Course(s) Offered: Public health, Tropical medicine & related fields
Course Level: Graduate (fellowships, research)
Provider: Wellcome Trust
Country to Study in: Any low/middle-income country
Scholarship Description
The Senior Fellowships in Public Health and Tropical Medicine scheme supports outstanding researchers from low- and middle-income countries to establish themselves as leading investigators at an academic institution in a low- and middle-income country location.
This fellowship is the most senior of a series of career awards aimed at building sustainable capacity in areas of research that have the potential for increasing health benefits for people and their livestock in low- and middle-income countries.
Research projects should be aimed at understanding and controlling diseases (either human or animal) of relevance to local, national or global health.
Eligibility
You must be a national or legal resident of a low- and middle-income country, and be either a:
- graduate in a subject relevant to public health or tropical medicine (for example; biomedical or social science, veterinary medicine, physics, chemistry or mathematics) with a PhD and at least five years' postdoctoral experience, or
- medical graduate with a higher qualification equivalent to membership of the UK Royal College of Physicians (i.e. qualified to enter higher specialist training), or be recognised as a specialist within a relevant research area, and have at least five years' research experience.
- Applicants who do not have a PhD but who are educated to first degree or Master's level and have substantial research experience, as evidenced by their publication record, may be considered.
Due allowance will be given to those whose career has been affected, either by a late start or by interruption, for personal or family reasons.
We do not normally accept resubmissions of fellowship applications.
You may not apply for more than one Wellcome Trust fellowship at any one time.
Eligible groups
Citizens of low- and middle-income countries
Participating Institutions
You must be based at an eligible host institution in a low- and middle-income country, and have an appropriate sponsor who is a Head of Department (or equivalent), and holds an established post for the duration of the fellowship and has a track record in research and research training.
Your sponsor must be able to guarantee that space and facilities will be made available for you. The sponsor is expected to support you in your research and to ensure that you will be released from the majority of your administrative and teaching commitments to enable you to focus on research.
You must have the full support of your sponsor, who should give an undertaking that, conditional only on your sustained performance as a research worker:
- if a suitable vacancy arose locally or elsewhere, support would be given to you as a candidate for the post
- the sponsoring department would hope during the tenure of the fellowship to be able to arrange for a suitable new post for you.
Public Health and Tropical Medicine remit - this covers research on infectious and non-communicable diseases within the fields of public health and tropical medicine that is aimed at understanding and controlling diseases (either human or animal) of relevance to local, national or global health, including:
- demographic, social science and health economic studies
- epidemiological, field and community based studies
- health care systems and policy research
- measurement of infectious and chronic disease burden
- population studies
- clinical trials and case control studies
- studies of disease mechanisms in the natural host
- determinants of disease susceptibility and resistance
- immunity or resistance in natural hosts of vectors.
Sponsorship duration
Up to five (5) years in the first instance
Scholarship benefits
Provides support that includes:
- a basic salary
- research expenses (e.g. consumables, equipment, collaborative travel, research assistance, technical support, fieldwork and data collection)
- training costs where appropriate and justified
- an inflation allowance and support to attend scientific meetings.
Method of Application
The application process may take up to four months to complete, from receipt of the main application, and consists of the following stages:
- Preliminary application - assessment of eligibility and advice on competitiveness.
You are strongly advised to contact the Office to discuss your submission before you complete a preliminary application.
You are strongly advised to refer to the Additional information for completing the Principal/Senior Research Fellowship form on eGrants, which provides an overview to help guide you through the application process. - Invited main application - review by the relevant Expert Review Group and shortlisted for interview.
If a main application is invited, you will be asked to complete the main application form (available on eGrants). The form will require you to provide information additional to that provided in the preliminary application, particularly in relation to your research vision. - Interview - by Selection Panel, with additional peer review from relevant scientific experts.
Application advice:
Reviewers typically assess:
- the calibre of the candidate
- the quality and importance of the research question(s)
- the approach to solving these questions
- the suitability of the research environment.
We reserve the right not to process an application if the scheme's eligibility criteria are not met.
DEADLINES:
Applications are now considered three times a year.
The timetable for the next round of the competition is below:
- Next preliminary application deadline: 30 May 2014 (5pm)
- Main application deadline: 25 July 2014 (5pm)
- Shortlisting of candidates by Expert Review Group: September 2014
- Shortlisted candidate interviews by Interview Panel: 3-5 December 2014
- Next preliminary application deadline: 19 September 2014 (5pm)
- Main application deadline: 14 November 2014 (5pm)
- Shortlisting of candidates by Expert Review Group: January 2015
- Shortlisted candidate interviews by Interview Panel: 30 March - 1 April 2015
Invitations to complete a main application form will usually be sent to candidates within one month of the preliminary application deadline.
Interviews will be conducted at the Wellcome Trust’s offices in London.
Contact
Please direct any enquiries to phatic@wellcome.ac.uk, the appropriate funding stream, or by telephone to the Grants Service Desk: +44 (0)20 7611 2020.
Application Deadline: 19 September / 14 November 2014
Open to International applicants: Yes
More Fellowship Information and Application