Emerging Researcher Scheme

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

The round will close to applications on Thursday 13 February at 16:00. Late applications will not be considered.

Apply now using the Faculty Awards Management System

Remit

The Emerging Researcher Award is a personal award which aims to advance research careers for health and social care researchers employed in NHS or social care organisations in Wales. It offers protected time to engage in developmental research activities and funding 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 earlier stages of their research careers. All applicants are expected to clearly justify why the scheme is appropriate for them at their research career stage.

The Emerging Researcher Award is designed to support individuals who are looking to take their first steps into a research career with the intention of putting the foundations in place for a long term clinical and/or practice-based academic research career, including working on initial stages to progress to a PhD by published works.

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 develop the research community in Wales. All Faculty Personal Award holders are 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 their host organisation throughout the duration of their award and on completion of their award.

Applicants must:

meet all eligibility criteria set out below
demonstrate the quality of the 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 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)
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
clearly justify why this scheme is appropriate for them at their research career stage
set out how they can dedicate the time for which funding is being sought to their research activities for the duration of the award in addition to any already funded or allocated research time

Applicants can apply for protected research time of up to 0.4 WTE for a maximum of two years. Salary replacement costs are not expected to exceed £32,000 per annum, unless this can be fully justified. If this is likely, please speak to a member of the Faculty Team for guidance before submitting your application. In addition, applicants can apply for up to £5,000 per annum to cover associated activities such as travel and subsistence, PPI and training costs.

The total award is not expected to exceed £74,000 (£37,000 per annum).

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 activities 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. These personal awards 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 developing a research proposal, grant development work including small research projects (noting the restrictions regarding research costs)
time to develop outputs that will progress future funded research activities
time to undertake relevant training and development activities
reasonable (maximum £5,000 per annum) non-staff costs to support associated activities such as travel and subsistence, training and development and costs for public involvement. 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.

Eligibility criteria

Applicants must satisfy the following criteria:

applicants must be employed by NHS Wales, local authorities (adult or children's social care services), or be based in independent health and social care provision such as primary care, community pharmacy, adult or children’s residential care, or domiciliary care based in Wales
applicants must have an established role within the NHS. Honorary contracts will be accepted; however, if the applicant’s primary contract is not with an NHS institution in Wales they must have held a service delivery role within the NHS for at least six months at the time of applying.
ideally, applicants must be in a position to commence activities by 1 October 2025 (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 R&D (or relevant equivalent signatories of their employing organisation)
applicants must have a named research supervisor(s) or mentor(s)

How to apply

This call closes to applications on Thursday 13 February 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 research experience and interests of the applicant which demonstrate their potential to develop as a researcher
the clarity and purpose of the proposed research and training activities
the potential impact and added value of the proposed research and training activities on the research career trajectory of the applicant
the clarity and purpose of plans beyond the term of the award
the description of unmet need in the areas of specified activity and potential impact on the services delivered to the public, patients, service users and carers
the full consideration of public involvement within the application
the support of the line manager and employing organisation (for example head of department, R&D director or relevant equivalent) both during and after the term of the award
the quality of the research environment, academic collaborator/s and research supervisor or mentor within the context of the proposed plan

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 May 2025.

Award surgeries

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

Monday 13 January 10:00 – 11:00

Tuesday 21 January 13:00 – 14:00 - SURGERY FULL

Book your place at a surgery

Contact us

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