Roles and responsibilities of people involved in Wellcome funding applications

Lead applicant

A lead applicant is responsible for creating and submitting a grant application. They have intellectual ownership of the application and the project. When there are coapplicants, this intellectual ownership is shared. As the official ‘grantholder’ for the award, the lead applicant is formally accountable for: 

• how grant activities are completed 
• the financial management of the grant 
• meeting Wellcome's grant conditions.

Coapplicant 

A coapplicant on a Wellcome grant application must: 

• make a significant and essential contribution to the research proposal, for example designing the research, writing the application or managing the research project
• be able to contribute a minimum amount of their research time to the research project (the time a coapplicant is expected to contribute is different depending on the funding scheme they’re applying for)
• be based at an eligible organisation
• meet the call or scheme’s eligibility and suitability criteria.

Most projects don’t have coapplicants, either because they’re not needed or because the scheme doesn’t allow them. Only the Wellcome Discovery Awards scheme and some specific funding calls have coapplicants.

Guest editor

A lead applicant can give a guest editor access to their application form so they can help review and edit it. Guest editors can't submit applications.  

Sponsor

A grant application sponsor must:  

• be in an established position at the lead applicant’s administering organisation
• give the applicant research guidance during the application process and throughout the grant 
• support the researcher’s development throughout the grant (the level of support the researcher needs depends on their career stage) 
• have a strong track record in research, training and mentorship 
• confirm the organisation’s support for the applicant. 

Principal investigator

A principal investigator is what we call a ‘lead applicant’ after they’ve been awarded a grant. 

There is a maximum number of grants a researcher can apply for, or hold, at the same time. The maximum number depends on the researcher’s career stage. 

Early-career researcher

Early-career researchers should have, or be about to finish, a PhD or equivalent. 
 
An early-career researcher can apply for, or hold, a maximum of 2 grants at once. You can only be a lead applicant on one of them.  

You could be a: 

• lead applicant on 1 Wellcome grant and a coapplicant on 1 other Wellcome grant 
• coapplicant on 2 Wellcome grants.

Maximum number of grants an early-career researcher can apply for or hold

Find out more about the people who can work on a Wellcome grant and the staff costs you can claim.