The Wellcome Trust medical-research charity in London has unveiled an award scheme with no need for detailed budgets and methodologies. The scheme is intended to encourage ambitious proposals and boost productivity by freeing researchers from the time constraints of grant renewal. Wellcome's total funding of £600 million (US$885 million) is the same as last year, but this scheme allows for longer-term projects. Early-career and senior investigators at universities or research institutes can have a maximum of £425,000 a year for up to seven years. Alan Schafer, Wellcome's director of science funding, says the changes are also intended to ease burdens on grant reviewers.