WE&ME Projects

Yes. The call is open internationally, with no geographic restrictions on the host institution. The PI and Coordinator (PI&C) and all co-PIs must be based at a university, non-university research institution, or other eligible non-profit research organisation.

Projects investigating patients from other post-acute infection contexts are eligible provided participants fulfill established ME/CFS diagnostic criteria. Projects that mix participants with post-COVID organ damage, for example cardiac or pulmonary injury, into ME/CFS cohorts without clear separation are out of scope.

Yes, and applications of this kind are highly encouraged. Research teams are strongly encouraged to pair ME/CFS expertise with complementary skills from adjacent disciplines such as immunology, neuroscience, mitochondrial biology, autonomic physiology, sleep research, computational biology, data science or other disciplines.

A researcher may appear as PI and Coordinator or co-PI in a maximum of two proposals in this call.

Yes, as in-kind collaborators. Industry partners are not eligible to receive funding but may contribute to the project.

Yes. Career breaks for parental leave, care duties, or prolonged illness, including ME/CFS itself, will be considered when assessing academic age and track record. Applicants should provide the relevant time periods so this can be calculated fairly.

Yes. Clearly state the criteria for participant selection, using a definition of ME/CFS that includes Post-Exertional Malaise (PEM).

Inclusion is not mandatory, but where feasible it is strongly encouraged. Options include home visits, remote measurements, or use of existing data collected from this group.

Involvement that goes beyond participation as study subjects. Examples include co-design of research questions and protocols, advisory roles during the project, contribution to dissemination, and co-authorship where appropriate. Tokenistic involvement, for example listing a patient on an advisory board without a concrete role, will be assessed negatively.

Yes. Compensation for patient experts and patient organisations contributing substantively (e.g. co-design, advisory roles, dissemination) is an eligible cost, either as personnel or non-personnel costs.

No. The call uses a mandatory two-stage process. Only teams invited after Stage 1 may submit a full proposal at Stage 2. Approximately three times as many teams as funding allows will be invited to Stage 2.

No. There is no rebuttal at either Stage 1 or Stage 2. The jury decision and the formal funding decision by the WE&ME Foundation are final. All Stage 2 applicants receive written feedback summarising the main reasons for the decision.

As the WE&ME Foundation is a private non-profit foundation, financing of university infrastructure cannot be at the core of this highly focused call. However, the WE&ME Foundation acknowledges that research institutions carry substantial infrastructure costs to provide cutting-edge technology and workspace for scientists. Therefore, a maximum of 10% overhead costs of the project budget may be covered by the WE&ME Foundation.

Non-personnel costs may not exceed 40% of the project budget. Smaller equipment items are eligible up to EUR 1,500 per item, but the WE&ME Foundation encourages the applicants to keep the non-personnel costs at a low level and finance personnel via the funding.

Yes. Article Processing Charges (APCs) for open access publications are eligible as non-personnel costs. All peer-reviewed publications from funded projects must be published open access.

An acknowledgement of receipt from the relevant ethics committee should be submitted with the full proposal. Final ethics approval (Votum) must be submitted to the WE&ME Foundation before project start.

Data must be FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable), machine-readable, and deposited in a trusted, discipline-appropriate repository such as MAP ME/CFS or a comparable alternative. Data should be released no later than the publication of corresponding results, and no later than twelve months after project end where no publication results. Justified exceptions, for example for patient privacy or sensitive cohorts, must be well argued in the Open Science Statement.

No, not at this point. A consolidation call is envisioned, and successful WE&ME Projects might be invited to apply, if the consolidation call is confirmed.

For specific questions not addressed in our frequently asked questions, please get in touch with our Call Manager: Dr. Benjamin Missbach, Vienna Science and Technology Fund (WWTF GmbH). Email: benjamin.missbach@wwtf.at. Phone: +43 1 402 31 43 19