Liz ShawAriel Retik
MEDICAL HUMANITIES and PUBLIC ENGAGEMENTAT THE
WELLCOME TRUST:FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
• an independent research-funding charity
• established 1936
• funded from private endowment
• managed for long-term stability and growth
• interests range from interests range from science to history of science to history of medicinemedicine
“To foster and promote research with the aim of improving human and
animal health”
Medical History and Humanities Remit
• To encourage applicants to address the important questions that will develop further our understanding of the progress, socioeconomic and cultural impacts of medicine and medical sciences on human and animal health.
• Research must be historically grounded, drawing, where appropriate, on wider disciplines, in particular the humanities.
• Disciplines: Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences
Eligibility• Any department, as long as
the research is ‘historically grounded’
• Main regions of funding: UK and Ireland
• Possibility of overseas funding, if deemed of strategic importance
• Focus Areas: India, Major Overseas Programmes (MOPS), Developing and Restructuring Countries
Places: Strong track record in global health researchGeographic focus
Major Overseas Programmes
Focus countries
Other eligible countries
Programme Grants• Encourage more expansive
research on important questions at the interface of science, medicine and the humanities
• Long-term funding: up to 5 years support on a focused topic or theme
• Designed explicitly to develop a competitive Programme Grant application
• Test research questions, methodology and collaborations
• Should also have its own autonomous outcome (e.g. journal article, large conference, etc)
• Can include research leave
• Up to 2 years support
Pilot Grants
University Awards
• Allows universities to attract outstanding research staff
• The university guarantees a permanent post at the end of the award
• Applicants cannot be in an established academic post
• Up to 5 years support, providing full salary for three years, 50% in the fourth year and 25% in the fifth year
Fellowship Awards
• You CAN apply before you have finished your PhD
• Only two deadlines: 1st of August and 1st of December
• Interviews are held within 2 weeks after the FC meeting
• Up to 3 years support
Research Leave Awards
• Allows researchers to undertake an uninterrupted period of full-time research
• Pays for a replacement lecturer
• Can be part of a Programme or Pilot Grant
• Tenable for up to three years• Also for clinicians and
scientists (6 months)
• Research Expenses: assistance for modest programme of study (up to 2 years, £5,000)
• Conferences, Symposia, Seminar Series: financial support for organising academic meetings of all kinds (up to £5,000)
• Applications accepted throughout the year
• Fast turnaround: decisions are usually made within 8 weeks
• No need for preliminary application
Small Grants
Application Process• Three deadlines per year:
– 1 March (FC meets in June) – 1 August (FC meets in November)– 1 December (FC meets in March)
• Preliminary applications required 6 weeks before deadline
• Programme Grant Prelims go to Funding Committee
• Interview within 2 weeks of Funding Committee
• How we can help: Grant Outreach and Grant Administration
Other Wellcome
Funding
• Ethical issues arising in the develop-ment & delivery of healthcare or use of medical techniques in non-healthcare contexts
• Must have some ethical/critical analysis of what ought or ought not to be done, or some analysis of concepts crucial to that ethical analysis
• Can have substantial empirical component
• Must be research in ethics
Biomedical Ethics
Other Arts and Humanities Activities at the Trust
Wellcome Library
http://library.wellcome.ac.uk
Wellcome Collection
http://www.wellcomecollection.org
Wellcome Trust Book Prize
http://www.wellcomebookprize.org
Public Engagement
• Dissemination of academic outputs
• Opportunities within research projects to reach wider audiences
• Public Engagement grants
