# Mental Health Award: Looking Backwards, Moving Forwards – Understanding How

**Funder:** Wellcome
**Budget:** Up to £5 million
**Duration:** Up to 8 years
**Consortium:** Optional — co-applicants are permitted and their expertise must be essential; team collaboration is required to be justified but a single lead applicant may apply
**Official call:** https://wellcome.org/research-funding/schemes/mental-health-award-looking-backwards-moving-forward-understanding-how
**Last verified:** 29 July 2026

## Eligibility & scope

Funds research into causal mechanisms underpinning active ingredients of early interventions for anxiety, depression and/or psychosis. Lead applicant must contribute ≥20% research time; co-applicants ≥10%. Host institution must be supportive. Lived experience involvement required. Overheads capped at 20% of direct costs; UK universities cannot claim overheads.

## Summary

Wellcome's Mental Health Award funds research into the causal mechanisms underlying early interventions for anxiety, depression, and psychosis, with up to £5 million available over eight years. The call is open to researchers at universities, not-for-profits, and small companies globally, and requires substantive co-design with people with lived experience. Lead applicants must commit at least 20% research time, and projects must go beyond description to explain why and how interventions work.

## Who should apply

- Researchers at universities, not-for-profits, and small companies globally
- Multidisciplinary teams combining psychiatry, neuroscience, psychology, or implementation science
- Projects with genuine lived experience co-design embedded from proposal stage
- Teams able to commit lead applicant (≥20%) and co-applicants (≥10%) to dedicated research time

## Key dates

- Funding first listed 17 June 2026; verify deadline on Wellcome's website
- Up to eight-year project duration

## Tips for applicants

- Lived experience involvement is mandatory and assessed as a core criterion, position it as equal partner, not advisory consultancy.
- Focus on causal mechanisms and active ingredients, not efficacy trials; Wellcome funds the 'why' and 'how' over replication of known outcomes.
- UK institutions cannot claim overheads; budget accordingly if your host is in the UK.

## Frequently asked questions

### What does the Wellcome Mental Health Award fund?

Research into the causal mechanisms and active ingredients of early interventions for anxiety, depression, and psychosis, with budgets up to £5 million over eight years.

### Who can apply for the Wellcome Mental Health Award?

Researchers at universities, not-for-profits, and small companies globally; UK universities cannot claim overheads. Lead applicants must commit ≥20% research time.

### Is lived experience involvement required?

Yes, the call mandates substantive involvement of people with lived experience in the research, assessed as a core criterion.

### Are there restrictions on overhead costs?

Overheads are capped at 20% of direct costs globally; UK universities cannot claim overheads at all.

---

Source: [The Great Grantsby](https://grantsby.eu/grants/wellcome-mental-health-award-looking-backwards-moving-forwa-2026) — EU grant monitoring for academic researchers. Always verify details on the funder's website before applying.

**See which EU calls match your profile.** [Preview your matches in 30 seconds, no signup](https://grantsby.eu/demo?ref=llm_grant_md).