Co-funded by

Wellbeing of Women-Royal College of Midwives Partnership Entry Level Scholarships (ELS) provide single candidates with up to £20,000 for up to 12 months, however we will consider requests for a longer duration with justification. Funds are for directly incurred research costs and may include a salary contribution. Applicants must be midwives and full members of the RCM. The research must be undertaken in the UK.

These awards will fund pre-doctoral midwives for research that seeks to improve the practice of midwifery and maternity services, including postnatal care, but applications will be considered for basic science, clinical and translational research that seeks to improve the health of women, girls and babies across any area of women’s reproductive and gynaecological health.

Awards are intended to provide ‘pump-priming’ funds to enable midwives to be exposed to a research environment and to obtain pilot data that will enhance an application for a research fellowship (PhD or MD). Applicants would normally be new to the research discipline and will not previously have been heavily involved in substantial or funded research projects.

An ELS is not intended as a ‘top-up’ for existing grants. Its primary purpose is to support a single individual at an early stage of their research career.

In line with RCM's Race Matters campaign and our intent to increase involvement and engagement from and support to midwives who identify as Black, Asian or an ethnic minority, we welcome applications from midwives from these communities and/or whose project aims to improve the health outcomes from people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities.

Applicants are encouraged to make use of the RCM Research Award Buddy Scheme. The scheme has been created to encourage and support more midwives to apply for the WoW-RCM ELS awards and is a source of advice and guidance for applicants when developing their research ideas and funding applications.

2026 Call timeline

Call launch: Wednesday 22 April 2026

Submission deadline: Wednesday 22 July 2026 at 1pm

Application outcome: December 2026

Awards start: January/February 2027

How to apply

The 2026 application form and guidance will be made available for download at call launch.

If you have any queries, please contact the Wellbeing of Women research team at research@wellbeingofwomen.org.uk or call 020 3697 6346.