Advancing Researcher Scheme

Health and Care Research Wales is pleased to announce the call for applications to the Advancing Researcher Scheme is now open.

The round will close to applications on Thursday 9 October at 16:00. Late applications will not be considered.

Apply now using the Faculty Awards Management System 

The Advancing Researcher Scheme is a personal award which intends to advance research careers for health and social care researchers in Wales. It offers funding to enable protected time to engage in developmental research activities and funding to allow for non-staff costs (such as travel and subsistence, public involvement costs and training costs). The scheme provides flexible and inclusive support for researchers in the middle stage of their research careers. All applicants are thus expected to clearly justify why the scheme is appropriate for them at their research career stage. Applicants should be mindful of the need to clearly justify how the protected time requested will enable them to develop in their research careers. 

The Advancing Researcher Scheme has been developed to facilitate the progression of mid-career researchers as they transition and progress to the next phase of their health and social care research career. This might include the development activities required to lead or co-lead any substantial programme of work for example, post-doctoral fellowships and large project grants including randomised controlled trials. 

We will also consider proposals which lead to the submission of PhDs by Published Works to be eligible for this scheme, if applicants have already completed relevant research and published the required number of individual research papers as first author. This award would then be providing applicants with the protected time to write the integrating components of the PhD.  See ‘what we will fund’ for further finance guidance on PhD by Published Works. 

The Advancing Researcher Scheme is open to mid-career researchers employed by Higher Education Institutes (HEI), or research active staff employed by NHS or social care organisations in Wales. 

Applicants who are planning a PhD by published works might otherwise be described as early career but in this case their track record of first author publication will place them more on a par with mid-career researchers. 

Successful applicants for this award automatically become members of the Health and Care Research Wales Faculty. Being a member of the Faculty means having access to a range of learning, development and networking opportunities that are intended to stimulate and grow the research community in Wales. All Faculty personal award holders will be expected to engage with the work of the Faculty. Applicants should detail how they will participate in Faculty opportunities as well as how they will be supported by the host organisation throughout the duration of their award and on completion of their award. 

Applicants must:

• meet all eligibility criteria set out in section 1.3 below
• demonstrate the quality of the research activities in which they intend to engage
• demonstrate a link with a high-quality research group such as:
  • a Health and Care Research Wales funded group
  • a Centre or Unit funded by a high-quality non-Welsh Government funder such as the Medical Research Council (MRC), UK Research Innovation (UKRI) or the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)
  • a research group that has a proven track record of grant capture from high-quality funders such as the research councils, NIHR, or significant third sector research funders (such as the Wellcome Trust or Cancer Research UK)
• have demonstrable support with a UKCRC registered trials unit and the support of a trial’s methodologist as one of your mentors, if applying for a development activity to support a future randomised controlled trial
• describe unmet need in their proposed area/s of activity and the potential impact and benefit to the public more broadly as well as patients, carers and service users in Wales
• include a paragraph explaining and justifying their choice of why this specific scheme is appropriate for them at their research career stage. Health and Care Research Wales will not fund applications which are suitable for submission to other UK wide funders, such as NIHR, MRC, UKRI, Wellcome Trust, Nuffield Foundation and other major charity funders
• set out how they can dedicate the funding that is being sought to their research activities for the duration of the award in addition to any already funded or allocated research activity
• clearly state where the candidate would enrol and provide a link to the requirements of that institution when requesting support for PhD by published works. We expect applicants to be able to demonstrate how the award of a PhD by Published Works will lead to further development in an individual’s research career by providing details of anticipated funding applications.

Applicants can apply for up to:

• £50,000 for a maximum of one year. It is expected that the WTE will be less than full time, all variations to part time options within the funding range are eligible and will be considered. Applicants can include salary and on-costs, as well as associated activities such as travel and subsistence, PPI, training costs and student registration, in the case of PhD by published works where alternative funding has not been secured. This funding can be used to support attendance at Faculty events.

There is an expectation that successful applicants will, over the course of the award, seek out opportunities to apply for future research funding to sustain and develop their research activity beyond the award period.

Please note: 

• This is a personal award, not a project grant. This means that the funder will not pay research costs as defined by the AcoRD guidance. This provides guidance for attributing the costs of health and social care research and development. The Advancing Researcher Scheme will provide funding for reasonable non-staff costs such as travel and subsistence, training and development and costs for public involvement;
• this award does not qualify for automatic adoption to the Health and Care Research Wales Portfolio. However, applicants may apply for the award and then consider whether any specific project on which they wish to work meets portfolio adoption criteria
• this is a one-stage application process

What we will fund

Health and Care Research Wales will fund:

• time to allow you to engage in research development activity, including forming a hypothesis, identifying and prioritising research questions and research proposal and grant development work that will result in outputs that will progress future funded activities
• protected time to write the integrating components of the PhD
• time to develop outputs that will progress future funded research activities
• time to undertake relevant training and development activities
• reasonable non-staff costs to support associated activities such as travel and subsistence, training and development, costs for public involvement and student registration, in the case of PhD by published works where alternative funding has not been secured. This funding can be used to support attendance at Faculty events.

This list is intended to be indicative rather than definitive. 

What we will not fund:

• As noted above, we will not pay research costs as defined by AcoRD guidance as it applies to externally-funded research projects as these should be covered by the project funder and not supplemented or replaced by resources from this scheme
• the award will not fund, and is not to be used to fund, existing projects or additional research time on existing projects
• the award will not fund any research time covered by current arrangements specified within existing employment contracts
• the award is not intended to cover the time used to supervise a PhD student. This is a personal award which aims to progress the personal career trajectories of applicants rather than to support the development of others, such as PhD students
• the award will not cover costs associated with Professional Doctorates.

Eligibility criteria

Applicants must satisfy the following criteria:

• applicants must be employed by Welsh Higher Education Institutes (HEIs), NHS Wales, local authorities (adult or children's social care services), or other organisations that are working on a research topic/area that is directly relevant to Wales’ health and social care research priorities. This might include being based in a local authority or other agency e.g. independent health and social care provision such as primary care, community pharmacy, adult or children’s residential care, or domiciliary care based in Wales. HEI employees must have the relevant support and hosting mechanisms in place with a Welsh HEI for the duration of the award
• applicants from HEIs who are employed on a Directly Allocated salary basis will need to justify why their salary should be covered. Applicants from HEIs who are employed on a Directly Incurred basis will need confirmation from their host HEI that a contract of employment covering the whole period of the award will be arranged should they be successful
• ideally, applicants must be in a position to commence activities by 1 April 2026 (deferral of this date may be considered in exceptional circumstances, such as the employing organisation having difficulty in back-filling the post)
• applicants must have the support of their Line Manager, Head of Department and Director of Research and Development (or relevant equivalent signatories of their contracting organisation)
• applicants must have a named Research Supervisor(s) or Mentor(s). In most cases this should not be the person who is the applicant’s current line manager as they would be assumed to be already mentoring and supporting the applicant, and instead this role should be additional to current/routine support arrangements.
• applicants can hold a maximum of two Advancing Researcher awards and should have evidenced clear impacts of any previous Health and Care Research Faculty awards.

How to apply 

This call closes to applications on Thursday 9 October at 16:00.

The application form should be completed using the Health and Care Research Wales Faculty Awards Management System. Please note that authorised signatories will be required to confirm participation during the application process, therefore, sufficient time should be factored in for them to respond before the submission deadline.

Assessment criteria

The panel will assess each application based on the following criteria:

• the potential impact and added value of the proposed activities on the research career trajectory of the applicant
• the clarity and purpose of the proposed activities
• the quality of the research environment, Academic Collaborator/s and Research Supervisor or Mentor, within the context of the proposed plan
• the clarity and purpose of plans beyond the term of the award
• the description of unmet need in the areas of specified activity and the potential impact on the services delivered to the public, patients, service users and carers
• the full consideration of public involvement both within proposed funding activities and as part of the development of this application
• the justification provided for applying to this specific scheme at the applicants research career stage and evidence of clear impacts of any previous Health and Care Research Faculty awards and/or Health and Care Research Wales research infrastructure funding where the applicant was a named applicant or co-applicant
• the support of the Line Manager and employing organisation (for example HEI Head of Department, R&D Director or relevant equivalent) both during and after the term of the award.

The panel will make funding recommendations to Health and Care Research Wales (Welsh Government). Health and Care Research Wales (Welsh Government) will make the final funding decisions, considering the strength of panel recommendations and available resources. These decisions are final and are not open to appeal.   

Health and Care Research Wales Faculty expects to inform all applicants of the outcome in February 2026. 

Award surgeries  

Join our Researcher Development Advisors at an award surgery for the opportunity to ask any questions about the Advancing Researcher Award.

• Monday 8 September 11:00 – 12:00  - SURGERY FULL
• Wednesday 24 September 10:30 – 11:30  

Book your place at a surgery 

If you have questions regarding the application process, please refer to the call guidance documents provided. You can also contact the team by email.  

Supporting documents

• Advancing Researcher Scheme 2025 - Scheme overview and application guidance
• Advancing Researcher Scheme 2025 - Application form example

Privacy notice 

The Welsh Government grant privacy notice states how the Welsh Government will use the information provided at application stage.   

Data Protection Regulations

The Grants Privacy Notice has been effective since 25 May 2018. It makes sure we continue to comply with privacy law and regulation.

If you have any questions or require any further help regarding the Privacy Notice please contact the Data Protection Officer.

For further information email the Faculty team.

We are pleased to announce that from the 17 October 2024, the Health and Care Research Wales Faculty will be transitioning to using a new Awards Management System with the forthcoming Doctoral and Advanced Fellowship applicants to be the first group to use this new system.

From October 2024 onwards the Faculty will administer all new calls using the Awards Management System and will start to move the management of all existing Health and Care Research Wales personal awards into this system from January 2025.

We anticipate the new Awards Management System will facilitate more efficient Faculty processes which will benefit our applicants and members and help us in improving support for health and social care researchers in Wales. 

If you have any questions about the new system, contact the Faculty team who will be very happy to help.