Call for Applications: Wellcome Early-Career Awards
(Due Date: 17 February 2026, 15:00 GMT)
Description:
I am writing to bring to your attention a significant funding opportunity from the Wellcome Trust, the Wellcome Early-Career Awards, and to request your kind assistance in sharing this with our faculty members. The official details can be found here:
Why this is relevant to CUI faculty
The scheme supports early-career researchers worldwide (including those based in low- and middle-income countries) to design and lead their own innovative research projects in any discipline that has the potential to improve human health, life, and wellbeing.
Funding includes full salary support plus up to £400,000 for research expenses (with additional eligible costs such as overheads, allowances, and support staff—if applicable).
The award period is usually up to 5 years, giving sufficient time for the development and execution of a substantial research programme.
Encouragement for Pakistani Researchers:
As per publicly available records, researchers from Pakistan have previously succeeded in obtaining grants from Wellcome, including at least three researchers affiliated with Karachi-based universities in 2013 and 2017. This demonstrates that Pakistani academics are competitive under this scheme, which should give confidence to CUI faculty considering applying.
Given this precedent, we believe many of our talented early-career colleagues at CUI may be well-positioned to apply, especially those who have completed a PhD (or have equivalent experience), and are ready to propose an independent, innovative, health-oriented research project.
It is therefore requested to disseminate this call (with link and summary) among faculty across relevant departments at CUI. It would be very helpful if you could encourage interested colleagues to consider applying. Thank you.