs management plan
- questionnaires, recruitment material, newsletters etc for clinical, epidemiological and qualitative research studies
- public engagement materials where dissemination (including printing and publishing) is a key activity of the project
- recruitment, advertising and interviewee travel costs for staff to be employed on the grant
- purchase, hire and running costs of project-dedicated vehicles
- project-specific personal protective equipment (PPE) that is above the standard expected for the setting
- costs to host/a contribution towards hosting:
- a conference
- a session within a conference
- a symposium
- a seminar series
- advisory board meetings, if appropriate.
- The meeting should either be:
- for research purposes, for example data gathering
- to disseminate your research findings, for example to policy makers.
- Costs can include:
- travel and accommodation for keynote speakers
- external room hire and catering
- event publicity and conference materials
- childcare and other caring responsibility costs for delegates
- any costs related to accessibility and inclusion.
Disallowed costs
We will not pay for:
- estates costs – such as building and premises costs, basic services and utilities*
- phone, postage, photocopying and stationery, unless you can justify these within a clinical or epidemiological study
- page charges and the cost of colour prints
- research, technical and administrative staff whose time is shared across several projects and isn’t supported by an audit record*
- PhD stipends
- cleaning, waste and other disposal costs*
- indirect costs – this includes general administration costs such as personnel, finance, library, room hire and some departmental services
- office furniture, such as chairs, desks and filing cabinets
- clothing such as lab coats and shoes
- non-research related activities such as catering, room and venue hire for staff parties, team-building events and social activities
- indemnity insurance (insurance cover against claims made by subjects or patients associated with a research programme)
- ethics reviews, unless you are in a low- or middle-income country
- radiation protection costs
- contingency funds
- organisation insurance
- clinical examination or course fees
- working capital costs of commercial organisations.
*We will fund these costs in the case of animal-related research.
How to apply
Where to apply
Apply for this scheme on the Wellcome Funding platform. You can save your application and return to it at any time.
Stages of application
1. Before you apply
- Make sure you read everything on this page.
- Get some tips to help you write your grant application.
- Watch the recording of our webinar from 16 May 2024 to learn more about this funding call and how to apply.
- You do not need to contact us before you write and submit your application.
2. Submit your preliminary application
- View the preliminary application form [PDF 116KB].
- Complete the preliminary application on Wellcome Funding. Do not include additional information over and above the 1000 word proposal.
- Your application must be submitted by 17:00 (BST) on the deadline day.
3. Shortlisting
- At the shortlisting stage, Wellcome staff will review your preliminary application. You will be informed of the decision on your preliminary application in approximately one month after the preliminary application deadline.
- Shortlisted applicants will have approximately two months to prepare their full applications.
- We are unable to provide feedback on applications that are not shortlisted.
4. Invitation to full application
- If invited to full application, you will complete your full application on Wellcome Funding.
5. Submit your application to your administering organisation for approval
- Submit your full application to the 'authorised organisational approver' at your administering organisation for approval.
- The lead applicant will need to submit through their administering organisation. Make sure you leave enough time for the approver to review and submit your application before the deadline. The approver may ask you to make changes to your application.
6. Administering organisation reviews your application and submits it to us
- Your full application must be submitted by 17:00 (BST) on the deadline day.
7. Panel review
- A panel will be chosen based on their expertise within the relevant research field and will assess the proposals.
- The panel will review proposals and make funding recommendations to Wellcome.
- Committee membership will be comprised of a diverse range of international members and will take into account Wellcome’s diversity and inclusion priorities.
- Once the panel has been appointed, we will update this webpage to include their details.
8. Funding decision
- You will receive an email notification of the funding decision soon after the decision has been made.
- Successful applicants will be sent an award letter with further details about their award.
- Successful applicants will be requested to attend a meeting with all awardees from this funding call in 2025.
- Unsuccessful applicants will be notified in writing.
How long it takes to apply
You will be informed of the decision on your preliminary application in approximately one month after the preliminary application deadline.
If shortlisted, you will have approximately two months to prepare your full application ahead of the deadline.
If invited to submit a full application following successful shortlisting, you should leave enough time for:
- you and any of your coapplicants to complete the application
- your organisation to review and submit the application.
You will receive notification of an outcome within three months of the full application deadline.
How applications are assessed
The application process will consist of two stages, a preliminary application stage, where proposals will be shortlisted and a full application stage. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to submit full applications, which will be reviewed by a panel of experts.
To evaluate consistently, we mark all questions using the same scoring scheme and apply the relevant weighting for that criteria to get a score.
Preliminary applications
Preliminary applications will be assessed on:
- whether the research aims and objectives are clearly articulated and in line with the stated research priorities, and the approach taken to achieve them is clear
- inclusion of a clear indication of the benefit and relevance of the proposed research to low- and middle-income countries, with appropriate sensitivities indicated about how the findings may impact different affected groups
- justification for conducting research in your chosen country (or countries)
- your team structure, which must include a public health stakeholder and details of proposed or already established collaborations
- the appropriateness of your timeline and budget
Full applications
A panel of experts will review full applications and consider a series of criteria, including:
Research aims, background, key deliverables and anticipated impacts (50% weighting):
- Description of your research aims and anticipated impact, including how your research will improve our understanding of the spread, distribution and clinical outcomes of Zika and dengue outbreaks with respect to co-circulation and/or cross-reactivity.
- The choice of location(s) and datasets for proposed analysis, including a detailed plan on how this work will be undertaken with the community, and a description of how the planned research attends to inherent ethical, social and cultural considerations relevant to the types of samples and data being used.
- The approaches you will use and what tools and technologies will be employed.
- How the research will benefit and be of relevance to low- and middle-income countries.
- The timelines that will be followed and the description of the key deliverables.
- Identified risks and mitigation steps that will be taken.
The team, skills and experience (25% weighting):
- The research skills and experience of all team members, relative to their career stage and role, including a description of the multidisciplinary make-up of the team and their experience in dengue and Zika research in disease-affected settings.
- An outline of the team’s governance structure that will support decision making and the management of the research project.
- How the team proposes to work collaboratively, for example, how the different work packages benefit and complement each other. The role of each coapplicant and collaborator in the proposed work is clearly described.
- The team’s approach to equitable partnerships and ensuring shared benefits to low- and middle-income countries.
- Evidence of a commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion. For example, your approach to recruiting a diverse team and how you will promote inclusion of members in the research and outputs.
Approach to working collaboratively and conducting engaged research (25% weighting):
- How the team has embedded engaged research through the lifecycle of their research proposals.
- Inclusion of relevant stakeholders.
- Description of how they will undertake the work with the community with notable points of collaboration and if/how key stakeholders will be involved in the decision-making process for aspects linked to the support they provide.
- Description of embedded pathways for research uptake with public health stakeholders and other relevant stakeholders.
- Description of your plans for engagement activities with relevant stakeholders and how it will support the proposed research.
Key dates
You must submit your application by 17:00 (BST) on the deadline day. We don’t accept late applications.
Application process timeline
Open to applications
- 16 May 2024Watch the recording
Webinar
- 25 June 2024
Preliminary application deadline
- July to early August 2024
Full applications invited
- 8 October 2024
Full application deadline
- December 2024
Funding decisions communicated
Contact us
Questions on eligibility, what we offer and applications
If you have a question about eligibility, what we offer or about completing the application form using Wellcome Funding, send our funding information advisers a message.
Proposal questions
If you have a question about your proposal, contact us at: epidemics@wellcome.org
We do not answer questions on the competitiveness of proposals.