2025 Wellcome Accelerator Awards for Black, Bengali and Pakistani Researchers and Writers/ Apply Now (Award: £200,000)

The Wellcome Accelerator Award was launched by the Wellcome Trust, a major UK-based global charitable foundation, to support researchers from underrepresented heritage backgrounds in the UK. Navigating the complex landscape of research and publishing can be particularly challenging for researchers and writers of color, who often face systemic barriers and struggle to secure adequate funding to advance their research. The 2025 Wellcome Accelerator Award aims to address this by offering substantial funding of up to £200,000 for project-related expenses (for a duration of up to two years), along with structured support, visibility, and opportunities that enable recipients to reach the pinnacle of their research careers.

Previous recipients of the award include:

• Dr Tanisha Spratt (King’s College London) for her project on “Black joy” and its effects on Black Briton wellbeing.
• Dr Tatendashe Bernadette Dondo (University of Leeds) for developing work on the mental health outcomes of children post-paediatric ICU, using linked “whole patient journey” data and advanced causal inference methods
• Dr Brenda Hayanga (King’s College London) for her developing project on ethnic disparities in care for people living with multiple long-term conditions.
• Dr Amber McKenzie (King’s College, London) for her project on occupational mental health in minority military personnel.

The above projects emphasize the scheme’s commitment to exploring the intersections of scientific and sociocultural issues.

 

Who is Eligible for the 2025 Wellcome Accelerator Award?

The award is open to researchers (both part-time and full-time) of all nationalities. However, applicants must be:

• Black, Bangladeshi, or Pakistani (including mixed heritage backgrounds containing those identities)
• PhD holders(or equivalent higher degree, with viva passed) or have about four years of research experience.
• In early or mid-career stages. Those with a permanent, open-ended contract for over three years are ineligible unless they meet specific exceptions (such as career breaks or part‑time roles) 
• Working in the UK or ordinarily resident in the UK
• Researching/enrolled in UK institutions. Applications are welcome from members of UK-based non-academic healthcare organizations, not-for-profit organizations, and research institutes.

Previous winners of the Wellcome awards are NOT eligible.

Application Timeline for the 2025 Wellcome Accelerator Award

• Informational webinar for applicants: 3 June 2025. You can watch the replay here.
  
• Application deadline: 15 July 2025, at 17:00 BST
  
• Shortlisting: September 2025
• Announcement of winners and runners-up: November 2025.

Selection Process

Entries are judged based on:

• Career vision and ambition (35%): How much thought and planning you have put into mapping out your short-term and long-term career goals, and the provision of a compelling justification on how the project will help you reach those goals.
• Project Plan (35%): The provision of a clear and convincing plan for leveraging the fund and the completion of the project within the stipulated time.
• Applicant’s Track Record (30%): Your impact on the broader research community (through mentorship, training, workshops, teaching, etc) and your general contributions to knowledge (in the form of books, journal publications, podcasts, translation, etc) within and outside your field.

 

Tips for Clinching the 2025 Wellcome Accelerator Award

1. Attend the Webinar: …or watch the replay. Events like this provide an invaluable source of knowledge and can help you better structure your proposal.
2. Choose the Right Topic: The organizing team tends towards projects that focus on ‘human life, health, and/or wellbeing.’ So, ensure your topic falls into this category.
   
3. Clarify your Career Vision: Your career vision is one of the rubrics on which your proposal will be evaluated. So in your executive summary, be sure to succinctly discuss your short-term (2–3 years) and long-term goals.
4. List the Dates and Numbers: The board at Wellcome wants to see preparedness and foresight on your part. An easy way to achieve this and get the 35 points for project plan is by giving them a detailed project timeline (including ethics applications, secondments, field research, etc) and a breakdown of how you intend to use the funds (including travel costs, visas and relocation support (where necessary), salaries, etc.)
   
5. Demonstrate Impact: You can achieve this by showcasing the timeliness of your work and how it will foster diversity, contribute to advancing research, and benefit the host community and its residents.
   
6. Position Yourself as an Authority: Applicant track record accounts for a whopping 30% of the award weighting. You can get full marks by demonstrating equity credentials. Talk about your teaching engagements, mentorship positions, workshops you have chaired or attended, research podcasts you have managed, diversity-driven volunteer activities you have organized, and research communities that you are a part of.
7. Try Again: The award permits multiple submissions, provided each submission is significantly different from the other. So, if for some reason, you feel you did not put in your best after clicking apply—or you chance upon a better topic—submit another entry.

To apply for the 2025 Wellcome Accelerator Award, click here.