Wellcome’s Doctoral Programmes for Healthcare Professionals initiative funds doctoral programmes for healthcare professionals based in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. These programmes will offer excellent research training within supportive and inclusive environments, emphasising innovative strategies for career development. The lead applicant (project director) must be based at an eligible administering organisation in the UK.

The aim is to train the next generation of healthcare professional academics in world-leading research environments and retain these talented researchers in the dual career pipeline. Applications are welcomed from teams who propose to host and administer such a programme at their institution(s) over multiple intakes of fellows. Applicants can apply to this call to renew an existing programme or to secure funding for a new programme.

Doctoral programmes must fit within Wellcome’s discovery research remit. They must be open to all healthcare professionals registered in the UK or Republic of Ireland such as doctors, vets, dentists, clinical psychologists, nurses, midwives and allied health professionals, unless specifically designed around the needs of a particular professional or specialty group.

Programmes can support research in any discipline, including science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), experimental medicine, humanities and social science, clinical/allied health sciences, and population health. They can either have a disciplinary/subject focus or involve multiple disciplines brought together around a cross-cutting theme.

The scheme is open to teams of established researchers. There should be a leadership team comprising a lead applicant as lead director of the programme and up to seven co-applicants. The administering organisation (where the lead applicant is based) must be based in the UK and is responsible for submitting the final application to Wellcome. It can be a higher education institution, research institute, healthcare organisation or not-for-profit/non-governmental research organisation.

Funding will be allocated for five intakes of three to five fellows for each doctoral programme. The exact funding amount awarded will depend on the size and scope of the programme proposed. Wellcome expects to fund approximately 12 programmes with an average award value of £12 million.

Recruitment should be planned so that the first fellows start their training in autumn 2027. Each doctoral fellowship is for three years, including dedicated time for maintaining clinical skills.

An information webinar will take place on 4 November 2025 (registration is required; a recording after the event will be made available).