Youth Mental Health Research Grants (€1-4M) — Lead Opportunity

Wellcome Mental Health Funding:
Grants for Youth Research

Wellcome funds mental health research for young people, offering €1-4 million grants, with applications due by July 14, 2026.

Roselidah Karuga 12th June 2026 (Last updated: 12th June 2026) 3 minutes read 0 comments

Organisation:
Wellcome

Administering organisation location:
Anywhere in the world (apart from china)

Funding duration: 3-4 years

Strategic programme:
Mental health

Co applicants:
Required

Final date to receive applications: 14 July 2026

Wellcome fund research to improve life, health, and wellbeing through new knowledge and understanding. Wellcome strategic programmes include; discovery research, climate and health, infectious disease and mental health.

Mental health award, using physical activity and circadian-based interventions to reduce anxiety and depression in young people.

This award will fund mechanistically informed trials of interventions for anxiety and depression in young people.aged 10-18 years.succefully team will build on existing mechanistic evidence to develop more precise and effective early intervention that have potential to scale.

• As an established researcher, you will have the experience needed to drive and lead a research programme.
• You will have a track record of training and managing others.
• If applying as a lead applicant, you will have a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract
• an established researcher can hold one Discovery Award where they are sole applicant and also as the lead team.
• an established researcher can be a co applicant on other wellcome awards.

• € 1-4 million per grant
• Wellcome are expecting to make 5-10 awards in this highly competitive funding call
• Funding duration is 3-4 years

• Lead applicants to create and submit a grant application. They have intellectual ownership of the application and the project,but if they have co applicants ownership is shared. Lead application are accountable for:
• How grant activities are completed
• The financial management of the grant
• Complying with Wellcome's condition of the award.
• Co applicants must make significant and essential contributions to the research proposal, be based at an eligible organisation, and meet the call or scheme's eligibility and suitability criteria
• Guest editor. A Lead applicant can give Guest editors access to their application form so they can help review and edit it. They can't submit applications
• Sponsor. They must have an established post at the applicant's administering organisation for the duration of the award, give the applicant research guidance, support the applicant's development throughout the grant, have a strong track record in research, training and mentorship, and confirm the organisation support for the applicant.
• Mentor. They should have a track record in training and mentorship, and support and guide the applicant on how to:
• Manage their application
• Develop their research career
• Manage the process and regulations at the administering organisation

• Collaborators. they support the delivery of the project but don't lead on a specific component of the researcher, They support by:
• Sharing facilities
• Providing access to the resources
• Provide expertise on working in different countries
• Sharing subject-specific knowledge and guidance

• Wellcome Prize for Mental Health:
  Transform Lives with New Interventions Date 22nd May 2026
• Wellcome Career Development Awards: A Guide for Mid-Career Researchers Date 7th July 2026
• Funding for Infectious Disease Trials:
  Apply by June 2026 Date 19th April 2026

• From any relevant discipline. Wellcome consider a broad range of discipline to be relevant to mental health science
• From eligible organisations
• Based anywhere in the world, apart from mainland china
• Diverse and interdisciplinary, with collaborations covering multiple area of expertise
• Researchers at any stage of their career
• New researchers to the field of mental health science