These Wellcome awards will support transdisciplinary teams to catalyse research discoveries at the intersection of genomics, humanities, social sciences and bioethics. Funded projects will be given the time and resources to create new research agendas and explore innovative ways of working.
This award will bring together teams to shape interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary discovery research agendas across genomics and its wider contexts (see what we mean by Discovery Research). Successful teams will facilitate novel collaborations that drive new research agendas with the potential for discovery.
Who cannot apply
You cannot apply for this award if:
- You intend to carry out activities that involve the transfer of funds into mainland China.
- You are already an applicant on another application for this funding call – applicants are limited to one application overall (as lead applicant or coapplicant).
- You already have applied for, or hold, the maximum number of Wellcome awards for your career stage. See our guidance on how many grants you can apply for, or hold, at the same time.
Is your organisation right for this call?
The administering organisation is where the lead applicant is based. It is responsible for submitting your final application to Wellcome and managing the finances of the grant if it is awarded.
The administering organisation can be based anywhere in the world apart from mainland China. It must be able to sign up to Wellcome’s grant conditions.
The administering organisation can be a:
- higher education institution
- research institute
- non-academic healthcare organisation
- not-for-profit or non-governmental organisation
Commercial organisations are not eligible to apply as administering organisations for this call. However, coapplicants and collaborators can be based at commercial organisations.
One organisation can submit multiple different applications.
What’s expected of lead applicant and coapplicant organisations
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 with Wellcome funding that is based outside the UK is expected, at a minimum, to follow the principles of the Concordat.
We also expect organisations to:
- Guarantee that the space and resources applicants need have been agreed and will be made available to them from start date through to the end date of the award.
- Give applicants and any staff employed on the grant at least 10 days a year (pro rata if part-time) to undertake training and continuing professional development (CPD) in line with the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers. 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, embedding and planning for you when you join the organisation and/or start the award.
Is your proposal right for this award?
These awards will support transdisciplinary teams to catalyse research discoveries at the intersection of genomics, humanities, social sciences and bioethics. Funded projects will be given the time and resources to create new research agendas and explore innovative ways of working.
There is a long history of exploring the social, legal and ethical contexts of genomics. This has made significant inroads into fostering more ethical and equitable practice. However, this has often been too limited and too late. Wider humanities and social science fields are underrepresented; communities or other social partners are often not centred; and these perspectives are often only included after key research decisions have already been made. This not only poses ethical challenges. It means that the discovery research potential of wider and earlier collaboration remains unrealised.
This call is aimed at addressing this issue and supporting novel, transdisciplinary teams to explore this area by enabling:
- An increased breadth of collaborative partners – building inter- and transdisciplinary teams across genomics-related life sciences, humanities, social science and wider societal partners to purposefully engage in research at their unique intersections.
- The earlier integration of partners – bringing new partners together at the conceptual stage of a research agenda (research ideation, design and partnership building), so that research ideas and avenues can be explored and co-developed in new and innovative ways.
- A focus on Discovery Research – shifting the focus away from specific ethical questions, often applied at the end of a research lifecycle, to an emphasis on co-developing novel discovery research from the outset.
- A plan for integrated collaboration across the research lifecycle that harmonises and leverages the skills and perspectives of diverse contributors.
Visit funding web page
(https://wellcome.org/research-funding/schemes/genomics-in-context-awards)
